Best Practices for creating Ad Audiences 

The Strategy: Flip the Marketing Funnel

Traditional marketing often wastes budget by targeting broad, cold audiences and narrowing them down. At Tradable Bits, we flip the funnel on its head: start with your highest-intent existing fans in the Fan CRM and extend outward based on their characteristics. Better audiences lead to better results.

For step-by-step instructions on setting up audience filters directly within the platform, refer to the official Tradable Bits FanCRM Audience Guide.

1. Core Meta Audience Types & Priority Order

To maximize performance, segment your targeting into two core pools prioritized by value order:

• Retargeting Pool (In Priority Value Order):

  1. Past Purchasers: High-intent buyers sourced from CRM or pixel data.
  2. Tradable Bits Engagers: Fans who converted or participated in Tradable Bits campaign activations.
  3. Web Visitors (Meta Pixel): Users visiting pixelated web pages. Filter by specific landing page URLs (e.g., URLs containing kraken-fest).
  4. Facebook & Instagram Page Engagers: Users who interacted with your FB/IG pages. Adjust lookback windows (e.g., 30–365 days) based on campaign urgency.
  5. Video Viewers & Event Responders: Users filtered by watch metrics via Meta Video ID or users marked "Interested/Going" on Meta Events via Event ID.
     
     

• Prospecting Pool (In Priority Value Order):

  1. Lookalikes (LALs): Expansion audiences generated from seed data.
  2. Interest Targeting: Niche affinity and interest groupings.
  3. Demographics/Broad GEO: Geographic and basic demographic parameters.
     
     

• Platform Setup & Configuration Rules

  • Fan CRM Filters: Sourced from dynamic CRM filters. Always set an Expiration Date (e.g., event date) so data stops syncing after the campaign. Enable Create 1% Lookalike for immediate expansion.
  • Lookback Windows: Match your lookback windows (30, 60, 180, or 365 days) to the urgency and stage of your funnel.
  • ID Requirements: Ensure you have the exact Meta Video ID or Meta Event ID ready when setting up media-specific segments.

2. Ad Set Structuring: Inclusions & Exclusions

• Geographic Balance

• • The wider your geographic targeting (e.g., nationwide or multi-state), the narrower your audience parameters must be, and vice versa (e.g., a tight radius around a venue allows for wider targeting).
    
    

• Budget Allocation Strategy

• • First, allocate budget to reach your highest-value retargeting audiences at an appropriate frequency.
  • Use additional dollars to prospect for new fans.
  • Mandatory Prospecting Reserve: Always reserve a minimum baseline budget for prospecting on every campaign, regardless of total budget size. This ensures every campaign continuously reaches new fans.
    
    

• Demographics (DEM)

• • DRIP (Lookalikes / New Leads): Narrow your age, gender, and geographic parameters strictly to prevent wasted spend on cold prospects.
  • Retargeting (RTG): Keep location and age ranges broader, as these users have already proven relevant through past interactions.
    
    

• Inclusion Formulas

• • DRIP / Acquisition: Combine Star-Ranking algorithms, ticket-buying behaviour (e.g., repeat buyers), line-up affinity segments, and lookalikes (LALs).
  • Retargeting: Layer Web Visitors (last 180 days), Event Responders (365 days), Fan CRM segments (contest entrants/past buyers), FB/IG Engagers, and Video Viewers. Periodically separate these into distinct ad sets to identify deadweight.
    
    

• Exclusions (crucial to eliminate overlap)

• • Exclude Current Buyers: Always exclude current-year ticket buyers using a dual-layer approach: create one buyer audience from Fan CRM and another from your Meta Pixel.
  • Protect Retargeting: Always exclude your active retargeting audiences from DRIP ad sets so you don't bid against yourself.
    
    

3. Custom Audience by Funnel Stage

The audiences that we create and use in campaigns vary by the stage of the funnel we are in.

