Blog Post | Jul 23, 2024
Using Lookalike Audiences to Duplicate Your Success
Facebook has a feature that enables business advertisers to create a lookalike audience and reach new customers who share the characteristics of existing customers.
As every marketer knows, it’s easier and cheaper to keep an existing customer than to go through the effort and expense of cultivating a new client. But what if you could clone your best customers?
That’s the idea behind lookalike audiences: a lookalike audience is a new (at least, to you) audience that shares the same characteristics as a segment you’re already marketing to.
Facebook has a built-in tool that allows marketers to duplicate an audience in a few simple steps.
Even though you can’t automatically migrate this lookalike audience from Facebook into your direct mail database, there are a few simple ways to capture leads that act like your existing best customers. Here’s how a lookalike audience can help you duplicate your marketing success.
Creating a Lookalike Audience on Facebook
Lookalike audiences started as a premium feature on social media platforms like Facebook, allowing advertisers to tap into a massive database (currently more than three billion active monthly users) to find new users that behaved similarly to a ‘control’ group with similar interests, interactions (likes, comments, shares), and previous ad clicks.
Being able to duplicate an audience of your best customers allows you to broaden your reach effortlessly. You can repurpose existing creative instead of building a campaign from scratch. It’s an efficient way to get in front of a new audience with minimal cost and minimal risk.
Within Facebook, the tools are simple, so it’s easy to create a duplicate audience you can feel confident about. Facebook Ad Manager will take you through a series of simple steps:
What About Creating Lookalike Audiences for Direct Mail?
Even if you can’t just clone your Facebook audience for direct mail, there are still easy ways to fill your mailing list with leads that are demographically or geographically similar to your best customers.
One easy and effective option is to buy or rent a targeted mailing list. While you may not achieve a 1-to-1 match with your Facebook audience, you can customize a list based on highly specific factors, such as location, estimated household income, household or family size and more. Some brokers even combine online analytics to optimize your results.
Another reliable strategy is to drill down into your Facebook analytics to geotarget. For example, a national business might look to see where its Facebook campaigns are performing the best and then use a service like USPS’s Every Door Direct Mail to blanket specific ZIP codes.
However, your best bet is to capitalize on a Facebook lookalike audience by leading them into your CRM (customer relationship management) stream. This requires you to move your interactions off social media and drive them to your website with irresistible offers and unique content and experiences.
Looking For More Advice on Integrated Marketing Strategies?
Direct mail and social media are just two ways to build a bigger audience and turn them into loyal customers. We are experts in integrated marketing, and we can help you develop a new campaign or tweak your existing marketing to meet your goals. Contact us to learn more.
That’s the idea behind lookalike audiences: a lookalike audience is a new (at least, to you) audience that shares the same characteristics as a segment you’re already marketing to.
Facebook has a built-in tool that allows marketers to duplicate an audience in a few simple steps.
Even though you can’t automatically migrate this lookalike audience from Facebook into your direct mail database, there are a few simple ways to capture leads that act like your existing best customers. Here’s how a lookalike audience can help you duplicate your marketing success.
Creating a Lookalike Audience on Facebook
Lookalike audiences started as a premium feature on social media platforms like Facebook, allowing advertisers to tap into a massive database (currently more than three billion active monthly users) to find new users that behaved similarly to a ‘control’ group with similar interests, interactions (likes, comments, shares), and previous ad clicks.
Being able to duplicate an audience of your best customers allows you to broaden your reach effortlessly. You can repurpose existing creative instead of building a campaign from scratch. It’s an efficient way to get in front of a new audience with minimal cost and minimal risk.
Within Facebook, the tools are simple, so it’s easy to create a duplicate audience you can feel confident about. Facebook Ad Manager will take you through a series of simple steps:
- Set up your custom audience in Ad Manager. You can import from your own source (e.g., e-commerce data or your organic Facebook audience.
- Create a lookalike audience. Ad Manager will walk you through the steps.
- Identify your source. You’ll then be asked to select an existing audience or data source or create a new source.
- Choose your location. Broaden your reach across an entire country or target a specific region.
- Determine your audience size. You may have to make a tradeoff: a bigger audience with slightly less in common with your original group or a more highly targeted but smaller list.
- Create your audience and publish your ad. Finally, you’ll ask Facebook to compile your new audience. Once this step is complete, you can republish some of your best-performing campaigns.
What About Creating Lookalike Audiences for Direct Mail?
Even if you can’t just clone your Facebook audience for direct mail, there are still easy ways to fill your mailing list with leads that are demographically or geographically similar to your best customers.
One easy and effective option is to buy or rent a targeted mailing list. While you may not achieve a 1-to-1 match with your Facebook audience, you can customize a list based on highly specific factors, such as location, estimated household income, household or family size and more. Some brokers even combine online analytics to optimize your results.
Another reliable strategy is to drill down into your Facebook analytics to geotarget. For example, a national business might look to see where its Facebook campaigns are performing the best and then use a service like USPS’s Every Door Direct Mail to blanket specific ZIP codes.
However, your best bet is to capitalize on a Facebook lookalike audience by leading them into your CRM (customer relationship management) stream. This requires you to move your interactions off social media and drive them to your website with irresistible offers and unique content and experiences.
Looking For More Advice on Integrated Marketing Strategies?
Direct mail and social media are just two ways to build a bigger audience and turn them into loyal customers. We are experts in integrated marketing, and we can help you develop a new campaign or tweak your existing marketing to meet your goals. Contact us to learn more.