Unless you’ve been living under a rock the last couple of months, you have no doubt read about the impending removal of Facebook’s partner data and other targeting options as the channel scrambles to rebuild trust with users. Fear not, marketers, while Facebook’s changes can pose challenges, there are opportunities to capitalize on the time remaining to create your own partner data, which we’ll explain in this post.
Many privacy-conscious consumers welcome the upcoming limits to targeting options, but they do create obstacles for advertisers who have relied on the granular targeting options that partner and other data options provided. Wise marketers have long used the targeting options to serve the right audience with a relevant message to introduce and re-engage users within the sales cycle.
After July 2, US-based marketers will no longer have the ability to target by partner data. Don’t let the date scare you, friends. Resourceful marketers (like we’re sure all of you are) understand that doesn’t mean we ONLY have a little over a month left, it means we have a LITTLE OVER a month left. There is a lot we can do in that time.
Use partner data NOW to create lists of relevant users before the fast approaching “doomsday” for targeting.
Facebook video view campaigns have emerged as a great way for strategic marketers to test audiences and use messaging effectively, because video views can be really inexpensive. Along with the appeal of introducing users to your marketing message with a low cost of entry, video view campaigns allow marketers  to create custom audiences based on the percentage of a video that a user watches.
Here is how it works.
Step 1: Take advantage of partner data before it’s gone!!!!
First, create your own partner data lists by identifying those target segments that you most use. Then create a new video view campaign around those segments. Do you utilize income targeting? Do you like to use purchase behavior targeting to identify those most likely to buy? Well then, create audience segments based on those personas. Â
Step 2: Give users something to watch
Next, create and utilize a video that appeals to your audience. Don’t have time or resources to create a video with the ever shrinking time available? Remember we said that most proficient marketers are resourceful? Well, Facebook provides another option in the form of slideshows that are videos created from uploaded still images.
Also, some of the most impactful social videos are not that complex. Watch other brands to see simple, one-shot videos that drive great engagement. Videos don’t need to be Hollywood productions. They just need to be interesting.
Recall that the point of the video is get a users to engage for long enough to be placed into a remarketing list. We’re talking seconds – not minutes. So, the splashy, five-minute sizzle reel about your latest product or service might be overkill. Create something that grabs the user’s attention and make it relevant. Use imagery that matters to the audience segment and tailor the ad update and headline to grab their attention.
Of course, as marketers, we want to drive conversions first and foremost but remember, friends, what we want to do is add as many targeted users into our retargeting lists as possible.
Step 3: Create your own targeted lists
The final step in our master plan is to head on over to the audience section of our ad account and create the segmented retargeting lists based on our video viewers.
The process is simple. First navigate to the audiences link under the assets column. 
Secondly select “custom audience” under the create audience drop down.
Next select the “Video” under the Engagement option.
Now the magic begins to happen. Choose the duration or percentage of video that you consider adequate engagement and select the specific videos shown to that particular audience segment. A simple fact to consider when determining the threshold for your audience is the lower the threshold the larger the audience. For this strategy, we want to pull as many users as possible who fit a specific targeting persona, so we’ll want to use the lowest threshold possible.
Finally, give your audience a name that best represents your audience segment and save the audience.
There you go, friends. We can’t control the choices that Facebook makes regarding it’s data and targeting options, but that doesn’t mean that we’re out of luck. Take advantage of the time we have remaining and ensure you can still get your marketing messages in front of the most targeted audience available.
Happy targeting!