Use the following frameworks to structure your targeting pools based on your industry vertical:

Sports Targeting Framework

• High Funnel (DRIP / Acquisition)
  • Lookalikes (PSP LAL): Specific Promotion Lookalikes and General Buyer Lookalikes.
  • Demographics (DEM): Geographic targeting additional demographic parameters, and always exclude all retargeting audiences.
• Mid Funnel (All Engagers)
  • Social & Web (365 Days): IG Engagers 365, FB Engagers 365, Web Viewers 180, and ThruPlays 365.
  • CRM & Sales: All Tradable Bits Activations, All Past Buyers, and All Store Buyers.
• Low Funnel (Recent Engagers / High Intent)
  • Social & Web (30–60 Days): IG Engagers 30, FB Engagers 30, Web Viewers 60, and ThruPlays 30.
  • CRM & Sales: Tradable Bits Activations 60, Specific Past Buyers, and Recent Store Buyers.

Music & Live Events Targeting Framework

• Top Funnel (Heavy DRIP)
  • Demographics & Broad CRM: Demographics only (for small-population DMAs only), All Fan CRM, and 3% All Fan CRM.
  • Core Lookalikes: 3% Ticketbuyers, 1% Event Responders, 1% Engagers, 1% Likers/Followers, and 1% Video Viewers.
• Mid Funnel (Warm Prospecting / DRIP)
  • Direct Engagers: Video Viewers, Event Responders, and All Fan CRM (including existing email lists).
  • Targeted Lookalikes (1% LALs): 1% Engagers, 1% Web Visitors, 1% Engagement Campaign Participants, 1% Business Engagers, and 1% Past Purchasers.
• Bottom Funnel (RTG / High-Intent Retargeting)
  • Direct Audience Retargeting: Page Engagers, Likers/Followers, Web Visitors, Event Responders, Past Purchasers, and Business Engagers.

4. Data Imports & Workflow

To avoid delivery errors, segment decay, or lost contact records, strictly adhere to technical data requirements:

• Mandatory Country Field: When importing historical data into FanCRM, the country column is strictly required. Omitting country data prevents phone numbers from saving properly to fan profiles and fails to set phone_subscribed = true.
• Phone & Date Formatting: Include area codes with no dashes or spaces. Standardise dates to YYYY-MM-DD.
• Build Order: Always build and save your search filter inside FanCRM before creating campaign drafts in the Ad Planner or SMS Planner. 

5. SMS & Email Audience Best Practices

Direct messaging channels deliver direct-to-consumer reach; SMS alone sees a 98% open rate, 90% opened within 3 minutes, and a 45% average response rate.

SMS Audiences

• Consent & TCPA Compliance: SMS campaigns can be set up as incoming or outgoing and must meet TCPA compliance, including the fan/customer officially ‘opting in’ to receive SMS/text communication.
• Hyper-Specific Segmentation: As SMS is a high-attention channel, reserve full-list blasts exclusively for major announcements. Segment by location radius, artist/player affinity, and ticket-purchase status to keep messages relevant.
• High-ROI SMS Use-Cases:
  • Milestones & Presales: Blast high-intent CRM lists for line-up drops and presales.
  • Early Booking Windows: Offer repeat buyers exclusive early access windows before public on-sales.
  • Last-Minute Inventory: Text local, unengaged audience segments with discounted or single-seat deals close to event day.
  • App Downloads & Utility: Drive direct action using tracked links.
    
    

Email Audiences

• Engagement-Based Filtering: Divide email lists into active engagers vs. unengaged fans. Target high-engagers (open/click history) with frequent updates, while routing unengaged fans to specific win-back or re-engagement campaigns.
• Purchase & Affinity Tiers: Build segments based on past ticket tiers (GA vs. VIP), purchase frequency, and zero-party data collected via quizzes or preference forms.
• Cross-Channel Alignment: Coordinate email audiences alongside SMS and Meta ads. For instance, use email to deliver detailed campaign messaging, reserve SMS for urgent on-sale reminders, and suppress those who convert across both channels from paid Meta ad sets.

Still need assistance? Please reach out to your Customer Success Team or contact support@tradablebits.com