Using Your CTWA Custom Audience in Meta Ads Manager

Once you’ve created your Custom Audience using your CTWA leads, you’re ready to use it in an actual ad campaign. This next step connects everything — it’s where you tell Meta, “Show this ad only to people who’ve already chatted with my business on WhatsApp.”

This guide walks you through how to select your Custom Audience as the target audience while creating a Click-to-WhatsApp (CTWA) ad.

🧭 Why This Step Matters

Your Custom Audience represents users who already know your business — people who’ve previously interacted, chatted, or shown interest. By using that audience in your ad setup, you ensure:

  • You’re reaching warm leads, not cold prospects.

  • Your ad spend is focused on people more likely to respond.

  • Your campaigns feel more relevant and personal.

Let’s walk through how to put your audience to use.

🪄 Step-by-Step: Selecting Your Custom Audience While Creating an Ad

🔹 Step 1: Open Meta Ads Manager

  1. Go to facebook.com/adsmanager.

  2. Click the green “Create” button to start a new campaign.

  3. Choose your campaign objective — for CTWA campaigns, this will usually be:

    • “Engagement” → “Send Message”, or

    • “Sales” → “WhatsApp” (if available in your account).

Tip: The “Send Message” objective is most commonly used for Click-to-WhatsApp ads.

Click Continue to move ahead.

🔹 Step 2: Set Up Your Campaign Basics

Give your campaign a clear name so it’s easy to identify later. Example:

  • CTWA Retargeting - Reconnected Leads - Oct 2025

  • WhatsApp Retargeting - Abandoned Chats

You can leave most campaign-level settings as default and click Next to move to the Ad Set section — where your targeting options live.

🔹 Step 3: Go to the “Ad Set” Level

This is where you choose who will see your ad — your audience, placements, and schedule.

Under the section “Audience”, you’ll see several options:

  • Custom Audiences

  • Location

  • Age

  • Gender

  • Detailed Targeting

We’ll focus on the first one — Custom Audiences.

🔹 Step 4: Select Your Custom Audience

  1. Click on the field labeled “Custom Audiences.”

  2. A dropdown list will appear with all your available audiences.

  3. Find and select the Custom Audience you created earlier — for example:

    • CTWA Leads - All Chats

    • WhatsApp Replied Last 60 Days

    • CTWA Product X Interested Users

Once selected, Meta automatically fills the targeting section with that audience.

Important:

  • You can select more than one audience if needed.

  • Make sure to exclude existing customers (if you have a separate audience for them) to avoid showing ads unnecessarily.

🔹 Step 5: Refine Your Targeting (Optional)

You can still adjust location, age, and gender settings if needed — but usually, CTWA retargeting audiences are already specific enough.

Best Practice: Avoid narrowing your Custom Audience further unless you’re testing something specific (like region-based retargeting). The idea is to let Meta find everyone who matches your CTWA list.

🔹 Step 6: Choose Your Ad Placements

Scroll down to the Placements section. Here, you can choose between:

  • Advantage+ Placements (recommended for most users)

  • Manual Placements (if you want to select platforms like Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed, or Stories manually).

For CTWA ads, both Facebook and Instagram placements work well, since they both support the “Send Message” → “WhatsApp” action.

🔹 Step 7: Connect Your WhatsApp Business Account

In the Messaging Apps section, choose:

  • WhatsApp as the messaging destination.

  • Select your verified WhatsApp Business number connected via DoubleTick.

This ensures that when users click the ad, the chat opens in your official WhatsApp channel — where your DoubleTick automation, bot, or team can respond.

🔹 Step 8: Review and Continue

After selecting your audience and ad destination:

  • Double-check your Custom Audience name.

  • Review your estimated reach — this helps confirm that Meta has successfully matched your uploaded contacts.

  • Click Next to move to the “Ad Level,” where you’ll set your ad creative (image, caption, and call-to-action).

💡 Tips for Using Your Custom Audience Effectively

  1. Name Your Campaign Clearly: Include the audience name in your campaign or ad set title — it helps track results later.

  2. Avoid Repetition: Don’t show multiple ads to the same Custom Audience too frequently. Give a few days’ gap between campaigns.

  3. Update Regularly: Every few weeks, upload a fresh list from DoubleTick to keep your Custom Audience updated with the latest leads.

  4. Exclude Overlapping Audiences: If you’re running different retargeting ads (e.g., “All Leads” vs. “Purchased”), use exclusions to avoid overlap.

  5. Monitor Performance: Watch metrics like “Message Replies” and “Cost per Result.” These tell you how well your Custom Audience is responding.

🧭 Key Takeaway

Using a Custom Audience in your CTWA ads bridges the gap between marketing and conversation. It allows you to focus on users who’ve already interacted with you — delivering more relevant, timely, and contextual ads.

It’s not about selling harder — it’s about continuing the dialogue with users who already know and trust your business.

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