Event response in Facebook ads allows advertisers to show ads to people who have interacted with their Facebook Page or Instagram account. This includes actions like RSVPing to events, messaging a Page, claiming an offer, submitting a lead form, and more. Event response ads help advertisers re-engage people who have already shown interest.
What are the benefits of using event response ads?
There are several key benefits to using event response ads on Facebook:
- Remarket to engaged users – Event response ads allow you to reconnect with users who have already interacted with your brand in meaningful ways.
- Increase conversions – People who have already engaged with your page or account are more likely to convert than cold traffic. Event response ads help you convert warm leads.
- Lower cost per result – Remarketing to engaged users is typically cheaper than acquiring new ones. Event response audiences should yield a low cost per conversion.
- Custom audiences – Event response ads let you create customized audiences based on specific interactions like claiming an offer, viewing a video, etc.
- Automatic audience building – Facebook automatically builds audiences for you based on Page interactions. No need to set up complex remarketing.
In summary, event response ads provide a simple and effective form of remarketing on Facebook that helps businesses reconnect with engaged users to drive conversions.
What events can you base Facebook event response ads on?
Facebook event response ads can be based on the following types of events or actions:
- Lead form submissions
- Offer claims
- Add to cart actions
- Purchases
- Video views
- Link clicks
- Messages to Page
- Shares
- Comments
- Check-ins
- RSVPs
- And more…
Essentially any measurable interaction that happens on your Facebook Page or Instagram account can be used to create a Custom Audience for event response ads. This allows for highly targeted remarketing campaigns.
How do you set up event response ads on Facebook?
Setting up event response ads takes just a few simple steps:
- Navigate to the “Audiences” section in Facebook Ads Manager.
- Click “Create Audience” and select “Custom Audience”.
- Choose the data source as “Engagement” from your Facebook Page or Instagram account.
- Select the specific events or actions that you want to target such as lead submissions, offer claims, etc.
- Give the audience a name and save it.
- When creating your ad, select the event response audience you created as the target.
- Set your budget, placements and schedule and launch the ad!
And that’s it! Facebook makes it super simple to create highly targeted ads based on any engagement events or actions from your Page or Instagram account.
What are some best practices for event response ads?
Here are some top tips for running successful event response ad campaigns:
- Choose specific events – Target people who have taken very specific actions like submitting a lead form or claiming an offer, rather than Page views or more general events.
- Customize your message – Tailor your ad creative and messaging to the event being targeted for better relevance.
- Consider exclusivity – Run the ad just for the event response audience rather than adding in other less relevant targeting to avoid dilution.
- Test different audiences – Try targeting different event response audiences to see which generates the most conversions.
- Time it right – Best practice is to reach users within 1-3 days after they have taken an action or triggered an event.
- Track conversions – Make sure to properly measure and optimize for the outcome you want, not just reach or clicks.
By following these best practices and focusing on the right KPIs, event response ads can deliver excellent results in terms of conversions and ROI.
What are some examples of successful event response ad campaigns?
Here are a few real-world examples of successful event response ad campaigns on Facebook:
Lead Form Submissions
A SaaS company targeted people who had submitted a lead generation form on their website with ads offering a free trial or demo of their software. This resulted in 2X more conversions than ads targeting their existing email list.
Ecommerce Purchases
An online fashion retailer re-engaged customers who had made a purchase by showing them ads for complementary products. They saw a 7% lift in repeat order rate compared to regular site visitors.
Offer Claims
A restaurant advertised a special offer for a free dessert to people who had previously claimed their “Appetizer of the Week” offer on Facebook. 20% of the event response audience claimed the new dessert offer.
Video Views
A consumer brand targeted people who had watched 50% or more of one of their new product videos with an ad showcasing that product. Views of the original video increased by 40% among the event response audience.
As you can see from these examples, event response ads are extremely versatile and effective at driving real business results.
What tools can you use to manage event response ads?
Facebook provides several tools to help manage and optimize event response ad campaigns:
- Facebook Ad Manager – Create audiences, launch ads, monitor performance.
- Facebook Business Suite – Unified platform to manage Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.
- Events Manager – Track website conversions to build Custom Audiences.
- Audience Insights – Analyze your audiences for trends and insights.
- Ads reporting – Monitor results and export detailed reports.
- Split testing – Test different creatives, audiences and strategies.
Third-party tools like Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and Iconosquare also offer social media management, analytics, and reporting features to help optimize event response ads.
Leveraging these tools allows advertisers to properly measure event response campaigns and double down on what’s working to get the most of their ad spend.
| Tool | Use |
|---|---|
| Ad Manager | Launch and monitor ads |
| Business Suite | Unified management platform |
| Events Manager | Track site conversions |
| Audience Insights | Analyze audience data |
| Ads Reporting | Monitor ad results |
| Split Testing | Optimize campaign elements |
What are some common mistakes with event response ads?
Some common mistakes to avoid with event response ads include:
- Targeting irrelevant events – Only use very specific, meaningful events tied to your goals.
- Waiting too long to re-engage – Best practice is to remarket within 1-3 days of the event occurring.
- Not personalizing ads – Tailor your creative to the event for better relevance.
- Campaign misalignment – Ensure your goal in ads matches the original on-site goal or conversion.
- No optimization – Continuously test different creative, audiences and strategies for improvement.
- Focusing on vanity metrics – Judging campaign solely on reach or clicks rather than business impact.
Avoiding these common mistakes will ensure your event response ads perform to their full potential by maximizing relevance and conversions from warm audiences.
Conclusion
Event response ads provide advertisers with an extremely effective form of Facebook remarketing by targeting users who have already engaged with their brand. Creating Custom Audiences based on Page interactions and website conversions allows for relevant 1:1 messaging that drives higher conversion rates. When combined with compelling creative and strong execution across the marketing funnel, event response ads can deliver standout ROI and business impact.