You already know Facebook advertising is an incredibly powerful marketing tool. You’re probably already hyper targeting ads to your customers like a boss. Maybe you’ve even taken a swim through Facebook’s fancy Retargeting tool to reach prospects who’ve interacted digitally with your brand.
But chances are, there’s one Facebook marketing tool you haven’t quite pulled the trigger on yet. Facebook Lookalikes.
Facebook Lookalike Audiences – What the what?
Just like the name infers, Facebook Lookalikes use the data/behavior/metrics of existing consumers to create a replica set, or Lookalike, of similar customers you haven’t reached yet.
Traditional Facebook ads target people who you think will be interested in your product or service. But with Lookalike Audiences, you know they are. That’s because Facebook Lookalikes are based off of past customer behaviors, targeting new people who look just like existing customers who have already shown an interest.
Think about that a sec. With Facebook Lookalike Audiences, you’re now able to reach a whole new group of Facebook users who look, act and interact just like your best customers—the ones who are proven to be most likely to shop, buy or interact with your brand.
Even better, Facebook’s plethora of targeting options (not an overstatement) let you choose from a gazillion categories (ok maybe an overstatement) to create lookalikes as close to your target segment as possible.
Picture your ideal customer. Now, think about where that person lives, how old that person is, whether they’re male or female, what language they speak, interests, occupation, hobbies, income, what they studied in college, home ownership, types of Facebook friends they have, political affiliation, travel habits…The list goes on and Facebook is constantly adding more precise options to help advertisers reach their ideal audience segments. With Lookalike Audiences, you can hyper target to your hearts content to a group of new customers that are highly likely to be interested in your message.
Putting Facebook Lookalikes to work for you
Whether you’re looking to bring traffic to your website, increase conversions, gain clicks/comments, boost likes on your page, improve general brand awareness or target more qualified leads, Lookalike Audiences get you that much closer to converting the clicks, taps and sales you’re looking for.
So where do we start? Glad you asked! Here are 4 strategies for creating Lookalike Audiences for your Facebook ads:
Facebook Lookalikes based on your existing customer list
If you’re not taking advantage of the existing customer database at your fingertips, you’re missing out in a big way.
Take your existing customer list and let Facebook create a custom Lookalike audience who are just like the people who’ve already bought from you or worked with you. By targeting people who share characteristics with your customers, you’re minimizing the risk of wasting ad dollars on someone who’s unlikely to convert in the long run.
Facebook Lookalikes based on people who’ve visited your site
This one just makes too much sense not to try. You have a website. People are (hopefully!) visiting your website. Why not create a Lookalike Audience of these visitors? After all, they’ve already shown an interest by taking the time to learn more about you online. It’s as simple as placing a “pixel” on your existing site to track visitors. Then after a set time frame, use the data collected on each visitor to create the Lookalike Audience who will share a similar interest in our brand, product or offering.
Facebook Lookalikes based on people taking a specific action on your site
In addition to targeting people who have already visited your website, consider targeting those who completed a specific action on it. This means you’ll get your ads in front of people with similar attributes to those who have requested a quote from you, viewed specific resources or checked out a certain product page, for example.
Facebook Lookalikes based on people who’ve engaged with your Facebook page
Fans, followers and others who Like your brand are a crazy-valuable asset, even more so when it comes to Lookalikes. You’re basically cloning a brand new set of your best, most engaged followers. The same people who have a high likelihood of also liking, commenting, watching a video or sharing your Facebook posts with their network.
Facebook Lookalikes based on your email database
Last but definitely not least, you can create a Lookalike Audience of your existing email database. If your list is built on opt-ins and not a bought list, boom, you’ve got a new set of customers based on those who actively want to see more of your message.
Remove the guesswork from Facebook. Reward yourself with greater ROI
Combined with your current Facebook retargeting strategy, Lookalikes will help any marketer look like a real social media marketing scientist—maybe even a guru. After all, Lookalike Audiences are an efficient and effective way to open up new audience segments, expand your reach to the right people, and yes, boost that almighty ROI.
Thanks for reading, you guru you.
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