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    Custom Audiences

    Facebook's Custom Audience system allows you to match your customer lists to Facebook users, opening you to social marketing opportunities you may not have had before. With Oracle SRM, we've set up an easy way to access this system, as well as providing you with valuable metrics, and allowing you to target certain groups of customers by partnering with Oracle Eloqua, Responsys and Commerce.

    In this article, we'll take you through the concepts behind custom audiences and how to set up custom audiences in SRM.

    Getting Started - Creating a Facebook Ads Account

    Adding Your Ads Account to SRM
        · Opt Out List

    Creating a Custom Audience

    Populating Your Custom Audience by CSV

    Populating Your Custom Audience with Eloqua

    Custom Audience Main Page
        · Editing or Deleting A Custom Audience

    Custom Audience Detail Page

    The Sources Tab
        · The Sources Graph
        · The Sources Table

    The View History Tab
        · The View History Graph
        · The View History Table

    Lookalike Audiences

    Click a link above to get directly to that section, or scroll down and start reading.

    Getting Started - Creating a Facebook Ads Account

    The first thing you'll need to do is create a Facebook Ads account. Your Ads account will contain all your ads activity, including campaigns, ads, and billing information.

    You’ll do this using Facebook Business Manager or Facebook Ads Account Settings.

    Facebook Business Manager allows advertisers to setup a business ads account associated to Facebook business account. They can manage all of their ad accounts, pages, apps and permissions in one place. You can access Facebook Business Manager here: https://business.facebook.com.

    Note: When using Facebook Business Manager, make sure you are using your brand's Facebook page when you are setting up your Ads Account.

    Facebook Ads Account settings allows you to setup a personal ads account associated to a Facebook profile. You can access Facebook Ads Account settings here: https://www.facebook.com/ads/manager/account/settings.

    IMPORTANT: You must accept Facebook's Terms of Service for Custom Audiences before you start using Custom Audiences in SRM. You can find and accept those TOS here: https://www.facebook.com/ads/manage/customaudiences/tos.php.

    For more information on using Facebook for business, refer to the Facebook Business Guide: https://www.facebook.com/business.

    Adding Your Ads Account to SRM

    Once you have your Ad account set up, you'll need to add it to the SRM platform as a media account.

    To add your Ad account to SRM:

    Note: You must be logged into the same Facebook account you use for your Ads account. Click your Profile tab and link your Facebook account with SRM.

    1. On the Accounts tab Workflow & Automation, click on the Media Accounts tab.
    2. Click Add A Media Account.
    3. A list of your Facebook Ad Accounts will appear as a drop-down menu. Select the one you want to add, then click Add.
    4. You'll be taken to the Media accounts main page. Your new account will appear in the list.
      Note: If it has not already been authorized, an email will be sent for the administrator of the Ads Account to authorize it for use in SRM. The account must be authorized before you can set up a custom audience.

    Opt Out List

    If you have customers who have contacted you to opt out of being targeted by your custom audiences, you can upload a list of those customers here.

    Note: You will upload lists to the media account you associated with your custom audiences, not the custom audiences yourself.

    From the Ad Account edit page, click Opt Out. A form will open for you to fill out.

    • Choose a CSV File - Click Choose File and find the CSV file you want to use.
    • Select an Action - Select Adding Members from this drop-down menu.
    • Select a Data Type - Facebook will use one type of data to find your customers in their user list. Choose from email address, phone number, or Facebook ID. Depending on the information you have in your CSV.
    • Enter either the CSV Index field or the spreadsheet column letter that contains the data  - After you have chosen the data type you want Facebook to use, you'll need to tell the system where to find that info in your CSV. Enter the number or letter for the index field or column that has the data type you selected.

    Once you have completed the form, click Upload. Your CSV will be sent to Facebook so they can begin matching your customers to add to the Opt Out list.

    Creating Custom Audience

    Now you are ready to set up your custom audience. You'll do this in the Custom Audiences section of the Accounts tab.

    To create a new Custom Audience:

    1. Click Create A Custom Audience. You'll be taken to the Create A Custom Audience page.
    2. Give your custom audience a name, which is unique to your account, and an optional short description.
    3. Using the Media Account drop-down list, select which media account you want to use with this custom audience. Do this only if you have multiple media accounts in SRM.
    4. Click Create Custom Audience.

