Review of new MailChimp Facebook Ad Integration

If you use MailChimp, you may have noticed that they recently added the feature to create your Facebook ads directly in MailChimp, rather than creating them through Facebook. 

What does this mean for you as a marketer? Are there advantages to using the MailChimp creator vs. Facebook? Does it cost more? 

This review covers how it works, along with some pro strategy tips to make the most of it if you decide that it is right for you. 

Audience Selection

There are three types of audience targeting options in the MailChimp integration. 

• Targeting your email list (including unsubscribes)
• Targeting audiences similar to your email list
• Targeting an audience based on demographics that you select

 - The first audience option "Contacts on a list" you will be able to engage and re-engage with people in your email list.

The most notable benefit is the ability to reconnect with your "unsubscribes". Since your not legally allowed to email these potential clients due to non spam laws, this will give you another option. You will be able to provide them with a custom ad directed to changes in your business, new products and even directly confronting concerns they had when they requested the unsubscribe.

One doesn't always get a second chance to earn someone's trust and business, this will help provide you an outlet to do that.

The second option "Engage similar audiences" I have not gone into detail in this video. To sum it up, this will allow you to connect with similar audiences to the subscribers you already have on your list. This is primarily useful if you have a strongly engaged and highly targeted list. Avoid this one if you have used list building tactics in the past that have resulted in a less targeted list. 

​The third option, "Engage unique audiences", will allow you to target your outreach to a specific location, age group, gender or interest.

Age, gender and location are pretty self explanatory. It does appear to have less specific location targeting than designing in Facebook, so if you have a hyper focused local business, this may not work for you. I love how streamlined the process is here - condensing and making quick work of organizing your target audience.

As with any Facebook ad - targeting is CRITICAL. You want to define your target audience to provide the best results. If you are not sure how to do this, spend some time defining that first. 

With the interest box, it does give you a drop down of suggested key words like it does when you design ads natively in Facebook. If you have already developed key words to focus on that will help a lot. 

Designing Your Facebook Ad in MailChimp

If you are familiar with ​the drag and drop formatting of designing emails in MailChimp, this is just as easy. Like email, you will have to design and format your images in another design editor first. (See my tips for creating graphics.)
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MailChimp also links to specific Facebook Ad design tips. It is worth reading through these if you haven't done a lot of successful ad campaigns yet. 

Of particular importance is the rule about not having more than 20% text on your ad. This is true no matter where you create your ad, and will cause your ad to not be accepted by Facebook. If you want to check your image, using the Facebook grid tool can help make sure you are within the limit. 

Above is screen of the details of completing your Facebook Ad. Ideal size is 1200 x 628 px for carousel size, or 1080 x 1080 px for normal ads. 

Set Clear Goals for Your Ad

Deciding which URL to include in your ad is largely dependent on what your goal is for the ad. Do you want people to buy a particular product? Link to that page directly? Sign up for a webinar? Send them to the landing page.
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If your goal is getting more likes on Facebook, then you can link the ad to your Facebook page url. Many people overlook the fact that your Facebook and Twitter pages are URL's just the same as your actual business website.

If you are trying to build likes on your Facebook page, you will likely find this option much more effective than sending them an email asking them to like your page, because they are already on Facebook, rather than in their email inbox. 

So how does Mailchimp fare with Facebook Ads?

If you are already using Facebook ads and MailChimp, this is a great new tool in your toolbox. I wouldn't go so far as to say that this alone is worth signing up for MailChimp, as there are a lot of other considerations in choosing your email service, but it is a nice added touch. You can still complete your ad through Facebook Ad directly, however, I really like how this takes some of the guess work out of it and enjoy the tips MailChimp provides. For beginners in both email marketing and Facebook advertising, this is a tool that will help you get started with less of a learning curve. 

So what do you think? Are you going to use this option through MailChimp? Did you find any awesome little features that I haven't yet? Feel free to share in the comments below.