Facebook Opening Access To Custom Audiences For All Advertisers By End Of November

Facebook announced today it will open access to its

Custom Audiences ad targeting tool to all advertisers by late November. The feature will begin rolling out today for a limited number of US advertisers, with a global roll-out starting next week.

Before today, Facebook’s Custom Audiences was only available through its API and Power Editor tool. Soon, all Facebook advertisers will be able to leverage Custom Audiences to find existing customers and reach new prospects:

Small businesses in particular will now be able to use their current customer lists to reach people on Facebook. And, for the first time, businesses can use MailChimp lists with Custom Audiences.

Facebook claims thousands of advertisers are currently using Custom Audiences, with “more than half of the AdAge 100” taking advantage of the social media network’s ad targeting tool.

Advertisers will be able to access Custom Audiences via Facebook’s ad interface. “Once contacts have been uploaded,” said Facebook, “You can target matched users with ads for your site, Facebook Page or mobile app.”

Facebook again confirmed the Custom Audience tool is “data protective” and designed so as not to share private information of users without their consent.