Your LinkedIn Ads Matched Audience(s) are Archived or Expired. But what does this mean and how do you fix it?

Let’s dive in!

WHY IS MY AUDIENCE ARCHIVED OR EXPIRED?

If you see that your audience’s status is “Archived,” this means that it hasn’t been used in an Active campaign or updated for at least 30 days.

If you see that your audience’s status is “Expired,” this means that it hasn’t been used in an Active campaign or updated for at least 90 days.

In either case, Matched Audiences are not collecting new data (if created based on retargeting methods, such as video views or website visits) when they’re Archived or Expired.

Also, Archived audiences are unusable anywhere between 48 to 72 hours after being added to a campaign (as they re-enter the Building phase) and Expired audiences can’t be added to campaigns at all.

LinkedIn does this in an effort to protect user privacy.

HOW TO FIX

For Archived audiences, you can either add them to a campaign or edit them to force them back into the Building phase.

For Expired audiences, editing them will force them back into the Building phase.

While an audience has the status of “Building,” it will not run in a campaign. This usually lasts anywhere between 48 to 72 hours.

Once done building, though, your campaign will begin/resume running immediately.

Examples of editing your Matched Audience can be re-uploading a contact list, selecting additional campaigns to build your audience from, etc.

Essentially anything that changes the audience in a significant way. Simply changing the name of your audience won’t cut it.

Just note that Matched Audiences built from Lookalikes can’t be edited.

In the case that your Lookalike audience is Expired, the best thing to do is delete it and re-create it from scratch.

ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

If your Matched Audiences are Archived or Expired, don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world!

Making these small adjustments will ensure that your Matched Audiences are back up and running in no time.

Got more questions about your Matched Audiences? Comment below!

P.S. Our mission is to help 20K marketers, business owners, and recruiters decrease costs and increase scale on LinkedIn Ads.

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