23/10/2013
Mari Smith shared a great summary of the most recent Facebook ads update... here it is:
FACEBOOK ADS Update: Custom Audience Feature is Now Available to All Advertisers -- good news for small businesses!! What does this mean? Facebook allows you to upload your own contact list (email subscribers) to the main Ads dashboard and reach your own prospects and customers with targeted ads. Previously, this feature was only available through Power Editor.
➜ What about EMAIL PRIVACY? Many business owners may be concerned about what happens to your email list when you upload it to Facebook. What happens is Facebook matches your email database to Facebook users' email addresses. The good news is that Facebook encrypts (called "hashed") each email address on your list so the emails are not actually usable and then your list is deleted once the match process is complete. Facebook does *not* suddenly start emailing (spamming!) your subscribers. And, for those people on your list that didn't match with a Facebook account, Facebook doesn't suddenly start sending invites to join Facebook.
✔ There is typically a 50-70% match so you end up with a solid list of prospects and customers who have already opted in to your database, they already have a relationship with you, and they have already either bought something from you or have expressed interest in what you offer.
✔ These are your warm (or even hot!) market and you can now increase your visibility in front of them with carefully placed promoted posts in the news feed on desktop and mobile, and perhaps ads on the right column on desktop as well.
You can view the fine print for Custom Audience TERMS OF USE here: https://www.facebook.com/ads/manage/customaudiences/tos.php
Facebook says: Today Custom Audiences will begin rolling out in all ad interfaces for a limited number of US advertisers. Global rollout will begin next week, with all advertisers worldwide having access by the end of November.
See Facebook for Business' official announcement here: https://www.facebook.com/facebookforbusiness/news/Custom-Audiences-Is-Now-Available-to-Every-Advertiser
NOTE: Uploading your contact list to create a Custom Audience in the Ads dashboard is *different* from uploading your contact list to invite people to like your Fan Page. If you're an Admin of a Page with less than 5,000 likes, you can import your email database (up to a maximum of 5,000 contacts). Facebook may then use those email addresses to generate suggestions for you and your friends. You do have the option of deleting any/all contacts in your Invite History section here: https://www.facebook.com/invite_history.php
For more info on inviting your email contacts to like your Page (remember, this is only available for Pages with