Facebook's lookalike audience is one of the platform's most powerful features. With digital marketing, the goal is to find customers, sell them a product/service, and then repeat the cycle. However, what if you want to find new customers? Ideally, the best way to do this is to find your ideal audience and search for others who share similar traits.

This is where the power of Facebook Ads with Facebook Lookalike Audience comes in. Facebook is a powerful and cost-effective tool to promote your product or brand without a humongous advertising budget! However, the most defining features are the available targeting options and the ability to build new ads based on your existing audience. Enter Facebook Lookalike Audience.

Rather than starting each campaign from the beginning, Lookalike Audience allows you to skip all of the grunt work, such as tweaking targeting factors. You can create a new target audience based on a previously established source audience, such as people who have viewed your videos or followed your page. It can even be based on conversion pixels you've created for your website!

This article will discuss the basics and steps of setting up a Lookalike Audience, where you will be introduced to various targeting methods. By the end, you should have a general understanding of the topics and knowledge to successfully scale your ad targeting using Lookalike Audience, thus boosting your bottom line.  

Without further ado, let's get started!

Facebook Lookalike Audience: What Is It?

In Facebook's own words, a lookalike audience is how your ads can reach new people who are likely to be interested in your business because they share similar characteristics to your existing customers. At its core, all Lookalike Audiences are based on data points taken from your Custom Audience, which Facebook uses to search for newer, similar people based on your audience size and country.

Before we get into the benefits, let us discuss choosing your audience size. Deciding on your audience size is crucial to finding new leads similar to your existing customer base. As you can see below, sizes can range between 1-10% of a population.

Remember that the larger your audience size, the less targeted and broader your new audience becomes. Smaller audience sizes will make an audience more aligned with your desired persona. In other words, the smaller your audience size, the more closely it'll match your source audience. We recommend starting small, then scaling up.

Facebook recommends a source audience of 1,000 - 50,000 people. Consider the audience's quality and size; both factors can significantly impact your results. You can read more about this by clicking here.

‍

Facebook Lookalike Audience: Why Use It?

If you've used Facebook Ads before, you might notice plenty of other ad formats you can run. So, why choose Lookalike Audience? Well, it turns out that there are plenty of reasons! We'll highlight the top 5 reasons why you SHOULD use Lookalike Audience.

• Time Saver

If you have already done the work of fine-tuning a Custom Audience, congratulations! You have already done the most challenging and time-consuming part! You must select your desired Custom Audience, country, and audience size; Facebook will take care of the rest!

• Money Saver

The Lookalike Audience feature is not only a time-saver but also a money saver! Since you already know the characteristics of your desired audience, you can avoid unnecessary spending on the wrong audiences. In other words, this allows you to optimize your ad spend while generating more significant returns and increasing your customer base!

‍

• Ability To Reach Outside Of Your Customer Base

This is arguably the main reason many digital marketers use Facebook Lookalike Audience: the ability to reach outside your customer base or usual scope. You can easily see how you can utilize Lookalike Audience to supplement your existing campaign(s), meaning you can experiment and target multiple audiences simultaneously. With this, you can reach similar consumers you haven't appealed to yet and increase your customer base!  

• Improve Your ROI

Theoretically, Lookalike Audience has "proven" success. Its feature allows you to target an audience based on specific parameters that show user interest and share traits with existing customers. As a result, it's easy to see why you can expect a higher conversion rate. You can improve your success with enhanced targeting, provided by the Lookalike audience feature!

For example, let us look at a Turkish eCommerce company named Modanisa. The company has recently expanded into the German market by utilizing Lookalike Audience. They had to select their Custom Audience and the country where they wanted to run their ads. As a result, Modanisa has increased its ROI by 4X and acquisition rate by 30%!

Setting Up Lookalike Audience In Facebook Business Manager

Setting up a lookalike audience is relatively easy compared to creating a Custom Audience. As a matter of fact, lookalike audiences are described as an extension of custom audiences because the former's source comes from the latter. That means the grunt work has been done while creating your custom audience!

Once set up, you can monitor your results and growth from one of the most powerful tools Facebook offers! Before we get started, make sure that you're the admin.

Now, let us get started!

• Step 1: Click Ads Manager and select Audiences in the Assets tab to begin.
• Step 2: Click the Create Audience drop-down and choose Lookalike Audience.
• Step 3: Select your Lookalike source.
• Step 4: Select the country or countries.

• Step 5: Select audience size.

