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Facebook Custom Audiences

Learn how you can integrate and benefit from Facebook Custom Audiences sync with Omnisend

Ira avatar
Written by Ira
Updated over a week ago

Facebook Custom Audiences is an ad targeting option that lets you find people who already know your business on Facebook. You can use the information about your customer's shopping behavior, engagement with your email, and any other data you have collected with Omnisend to build a Custom Audience and target your ads on Facebook.

You will also benefit from the dynamic synchronization of your contacts. As soon as the customer satisfies the rule in your Segment settings, your Facebook Audience will populate with a new contact.

Please note: Contacts that exist in Facebook already won't be removed if they don't fit the rule in the Omnisend segment anymore.

Contents

Before you start

  • To access the features of this integration, you'll need an active Facebook account that manages at least one Facebook Page. This integration doesn't add a signup form or post to your personal Facebook profile. 

  • Have your Facebook Ads Manager connected to the Facebook Business Manager.

  • When you set up the integration, you must approve each of Facebook's permission requests.

  • You can also connect your Facebook account to Omnisend to create Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns. The connection process is the same as for Facebook.

  • Available on all the Omnisend plans.

Connecting the app

1. Click on your brand name in the top right corner → open the Apps tab:

2. Find the Facebook Customer Match and click the 'Connect now' button.

3. You will be brought to the Facebook app and asked to provide Omnisend with your name and profile picture. Click Continue as (your profile name) to proceed.

4. Make sure all options are enabled → click Done:

Once you submit all information and authorize access, you will be returned to the Omnisend app to select the account you wish to use. Your Facebook Custom Audiences app will show up as connected in Omnisend as soon as you are done. 

The connection process is complete, and you can start syncing your segments!

Syncing segments

Once you have connected your Omnisend and Facebook Custom Audiences accounts, you must create a segment on Omnisend and synchronize it with your Facebook Custom Audiences. We will push data through our API to Facebook, and then Facebook will take that data and sync your Facebook customer profiles. 

For this, go to the Audience → Segments → Actions dropdown and select Sync to Google or Facebook.

In the next step, choose your advertising platform and click Continue with Facebook.

Then, you will be asked which contacts you want to sync from this segment (All contacts, Subscribed, Non-subscribed, Unsubscribed). You can choose any combination of the groups you need.

Then, select which Facebook audiences you want to sync with a segment or create a new audience instead. For existing audiences, select them from the dropdown menu.

If you decide to create a new audience, you will be asked to come up with an audience name and click Create to finalize the creation process.

Review the Segment and Facebook audience selected and click Turn on sync when ready.

Success! Your Omnisend segment and Facebook audiences are now syncing 🎉

Important note: to sync customers' profiles to Facebook, they should be logged in with the same email address as the one they provided to Omnisend. i.e., the subscriber's email on Omnisend is [email protected], and the email address used to log into their Facebook account is the same, [email protected].

Usually, data sync from Omnisend to Facebook takes 5-15 minutes, but it also depends on the number of contacts you have and sometimes can take longer to sync (due to the IP call limits, as we push data in batches).

What segments to create?

At Omnisend, we always emphasize the importance of the multi-channel approach to your customers. The more your customers hear about your brand, the higher your chances of converting them to buyers.

In Omnisend, you may set up various Segments that could help you target your ads more precisely.

  • Segment contacts based on their profile data. The information collected by Omnisend may tell you more about your customers, including their addresses, birthdates, and custom information you have collected with Omnisend.

  • Segment contacts based on their engagement with your emails. If your customer doesn't engage with the email messages you send, it might be a perfect time to attract their attention with Facebook ads. You may target customers that were active recently or those that haven't engaged in a while. You may even check what type of messages your customers engage with.

  • Segment contacts based on their purchase behavior. This type of Segmentation will give you the power to target your ads to your VIP clients, those that purchase frequently, or those that spend a certain amount in your store.

Let's set up a Segment using a combination for the re-engagement Facebook Campaign.

Learn more about creating different contact segments here.

Once your segment is ready, choose Sync segment to Facebook and choose which contacts statuses to sync.

The segment will be synced to your Facebook account and updated automatically. If your customer places the order, he will be removed from the inactive contacts Segment.

After the Audience is synced to your Facebook Business account, you may choose your Instagram Business Profile and run your targeted ads on both Facebook and Instagram.

Create a Custom Audience on Facebook

Once you sync the Audience to Facebook, it will automatically appear in the Audiences section of your Facebook Ads Manager.

After reviewing your Audience, you can create an ad to reach your new Custom Audience or create a lookalike audience to find new people who share similar behaviors and interests with your existing customers.

FAQ

Can I sync only subscribed contacts to Facebook?

Facebook Custom Audiences can be used to sync any status of your contact. You can choose which status (subscribed, unsubscribed, or non-subscribed) should be included while creating a new custom audience that will be synced to your Facebook account. When you click on the Sync segment to Facebook, a popup will let you choose what contact statuses you wish to sync.
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How long does it take to sync contacts to Facebook?

Data sync from Omnisend to Facebook usually takes 5-15 minutes. However, sync time also depends on the number of contacts you have and can take longer. Due to the limits of IP calls, we push the data in batches, so if you are syncing a considerable list, wait a little longer for your sync to complete.
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Can the Audience be exported so that Facebook can read it?

Before uploading the list you have exported from Omnisend to Facebook, you need to change the column formatting to match the identifier type that Facebook accepts. You will also need to change some of the data to ensure it has the proper format. See the detailed instruction here.

Is connecting multiple Facebook pages/accounts with one Omnisend store possible?

If you're going to connect another Facebook account, remove the integration from App Market → Connected Apps → Find the app → Remove. Then, you must set it up from scratch using a different Facebook account. Please be aware that all created syncs for the old account will be deleted.

Can my Facebook Lead Ads be connected to Omnisend?

Absolutely! You can use our direct integration Facebook Lead Ads with Omnisend for this.

Troubleshooting

⚠️ Facebook custom audiences sync status is disabled 

  1. Check if the Facebook lists you try to sync to Omnisend segments can still be accessed. This can occur if your Facebook lists are no longer available on Facebook, i.e., deleted.

  2. Check if the Facebook list you are trying to sync is accessible for Omnisend segment sync. 

  3. Check if user roles and permissions have not been changed. This can occur if your user can no longer access the provided list. 

⚠️ The number of contacts synced looks too low

We will help you resolve this; please take the following steps and reach out to [email protected]:

  1. Export the segment from Omnisend, the one you're willing to sync with FB custom audiences;

  2. Manually import the exported contacts to your Facebook Audiences;

  3. Take a screenshot of how many contacts were synced.

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