Lookalike Audiences, which have proven beneficial to advertisers, can help harness the impact of Facebook advertising to new heights. As a business owner or a Facebook advertiser, using Lookalike Audiences can help bridge the gap to the most probable users to convert, hence boosting your Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).
This post will highlight what “Lookalike Audiences” entail and offer insight into their functionality so that PPC professionals and advertisers can efficiently scale their campaigns with Facebook ads.
What Are Lookalike Audiences?
Lookalike Audiences is a powerful targeting option within the Facebook Ads Manager. This functionality enables advertisers to target prospects with similar attributes to Facebook users who are already customers or have interacted with the business. These audiences are built using either website visitors, email subscribers, or Facebook page fans.
Imagine you have a list of 1000 customers. Facebook’s lookalike audiences feature can expand this list to hundreds of thousands or even millions of users who may share similar interests or behaviour as your original list of customers/audiences. This process will allow the advertisers to target a new market without starting from scratch, which is incredibly useful.
Importance Of Lookalike Audiences?
Lookalike Audiences can effectively enhance the performance of your campaigns. Instead of guessing, you have Facebook’s AI fetch people who might be interested in your product or service.
These are benefits of importance to every Facebook advertiser and PPC professional:
- Precision of targeting: Since you already have the highly targeted list of users (the origin), you can generate a huge list of similar audiences (lookalikes) in just a few clicks. This new list will also be as relevant as the original list.
- New Users: Now you can affordably reach millions of new users without losing relevance.
- High Relevance: Targeting individuals more willing to convert will enhance ad performance, thus reducing wasted spending.
Steps To Create A Lookalike Audience
Creating a Lookalike Audience is simple. Here’s a step-by-step guide that even a beginner Facebook advertising specialist can follow:
The First Step Is Choosing A Source Audience
Begin by creating a Custom Audience. The following can be added to it:
App Users | Email Subscribers | People Engaged With Facebook or Instagram Pages | Website Visitors (tracked via the Facebook pixel)
Remember to start with a High-Quality Audience for best results, such as recent purchasers or top customers.
Go to Audiences in Ads Manager
In the main menu of your Ads Manager, click Audiences. There, Create Audience and select Lookalike Audience.
Determine Target and Source Location
Set your Custom Audience as the source. Then, determine the country or area where you want Facebook to search for similar users.
Choose Audience Size
A percentage range of 1% to 10% can be selected. The source would have a similar Lookalike Audience of 1% (high quality), while larger percentages provide greater reach.
Create and Launch. Once you click Create Audience, Facebook will generate your Lookalike Audience, which may take a few minutes. After you select it in your ad set targeting, you can launch it.
The Lookalike Audience can set up ad-targeting campaigns once they are ready and the audience has been downloaded, although waiting a few minutes won’t hurt.
Best Practices for Using Lookalike Audiences
As experienced marketers might suggest, there are some pro tips for maximizing the use of your Lookalike Audiences.
Splitting Your Source Audience for Defined Segmentation
Instead of creating a single Lookalike Audience from a generic list, create segments for your defined high-value customers who have purchased multiple times, or have higher dollar values.
Explore Performing for Different Sizes of Audiences
Performance-wise, smaller segments (1%- 2%) have better outcomes than larger crowds, though there is more room to manipulate audience size. Plan an A/B test to monitor and control your mid-range configuration.
Refresh Consistently
Facebook algorithms tend to use outdated data. To improve the outcome in cases where the customer base or product offerings frequently change, the primary source audience should be updated regularly.
Combine with Specific Interest Behavior Targeting
Although powerful, layering Lookalike Audiences with specific interests and behaviors can fine-tune the expected outcomes of your targeting.
Lookalike Audiences And Retargeting
Combining these features can be very beneficial. While Lookalike Audiences helps you reach new potential customers, you can retarget customers who show interest or consider having some interaction with your brand. Using Lookalike targeting alongside a robust retargeting strategy means you’re effectively tuning up the nurturing of leads at every step.
Most Facebook ads experts use Lookalike Audiences for the upper funnel and Custom Audiences for conversions in the lower funnel.