Facebook Lookalike Audiences is an amazing tool which allows you to expand your customer base and convert prospects into sales. By analysing the data gathered from the most lucrative visitors to your website, you can generate a target profile for the perfect customer, then apply that to a whole new market to gain better quality leads.
If you’re new to this tool, it’s helpful to think of Facebook Lookalike Audiences as a marketing matchmaker. You supply the application with the parameters of your perfect customer, based on the data collected from existing visitors to your website (such as their demographics, app activity, website visits and social media interaction), then sit back and watch the influx of high-quality leads flow in.
Here are a handful of tips on how to ensure you get the best out of this game-changing service:
1) Match the source audience to the objective
As long as you include at least 100 people from the same country, it’s possible to create the source audience from a variety of different datasets. This can be very important when it comes to achieving specific goals, since tailoring the source to your objective is key to success.
For example, if your main aim is to increase awareness around your brand and its services, it might be a good idea to base your source audience on your subscription list or those who have liked, commented or shared content from your Fan Page.
Alternatively, if you’re more interested in boosting online sales and increasing profit margins, choose visitors to your website (or converted customers) as your source audience.
2) Quality not quantity
It’s only logical that higher quality data will deliver higher quality results. As a general rule, Facebook recommends that you use a source audience of between 1,000 and 50,000 people. However, picking the largest number is not a sure-fire route to success.
For example, a source audience of 50,000 people is likely to contain many website visitors who bounced to another page shortly after landing, or even some who arrived by mistake. Focusing on a smaller figure (as few as several hundred) who have actually engaged with your company through likes, shares, subscriptions and purchases, will result in a much better Lookalike Audience every single time.
To put it simply, a smaller target audience will be more closely aligned with your company’s values, while a larger one will increase outreach but compromise on quality.
3) Location, location, location
One important point to remember is that a source audience doesn’t have to contain anyone from the same country as the one you wish to target. This means that Facebook Lookalike Audiences can be a great way to expand your business globally, since it’s a ready-made way of accessing similar markets in different countries.
Alternatively, if you simply want to consolidate your hold on the market in your area, you can concentrate your search more locally. Knowing where you want to focus your marketing efforts is instrumental in getting the most out of Facebook Lookalike Audiences and ensuring your campaign is optimised for success.
4) Recent is relevant
Don’t underestimate the power of fresh data. If you’re relying on a source audience based on information gathered over a period stretching back years, your Lookalike Audience will reflect that. Businesses and customers both change over time, so using dated data runs the risk of returning similarly obsolete results.
Ideally, you only want to focus on customers who have visited, interacted with or purchased from your website in the last 30 to 90 days. Thankfully, Facebook automatically updates its Lookalike Audiences every three to seven days, so all newcomers to your company will be added to your source audience and thus its quality will be constantly updated and enhanced.
Maximise the potential of Facebook
At Hoopla Marketing, we’re fully experienced in all facets of Facebook Lookalike Audiences and we offer a range of professional social media marketing services tailored to your brand.
Our team of seasoned Facebook experts can help you create a social media campaign that maximises the potential of Facebook Lookalike Audiences and other social media tools, to help your business get the most out of your investment.
To find out more about we can help you, get in touch with our friendly team today.