    Once you click Create Custom Audience, you'll be taken to the detail page for your new custom audience where you can save any changes going forward. Your custom audience has been created and will appear on Facebook in your Custom Audiences section.

    You are now ready to populate your custom audience. You can do this by uploading a CSV of audience members, or by auto-synching a list of audience members with an integration through Oracle Eloqua, Responsys, or Commerce.

    Note: You can only use the integrations if you have Oracle Eloqua, Responsys, or Commerce as a part of your Oracle Social Marketing package. If you are interested in adding these products to your portfolio, contact your Oracle Sales representative.

    You do not need an integration to use the upload CSV option.

    Populating Your Custom Audience by CSV

    If you have a list of your customers, you can upload those names into your custom audience and Facebook will find them in their system. You can then use this custom audience to create a social ad to target just those customers.

    You not only can populate a custom audience using this button, but you can also use it with existing custom audiences to add members, delete members, or completely reset the members in a custom audience.

    To populate with a CSV:

    1. From the Sources tab within the custom audience detail page, click Upload CSV.

      The Custom Audience Users Upload form appears.

    2. Complete the following fields:
      • Choose a CSV File - Click Choose File and find the CSV file you want to use.
      • Select an Action - Select Adding Members from this drop-down menu.
      • Select a Data Type - Facebook will use one type of data to find your customers in their user list. Choose from email address, phone number, or Facebook ID. Depending on the information you have in your CSV.
      • Enter either the CSV Index field or the spreadsheet column letter that contains the data  - After you have chosen the data type you want Facebook to use, you'll need to tell the system where to find that info in your CSV. Enter the number or letter for the index field or column that has the data type you selected.
    3. Click Upload.

      Your CSV is sent to Facebook so they can begin matching your customers.

      Note: You can upload multiple CSVs for use in the same custom audience.

    How long will it take for my custom audience to populate?

    Once you submit your CSV, it can take up to 24 hours for your matches to appear. The details of how many users have been matched will be added automatically to the detail page of your custom audience.

    Example of Populating a Custom Audience by CSV

    In this example, a CSV file is used to add members to the existing Gold Members 2016 custom audience. The CSV file is named new_gold_2016.csv, and contains one column of data in form of email addresses. The email addresses in the CSV file are located in column B of the spreadsheet.

    1. Navigate to Workflow & Automation, then select Accounts.
    2. Click Custom Audiences on the left menu.
    3. Click the gear icon to the right of the Gold Members 2016 custom audience, then select Edit.
    4. From the Sources tab within the custom audience detail page, click Upload CSV.

      The Custom Audience Users Upload form appears.

    5. Click Select File, then navigate to and select the new_gold_2016.csv file.
    6. Select Add Members from the Select an action menu.
    7. Select Email Address from the Select Data Type menu.
    8. Enter B in the Data Type column index field. This indicates that the data is found in column B of the spreadsheet.
    9. Click Upload.

    Populating Your Custom Audience with Eloqua

    If you are using Eloqua, you need to install the SRM Custom Audiences app and add the action to your Eloqua campaign or program. This will send contacts to the custom audience in SRM.

    For more information about Eloqua, refer to the instructions on the Eloqua Help Center.

    Note: If you have any questions or issues, contact Eloqua support.

    Advantages to Eloqua

    Using Eloqua with Custom Audiences opens out your marketing opportunities beyond your own simple email lists. Eloqua gives you access to their large base of customers, which allows you to segment your customers using their digital body language so you can select a target of those customers for a custom audience, expanding the reach of your social advertising. If you are interested in adding Eloqua to your services, contact your Oracle Social Sales representative.

    How long will it take for my custom audience to populate?

    If you are using Eloqua to populate your custom audience, it will update the audience list hourly, so you will see changes to your total audience numbers over time. For more information on this, see the Sources Tab section below.

    Custom Audience Main Page

    After you have created a custom audience, it will appear on the table on the main Custom Audiences page.

    Below this will be a table listing all the custom audiences you have created, along with some basic information about each one.

    • Status - You will see Ready, which means your custom audience has been populated and is ready to be used, or Waiting, which means you have created the custom audience, but haven't yet populated it.
    • Custom Audience - The name of your custom audience.
    • Facebook Match - The number of matches Facebook has found for the list you submitted.
    • Total - The total number of users that were submitted to Facebook from SRM.
    • Total Match - The percentage of users matched of the ones you submitted.
    • Last Updated - The last time anyone edited the custom audience.

