Targeting | Snapchat for Business

How to Create Custom Audiences

Custom Audiences allow you to reach specific Snapchatters based on data that is unique to your business, product, or service.

How to Create a SAM Audience

Learn how to get SAM Audiences built out into your account in a few simple steps:

Use the global navigation in the top left corner of Ads Manager to click “Audiences.”
Select “Get Started” in the middle of the screen and choose “Custom Audience” from the dropdown list.
Click “Customer List” to match your customer list with Snapchatters.
Drag and drop your customer data file onto the upload field and name your audience to begin the syncing process.

Pro Tip: Use the formatting guide at the top of the Snap Audience Match screen.

Create SAM Audience

Bring New People to Your Business With Snap Audience Match

Drive more conversions by targeting new audiences and expanding your reach.

How does Snap Audience Match work?

A Snap Audience Match (SAM) matches data from your first-party customer list (email, mobile advertiser ID, or phone number) with our community. With SAM Audiences, you can gain audience insights, exclude existing customers and build Lookalike Audiences to find your next set of customers.

What’s required to leverage Snap Audience Match?

The advertiser must provide a list of email addresses, mobile ad IDs (IDFA/AAID) or phone numbers. We support un-hashed email addresses or mobile ad IDs or phone numbers, or they may be hashed using SHA256.

Create SAM Audience

How to Create an Ad Engagement Audience

Learn how to build your Ad Engagement Audience in order to better identify the customers who are engaging with your ads:

Use the global navigation in the top left corner of Ads Manager to click “Audiences”.
Select “Get Started” in the middle of the screen and choose “Custom Audience” from the dropdown list.
Click “Ad Engagement” to target Snapchatters who have previously engaged with your ads.
Enter your audience name, select the type of Engagement Audience you would like to build from the dropdown and hit ”Create.”

Create an Ad Engagement Audience

Target High-Intent Snapchatters With Ad Engagement Audiences

Ad Engagement Audiences allow advertisers to target, exclude, or build Lookalike Audiences from Snapchatters who have taken specific actions within the advertiser’s Ad Account or specific campaigns.

Types of Ad Engagement Audiences

You can create audiences from users who have taken any of the below actions:

Swiped up on Single Image or Video Ad
Completed Video Ad
Opened Story Ad
Shared or saved Lenses or Filters
Were served a paid impression
Submitted a Native Lead form

Create an Ad Engagement Audience

How to Create a Lookalike Audience

Learn how to build your Lookalike Audience to reach more customers likely to convert:

Use the global navigation in the top left corner of Ads Manager to click “Audiences”.
Select “Get Started” in the middle of the screen and choose “Lookalike Audience” from the dropdown list.
Select the Seed Audience you want to use. Then, select what Lookalike Type you want to create from the three options (Similarity, Balanced, and Reach).
Choose an Audience Name and hit “Create”.

Pro Tip: Start off with a balanced audience as a test to ensure a mixture of performance and reach.

Create a Lookalike Audience

Expanding Your Reach With Lookalike Audiences

Now that you’ve created your Custom Audiences using SAM Audiences or an Engagement Audience, we can use that data to find more customers with a similar data profile within Snapchat through Lookalike Audiences.

Lookalike Audiences help you connect with Snapchatters who are similar to the people already interacting with your business.

Use Snapchatter signals like content engagement scores, demographic data, and more.
Build on previous successes and engage with Snapchatters most likely to convert.
Identify easily-attainable audiences for your business.

Create a Lookalike Audience

Types of Lookalike Audiences

This means we can build on previous successes and easily identify the low hanging fruit for your business.

There are 3 types of lookalike to build from your seed audience:

Similarity - The closest profile match to your users with less scale.
Balanced - A balance of profile match and scale for your audiences.
Reach - Large audiences with strong reach using data points to increase relevance.

Create a Lookalike Audience

Use SAM and Ad Engagement Audiences for Multiple Campaign Types

Lookalikes

To find more users who are likely to engage with your business.

Retargeting

To push those users down the funnel to convert on campaigns.

Exclusions

To avoid targeting existing customers and ensure you are reaching a new audience with Snap.

Optimize your targeting

FAQs for Creating Custom Audiences

How many Custom Audiences (SAM, Snap Engagement Audiences, Lookalikes) can a brand have in their audience library?

1,000 per Ad Account

How long does it take to process a Snap Audience Match segment?

It generally takes between 24-48 hours for a Snap Audience Match segment to complete processing, but the segment is targetable as soon as it’s created.

Are users allowed to opt out of this type of targeting?

Yes, users can opt out of device ad ID (IDFA / AAID) targeting directly from their phone’s OS settings. They can also opt out of generic third-party data targeting in our app.

Is there a recommended audience size?

We do not have a recommended seed audience size as it depends on the desired targetable audience and match rates. If the matched audience is small, you can leverage lookalike targeting.

How often do Lookalike Audiences update?

Lookalike Audiences will update as the seed audience updates. If there are no changes to the seed audience or the seed audience is deleted, we will not update the Lookalike Audience. Updates will process within 24-48 hours.

Can I create Lookalike Audiences for more than one unique country?

Yes, previously Lookalike Audiences had to be created unique to an individual country. We now offer the ability to create global or multi-country Lookalike Audiences. Just select or upload the countries in which you want to use for the Lookalike Audience.

Do we suppress original audience match lists automatically when creating a Lookalike pool?

No. Brands should negatively target the original list in order to suppress the original audience if they are interested in prospecting. This way we will not include anyone from the seed audience in the Lookalike pool.

Create a Custom Audience