October 14th 2022–

Did you know that Facebook is eliminating “Special Audience” targeting? Has your agency informed your business to let you know how this will affect performance of your social campaigns? Or, do you know how to overcome these new limitations? We hope so! Facebook began setting these audiences out to sea starting on 10/12!  

After our Account Management team completed a deep dive into our clients (auto dealers, powersports, home improvement, etc.) utilizing Special Audiences, or known as LAL Audiences, this is what we uncovered

NOTE:  The data and insights below are unique to our clients. For example, the more dependent an advertiser is on these LALs for performance, the more severe the effects could be. 

• On average, LALs account for 23% of total audience size. Therefore, investment will inherently be allocated to interests and re-engagement, for example, which leaves the opportunity open to break up interest targeting a bit more and segment content a bit more dynamically.
• On average, LALs account for 10% of total lead volume each month. Granted, 10% is not a large portion, but with LALs making up 23% of total audience size, LALs are most likely playing a role further up the funnel, so the impact could be greater than a 10% loss of total lead volume month over month.

Why is Facebook sunsetting these audiences?

• Facebook is in the midst of trying to settle a lawsuit with the housing market involving LAL audience targeting. So, by eliminating these targets, Facebook is attempting to sweep the issue under the rug instead of trying to help advertisers find a work around.

What are some other ways to pick up the slack of these new limitations?

• 1st Party Custom Built Audiences: If the scale is available, utilizing custom-built audiences more can drive more performance. However, if these audiences are abused, they will have a very short shelf life, especially if they are not fed by engagement or more upper funnel tactics. If these audiences are not available, start building them today!
• 3rd Party Audiences: If you have access to these audiences from providers like Experian, Dun & Bradstreet, Oracle, Bombora, etc., they are very useful and help drive performance.  However, they are very expensive and come with a high barrier to entry. Or, here at 81 & Sunny, we have partnered with Skai, which has allowed us to access these powerful audiences for pennies on the dollar for all or any of our clients!
• Expand into other channels:  If driving performance is the main goal (as it should be!!), funds can easily be allocated over to search, for example, especially if there is room to scale those programs. Gotta stay nimble and understand where the low hanging fruit is!

In short, even though Facebook is not really providing a work around, we hope this article helps navigate this disruption for you because, after all, we all know disruptions like this are only going to keep coming!

If you would like to learn more about anything we shared here that is just scratching the surface, please feel free to reach out at info@eightyonesunny.com