It may take 6-24 hours for your lookalike audience to be created. After that, you are good to go! You can create a new ad set and market it to more qualified prospects! As long as your ad is active, your audience will refresh every 3-7 days. Wasn't that easy? :)

You can check when your audience was last updated by visiting your Audience Manager page and clicking on the Availability column.

We recommend you quickly familiarize yourself with these steps. From this point on, in this article, we'll look into several methods of creating lookalike audiences. By methods, we mean different audience sources.

‍

Facebook Pixel

A quick reminder before we move on. If you are interested in targeting audiences based on your website data, make sure your Facebook Pixel is set up. We recommend you do so since it has proven to be beneficial! Check out some of the benefits and functionalities.

‍

Facebook Lookalike Audience: 5 Methods

Method 1: Create An Email Lookalike Audience

Before you begin, you must have a segmented list of the emails you want to base your lookalike audience on. Make sure they align with your goals! Download the list as a CSV file. Afterward, head over to your Facebook Ad Manager.

Once there, follow these steps:

• Click Ads Manager and select Audiences in the Assets tab to begin.
• Click the Create Audience drop-down and choose Custom Audience.

To have a lookalike audience, you must have a source to choose from. So, click on Customer File since you will use your email list. At this point, you have two options. You can select a file, copy and paste the data, or import your data from MailChimp. Since we have a CSV file, we will just choose to upload it, so click on Choose a File or Copy and Paste the Data and upload it in the next window.

Now that your data has been uploaded to Facebook, you can map the identifiers that will help the Facebook algorithm create a lookalike audience. The more identifiers you have, the better the match rate will be.

After you're done, go ahead and click Upload and Create. You should see a progress bar and the number of rows successfully uploaded.

At the bottom of the window, you'll see Create a Lookalike Audience, which we want. So, click on that. A new Create a Lookalike Audience box will pop up. You can now select your email list in the Source box! Finish it by selecting your targeted country and audience size and clicking Create Audience.

Congratulations! You have created an email lookalike audience!

Method 2: Create A Facebook Engagement Lookalike Audience

This method involves people engaged with your content across the Facebook family of apps and services. According to Facebook, engagement refers to people's actions while on Facebook, such as viewing videos, following a Facebook page, or opening a form in a lead generation ad. Remember, activities recorded by your pixel will not be included.

Facebook has provided a long list of engagement options you can choose from, which we recommend experimenting with. There are seven Engagement Custom Audience types available:

• Video
• Lead Form
• Shopping
• Events
• Instant Experience
• Instagram Account
• Facebook page

For now, we will be creating a lookalike audience using the Video engagement option. Here's a fun fact, did you know that more than 4 billion video views will be generated daily in 2021?! It comes as no surprise that video is Facebook's top-performing content. However, like all lookalike audiences, you can't create one unless you have a source audience.

Let's begin by creating our custom video audience! So, head over to your Facebook Ad Manager.

Once there, follow these steps:

• Click Ads Manager and select Audiences in the Assets tab to begin.
• Click the Create Audience drop-down and choose Custom Audience.

This time, select Video in the next window.

In the next box, you'll be able to establish your parameters. Start off by selecting your desired criteria in the Engagement drop-down menu. You will notice that you have several options from 3 seconds to 95% of your video. This is also where you choose the videos from which you want to build your audience.

Afterward, name your audience, then click Create Audience. Now that you have your custom video audience, it's time to create your lookalike audience. So, head back to your Ads Manager and click Create Audience.

This time select Lookalike Audience from the drop-down menu. Like the last example, a new Create a Lookalike Audience box will pop up. You can select your custom video audience in the 'Source' box.

Finish it up by selecting your targeted country and audience size and clicking Create Audience.

Congratulations! You have created a video/engagement lookalike audience!

Method 3: Create A Facebook Page with Lookalike Audiences

In this method, your source comes from your fans on your Facebook page. So, if you have a large following consistently interacting with and following your Facebook page, this is a great way to find new customers similar to your existing ones. Not to mention that a Facebook Page lookalike audience is easier to set up because you don't have to create a custom audience for your source!

Let's begin by heading over to your Facebook Ad Manager. Click Ads Manager and select Audiences in the Assets tab. After you've clicked Create Audience, choose Lookalike Audience.  

In the Create a Lookalike Audience window, select your page name as the source in the drop-down menu.

Finish it up by selecting your targeted country and audience size and clicking Create Audience.

Congratulations! You have created a Facebook Page lookalike audience!

Method 4: Create A Conversion Lookalike Audiences

Conversion Lookalike Audiences allow you to find new customers based on your website's custom audience of individuals who've completed a specific task. Conversions are described as particular actions with high intent, such as signing up or purchasing a product.

