Facebook Lookalike Audiences: Update 2014
Hey Warriors!
Here's another update about Facebook Lookalike Audience.
The new features are available today in Power Editor to all advertisers worldwide. To start using them, head to Power Editor, click the "Audiences" tab, and then hit "Create New Audience" → "Lookalike Audience."
Previous version of Lookalike Audiences
In the previous version, this was a two-step process:
Create a Custom Audience
Create a Lookalike Audience from that Custom Audience
FB advertisers were uploading an email list to create that Custom Audience. Facebook would match up those email addresses to actual FB users to allow advertisers to target them in ads.
Facebook advertisers could then turn around and ask Facebook to find users similar to those on that list. While email lists were most common, this could also be done with lists of phone numbers and UIDs.
Today's version of Lookalike Audiences
Today's update means advertisers can:
Find more people who "look like" their website visitors by using data from their Facebook pixels to reach people who are similar to those who previously made purchases on their website.
This is great news on several levels.
1.) You can find users similar to any visitor to your website. If you don't get much traffic, this will allow you to target relevant users while expanding the net from what was otherwise a very small group of people.
2.) You can find users similar to those who visited a specific page of your site. You could use the success page following a conversion, for example, as your basis for a Lookalike Audience. So Facebook would then find users similar to those who bought a particular product (though that will come up again shortly).
3.) You can find users similar to those who visited a specific section of your site. For this to work, the URL structure needs to include that category within it -- or visitors need to be guided to specific landing pages when looking for product types.
Lookalikes for Mobile App Users
Find more people who "look like" their mobile app users by creating lookalike audiences based on people that have used their mobile app, such as people who've downloaded songs from their music app or have made purchases via their shopping app.
Perhaps you're an app developer that's looking to find more people to purchase car rides in your rides-on-demand app.
You can now create lookalike audiences based on people who have previously purchased taxi rides in your app and reach those audiences with mobile app ads.
Mobile App Custom Audiences are relatively new (they came out along with Website Custom Audiences) and allow marketers to re-target those who make specific actions within their apps.
Lookalikes for Pages
Find more people who "look like" their Facebook fans by creating lookalike audiences based on their current fans.
Advertisers can now generate a Lookalike Audience of pages within their control so that they can target users similar to their own fans.
NOTE: You CANNOT create Lookalike Audiences of pages that you don't manage.
This will be very helpful for brands looking to grow, but lacking substantial traffic or an email list.
Facebook added that it doesn't share any personal information from people targeted in lookalike audiences with advertisers. The new features roll out worldwide today through the Power Editor tool for managing multiple campaigns and ads on the site.
Today's update to Lookalike Audiences represents a somewhat lengthy upgrade because it allows advertisers to identify, track and target people that have similar characteristics to the people who like their Page, visiting their websites and use their mobile apps.
It marks another effort by the social networking giant to further enable advertisers developers using Facebook's virtual toolbox to craft more stringent, and hopefully, more effective ads.
Here's another update about Facebook Lookalike Audience.
The new features are available today in Power Editor to all advertisers worldwide. To start using them, head to Power Editor, click the "Audiences" tab, and then hit "Create New Audience" → "Lookalike Audience."
Previous version of Lookalike Audiences
In the previous version, this was a two-step process:
Create a Custom Audience
Create a Lookalike Audience from that Custom Audience
FB advertisers were uploading an email list to create that Custom Audience. Facebook would match up those email addresses to actual FB users to allow advertisers to target them in ads.
Facebook advertisers could then turn around and ask Facebook to find users similar to those on that list. While email lists were most common, this could also be done with lists of phone numbers and UIDs.
Today's version of Lookalike Audiences
Today's update means advertisers can:
Find more people who "look like" their website visitors by using data from their Facebook pixels to reach people who are similar to those who previously made purchases on their website.
This is great news on several levels.
1.) You can find users similar to any visitor to your website. If you don't get much traffic, this will allow you to target relevant users while expanding the net from what was otherwise a very small group of people.
2.) You can find users similar to those who visited a specific page of your site. You could use the success page following a conversion, for example, as your basis for a Lookalike Audience. So Facebook would then find users similar to those who bought a particular product (though that will come up again shortly).
3.) You can find users similar to those who visited a specific section of your site. For this to work, the URL structure needs to include that category within it -- or visitors need to be guided to specific landing pages when looking for product types.
Lookalikes for Mobile App Users
Find more people who "look like" their mobile app users by creating lookalike audiences based on people that have used their mobile app, such as people who've downloaded songs from their music app or have made purchases via their shopping app.
Perhaps you're an app developer that's looking to find more people to purchase car rides in your rides-on-demand app.
You can now create lookalike audiences based on people who have previously purchased taxi rides in your app and reach those audiences with mobile app ads.
Mobile App Custom Audiences are relatively new (they came out along with Website Custom Audiences) and allow marketers to re-target those who make specific actions within their apps.
Lookalikes for Pages
Find more people who "look like" their Facebook fans by creating lookalike audiences based on their current fans.
Advertisers can now generate a Lookalike Audience of pages within their control so that they can target users similar to their own fans.
NOTE: You CANNOT create Lookalike Audiences of pages that you don't manage.
This will be very helpful for brands looking to grow, but lacking substantial traffic or an email list.
Facebook added that it doesn't share any personal information from people targeted in lookalike audiences with advertisers. The new features roll out worldwide today through the Power Editor tool for managing multiple campaigns and ads on the site.
Today's update to Lookalike Audiences represents a somewhat lengthy upgrade because it allows advertisers to identify, track and target people that have similar characteristics to the people who like their Page, visiting their websites and use their mobile apps.
It marks another effort by the social networking giant to further enable advertisers developers using Facebook's virtual toolbox to craft more stringent, and hopefully, more effective ads.