In this video, the speaker addresses whether a third‑party purchased email list can be uploaded to Meta or Google as a custom audience for targeting demographics such as income and zip code. The answer is a firm no: Meta’s policies only allow first‑party, opt‑in lists (e.g., a company’s own insurance agents or Medicare clients) to be used as custom audiences, and Google is even stricter, banning such practices outright. Uploading a purchased consumer list risks immediate bans at both the ad‑account and IP level, and can even affect associated partners, as illustrated by a real‑world case where a final‑expense group was collectively banned due to a partner’s non‑compliant tactics. The speaker emphasizes that advertisers do not need risky hacks; instead, they should focus on creating resonant ad copy and letting the platform’s algorithm deliver ads to the right people.
Chapters
If I purchase an email list from a third-party vendor, can I upload that email list and use it as a custom audience so that way I can target based on income and zip code? Okay, this is a very layered question. I'm gonna answer it to you directly. No, my friend, I'm sorry. I would not mess with that at all because it is not compliant under Meta. Do not do it with Google. They are even more strict about banning you instantly if they are onto you uploading a third-party party consumer list. Now in Meta, this person is asking, so in Meta we are allowed to have what's called custom audiences. So even in the special ad category, so for example, I have my list of about 6,500 insurance agents that have all opted in to hearing from me, that I have generated leads on my own, whether it's through ads or through organic. I can compliantly upload that list and then I can retarget all of those agents with ads. You can do the same thing if you have a Medicare book of business and you want to upload that list and you want to get in front of people and like say, hey, it's time for your plan review or whatever it is that's compliant. But Meta explicitly says that you are not allowed to upload a purchase list. Now, does that mean that companies do it and get away with it? Yeah, they do. Would I mess with that? And would I risk having my ad account banned? No, I absolutely wouldn't. And I'm going to tell you right now, Meta is not jacking around with these bans. They are very quick to ban people at an IP level. So instead of just like you losing your ad account, they're like, you the person, no longer, you can no longer do that. In fact, I have a whole story about a final expense group that everyone got banned because they were working with someone that was a bad marketer that was trying to do things that they shouldn't have been doing with their account. And Meta just banned everyone that was associated with it. So no, you cannot do that. And I'm gonna tell you this, my friend, More than anything, I want you to take this away. You don't have to do that to get good results. You don't have to be sneaky and you don't have to trick the algorithm to get good results. All you have to do is write good ad copy. All you have to do is you have to write copy that resonates with the right people. And I'm telling you, the algorithm will get in front of the right people. You do not have to do these hacks, these risks. You don't have to worry about tips or tricks. It's all about having the right strategy to get in front of the right person.