For example, let's say you're an eCommerce business looking for people to sign up for your email newsletter, and you choose to run a lead ad campaign. You would want to create a custom website audience of those who have triggered a lead event, then use that audience to make your Lookalike.

Before doing this, you must ensure your Facebook pixel has been set up.

Like the video and email lookalike audiences, you must create a source audience first. So, head over to your Facebook Ad Manager and follow these steps:

• Click Ads Manager and select Audiences in the Assets tab to begin.
• Click the Create Audience drop-down and choose Custom Audience.

In the Create a Custom Audience window, select Website traffic.

Select Custom combination in the Website traffic box in the next window.

Since we are focused on a specific action, select Event in the URL drop-down menu. Under it, you will see a blank box where you will choose from a list of event actions that are currently being tracked by your Facebook pixel.

Next, in the In the Last box, enter the time parameter for how long people will stay in your audience once they've completed the specific action.

Then, ensure the Include Past Website Traffic box is checked, give your audience a name, and click Create Audience.

So, head back to your Ads Manager and click Create Audience. This time select Lookalike Audience from the drop-down menu.

In the Create a Lookalike Audience box, select your website's custom audience from the Source drop-down menu. Finish it up by selecting your targeted country and audience size and clicking Create Audience.

Method 5: Create A Website/URL with Lookalike Audiences

This method works similar to the last one (Conversion Lookalike), except, now, we are interested in those who have visited our website, which can be described as having lower intent than a conversion.

The steps are the same as the previous method, except for one. Let's go through it together one last time!

Head over to your Facebook Ad Manager and follow these steps:

• Click Ads Manager and select Audiences in the Assets tab to begin.
• Click the Create Audience drop-down and choose Custom Audience.

In the Create a Custom Audience window, select Website.

In your next Create a Custom Audience window, select any of the following to target: all website visitors, people who visited specific webpages, or visitors by time spent. You will need to provide additional information depending on which one you choose.

However, you'll need to set up your conditions near the top before doing that. You can include people who meet ANY or ALL of your conditions. For now, keep it on the default, ANY.

Now, make sure that you have the correct pixel selected.

Afterward, you can finally get started on creating your custom audience. Go ahead and select your website criteria and the number of days you would like someone to remain in your audience. The default number of days is set to 30 days, while the maximum is 180 days.

Let's set our desired target to All Website Visitors and leave the number of days as the default. Congratulations, you've technically created your website's custom audience!

You can name your audience and click Create Audience, but we have one more feature we would love to show you!

You may have also noticed the picture below in your Create a Custom Audience window.

Although we personally don't use this much, this feature allows you to create more conditions and refine your audience.

To continue from the last example, let's say we would like to add an Or condition, so click on Include More People.

We are interested in those who have visited a specific webpage this time, so set your target to People who visited specific webpages.

Next, you will be required to provide additional conditions. Next to the URL box, you have three options in the drop-down menu: Contains, Doesn't Contain, and Equals. We will leave it as the default, Contains.

Note: Contains and Equals are not the same. Contains can include other characters and has the given input, while Equal means it must be identical.

Recall earlier that you may need a URL, depending on your chosen target. Let's say you're interested in targeting those who have visited a specific blog of yours. Place this URL into the blank box as demonstrated below.

If, for some reason, you choose not to include a URL, don't worry! You can include the keywords in the URL you would like to target. This has the potential to pick up multiple pages, thus increasing the volume.

Once you are done, name your audience and click Create Audience. Now, it's time to create a lookalike audience!

So, head back to your Ads Manager and click Create Audience. This time select Lookalike Audience from the drop-down menu.

In the Create a Lookalike Audience box, select your website's custom audience from the Source drop-down menu. Finish it up by selecting your targeted country and audience size and clicking Create Audience.

Yay! You have completed your final lookalike example! Congratulations on making it this far!

Conclusion

Whew! That was a lot of information to take in. We hope to have convinced you how invaluable a tool Facebook Lookalike Audience can be! However, like other ad types and skills, it will take time to master and see results.

Regardless, they are worth pursuing to experiment and reach new audiences. You'll never know what you might get! After all, the Lookalike Audience tool is one of the most effective ways to derive immediate value from Facebook and can provide you with a quick leg up against your competitors!

We hope you find this article informative! We wish you much luck!

If you're interested in reading more blogs about digital marketing, please visit our blog.

Wanna know more about Facebook Ads?

Stiddle's Blog: Ultimate Guide On Facebook Ads

‍