Definition
A custom audience is an audience you build from your own data: customer lists, website visitors (via pixel/CAPI), app activity, video viewers or engagement on Meta.
Also called: Custom Audience, Custom audiencesTest the message before scaling the budget.
Everyday colour.
One variable per comparison makes the learning easier to interpret.
01Define what the customer should understand or want.
Two roles: reach again and find more
Custom audiences serve two main purposes. For retargeting: reach people who've already interacted (visited the site, added to cart, watched a video). And as a seed for lookalikes: use a high-value customer list to find new, similar people. Same data foundation, two uses.
The value rises and falls with data quality. An up-to-date, consented customer list with email and phone matches far better than a thin visitor list, and a solid server-side setup makes sure website-based custom audiences don't leak as cookie restrictions tighten.
Frequently asked questions
What can I build a custom audience on?
Customer lists (email/phone), website visitors via pixel and CAPI, app activity, video viewers, and engagement on your Meta profiles. The cleaner and more current the data, the better the audience matches.
Is a custom audience the same as a lookalike?
No. A custom audience is your own, known contacts/visitors. A lookalike is new, unknown people who resemble a seed. Often a custom audience is used precisely as the seed to build a lookalike.
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About the author
Nicklas Segatz Mortensen
Growth hacker and fractional CMO with 10+ years' experience and hundreds of millions in managed ad spend behind him. Background from larger Danish and international scale-ups, and from the agency world.
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