Using lookalike audiences for Facebook shopping ads could be the key to finding more customers. But you must first understand how it works and then learn how to properly use it.
When Facebook ad targeting is concerned, your most effective tool is lookalike Audiences for Facebook. The reactions you get will then give you specifics on your most successful customers and details on people who could be potential customers.
You can consider it a more sophisticated process of matchmaking audiences for marketers. You give Facebook details of the characters you want in your customer, and Facebook delivers by selectively providing an audience that meets your criteria.
This article will show you how to use lookalike audiences for Facebook shopping ads effectively.
WHAT ARE FACEBOOK LOOKALIKE AUDIENCES?
Facebook Lookalike Audiences are used to generate high-quality leads by reaching out to people who have similar tastes to your current customers.
Moving on, lookalike audiences are sourced from the following:
CUSTOMER INFORMATION
You can get customer information from a customer file list or newsletter subscription list. You then upload the information as a .txt or .csv file.
WEBSITE VISITORS
You must first install Facebook Pixel to create a custom audience that is based on your website visitors. Facebook Pixel allows you to create an audience from people who visited your website, went through the catalog, made payments, and so on.
APPLICATION ACTIVITY
An active Facebook SDK event tracking allows application administrators to collect data on people who have installed their app. It could either “added to the basket” as in retails apps or “level achieved” in-game apps; they make up the 14 pre-defined events that can be tracked.
ENGAGEMENT
The engagement audience comprises people who like, share, repost or tag your content on Facebook and Instagram. Engagement events can be associated with videos, business profiles on Facebook and Instagram, canvas, lead form, and collection.
OFFLINE ACTIVITY
Source audiences can be gotten from a list of people who have contacted your business through a phone call, in person, or any offline channel.
Ad targeting parameters like age, gender, interest, and behaviors can be used as source audience for Lookalike Audiences.to source
HOW TO USE FACEBOOK LOOKALIKE AUDIENCES
Here are the following steps on how to use Facebook Lookalike Audience:
Open Facebook Ads Manager and go to Audiences.
Create an audience and select Lookalike Audience.
Choose your source audience from the custom audience you already created from customer information, Facebook Pixel, or followers on social media, app data. Your source audience must contain 100 people or more from the same country.
Choose your countries and target regions; the countries selected will determine the people in your Lookalike Audience.
Next is to decide your audience size; sizes are based on a scale from 1 to 10. The smaller numbers are more similar, and the more significant numbers tend to have a higher reach. An estimated reach for your audience size will be provided by Facebook.
Finally, create your ad using Adverts Manager; in Tools, click Audiences, and check if your Lookalike Audience is available. When it’s ready, select it and click on Create Advert.
You must also note that it could take between 6 and 24 hours before your Lookalike Audience will be finished; regardless, you can still proceed to create your Advert.
HOW TO EFFECTIVELY USE LOOKALIKE AUDIENCES FOR FACEBOOK SHOPPING ADS
Now that you understand what Lookalike Audiences for Facebook are and how to create one. If it is not effectively used, attaining the end goal of increasing your traffic and conversion rates will not be achieved, and the entire process a waste. So, how do you get it right?
ONLY USE A SOURCE AUDIENCE THAT MATCHES YOUR GOALS
Different custom audiences can match separate goals and use the specific Audience that fits your plan places your brand or products at the center of people who need and will appreciate it even more.
An example is using a Lookalike Audience on Page Fans to draw traffic to your business or using a Lookalike Audience on website visitors to increase online sales.
BE EXTRA CREATIVE WITH CUSTOM AUDIENCES
Creativity with a blend of uniqueness and a well-designed campaign goal will separate your brand from competitions and bring in a lot of interest.
For a video-based campaign, let your Audience revolve around people who have engaged with your past videos. For website visitors, focus on those who have visited your website recently, probably in the past 30 days; you can also focus on those who saved something in their cart.
While for email audiences, newsletter subscribers are your primary focus since they are more interested in receiving news and deals from your business.
Take advantage of these unique characters of each Audience and plan a creative campaign to get potential customers.
TEST THE LOOKALIKE AUDIENCE SIZE
Smaller audiences range from 1 to 5, and they signify that your custom audience is very similar, while the range of 6 to 10 indicates a higher potential reach. How will this information come in handy? When testing your lookalike audience size to know what to optimize for.
If you want to optimize your brand for the similarity between customers, a small audience will do the job, but if the potential reach is your goal, I say go large.
CHOOSE HIGH-QUALITY AND UPDATED DATA
For better results, for better reactions, and the right customers, use high-quality and updated data. The recommendation by Facebook is usually between 1,000 and 50,000 people. So say if 500 audiences are loyal and supportive customers, they will always do better than an audience of 50,000 with mixed customers of good, bad, and average.
An updated data will separate the loyal customers from the crowd. Just as you focus on creating an audience size, be specific and not go for broad audiences like “all app installers” or “all website visitors.” It reduces the quality of the Audience and mixes long-term customers with passersby. Only current information should be provided and ensure that ranges are added.
OPTIMIZATION OF BIDS WITH LOOKALIKE AUDIENCES
Segment your Lookalike Audiences with a set of non-overlapping tiers; note that they must be your most influential Audience. Doing this will create more Lookalike Audiences from a single source audience.
DETERMINE YOUR FINAL DESTINATION
Whatever the goal may be, whether it’s targeting expansion in the global markets, increasing traffic on your website, or building your brand on social media, your Lookalike Audience is dependent on that choice. If the global market is your aim, a Lookalike Audience in app stores of different countries is precisely what to work on.