    Editing or Deleting a Custom Audience

    You'll see a gear icon next to each custom audience row in the table. Clicking this icon gives you the option for Edit or Create lookalike or Delete. Selecting Edit will take you to the edit page for the custom audience, where you will be able to view specifics or make changes as necessary. Selecting Create lookalike will help you create lookalike custom audiences. Selecting Delete will delete the custom audience from SRM and from Facebook.

    Custom Audience Detail Page

    After your custom audience has been populated, the edit page will give you lots of information about your Custom Audience. You can reach the edit page either by selecting Edit from the gear icon next to the custom audience name on the main Custom Audiences table, or simply click on the row for the custom audience.

    On the main area of the edit page, you'll see the name and description you entered for the Custom Audience, and the media account you associated with the Custom Audience. Below that, you'll see a percentage, representing the percentage of the total audience you are reaching on Facebook. This is made up by dividing the number of users Facebook matched by the number of users that were submitted to be matched.

    The Sources Tab

    The Sources tab shows you information about the audience lists you are using in the custom audience.

    The Sources Graph

    The graph gives you a visual representation of the changes in the number of users in your custom audience over the last seven days. You'll see several separate lines:

    • Sources - You will see separate lines for each to upload a CSV or an Eloqua source.
    • Updated Total - This line shows you the number of submitted audience members.
    • Facebook Match - This line shows you the number of matched audience members.

    You can see trends of the changes in your custom audience, as audience members being added or removed as you have made changes to your audience.

    The Sources Table

    Below the graph, you'll see a table of all the audience lists that make up your custom audience. In the table, you'll see the following columns:

    • Audience Name - The title of the CSV or Eloqua target that was uploaded to this custom audience.
    • Change - The number and percentage of change to your custom audience when the custom audience was last updated.
    • Updated - The timestamp for the last time the custom audience was updated.
    • From - The source of the audience list, either CSV or Eloqua.

    You can reorder the table by any of the columns. Just click on the arrows next to the column header and the table will reorder.

    The View History Tab

    The View History tab gives you a full audit trail of changes that have been made to your custom audience.

    The View History Graph

    The graph gives you a visual representation of the history of your custom audience over the last seven days. You'll see two lines:

    • Updated Total - This line shows you the number of submitted audience members.
    • Facebook Match - This line shows you the number of matched audience members.

    The View History Table

    Below the graph, you'll see a table with all the changes or updates made to this custom audience. You'll see the following columns:

    • Action - What update was done to your custom audience, either Added or Deleted.
    • Upload Status - Whether the update was successful or not.
    • Submitted Update - The number of audience members that were submitted to be either added or deleted from the custom audience.
    • Updated - The timestamp for when the update was submitted.
    • Audience Name - The title of the CSV or Eloqua target that was submitted as an update.
    • Source - The source of the audience list, either CSV or Eloqua.

    You can reorder the table by several of the columns. Just click the arrows next to the column header and the table will reorder.

    You can also filter the table by source, so you are only seeing changes made from CSV or Eloqua. From the Filter by Source drop-down menu at the top of the table to select a source, and the table will refresh to only display the history of that source.

    Lookalike Custom Audiences

    A Lookalike audience uses the details of the original audience as a base to create a similar audience.

    To create a Lookalike audience:

    Go to the Custom Audiences main page and find the custom audience you want to copy from the table. Click the gear icon next to the audience and select Create Lookalike Audience from the drop-down menu. A modal will then open, where you can make any changes you would like:

    • Name (Optional) - If you choose not to give your audience a new name, it will have the name of the original audience with _Lookalike at the end.
    • Country - Choosen the country you want the audience to target.
    • Optimize for: - Choose how you want your audience to be optimized, for similarity or greater reach.

    When you are finished, click Create. A message will appear at the top of the page confirming that your Lookalike audience has been created.

    Note:
    • It may take up to 24 hours to populate your audience.
    • Your Lookalike audience may not contain the same users as the original audience.
    • Once you create a Lookalike audience, you cannot make changes to it.

    Lookalike Main Page

    If you want to see information on your Lookalike audience, here's what you'll see on the main page for the audience.

    You'll see the original audience the Lookalike was created from, the country it's targeting, how it's optimized, and the media account associated with it.

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