Create Lookalike Audiences

A lookalike audience lets Meta find new people who resemble a group you already know, such as past customers or Page followers. It is a quick way to widen your reach with a better-than-cold audience.

Where to create one

• In the campaign builder, open Audience Controls > Intended Audience > Lookalike Audience, open the dropdown and choose Create a Lookalike Audience.
• Or use Marketing > Ad Manager > Settings > Audiences > Create new audience > Lookalike.

Steps

1. In the dialog, choose a Data source: a connected Page or one of your existing Custom Audiences.
2. Enter an Audience Name that you will recognise later.
3. Choose the Geographic location. Only whole countries are supported, and this is where the similar people will live.
4. Set the Audience Size between 0 and 10 percent. A narrow range (0 to 1 percent) matches your source most closely. Larger ranges reach more people but are less similar.
5. Click Create audience.

Audience status

• Populating: Meta is building the audience, which usually takes 6 to 24 hours. You can already attach it to a campaign.
• Ready: the audience meets Meta's requirements and can be used freely. It refreshes every few days while ads use it.
• Audience not created: the source was probably too small. Try a larger source.

Tips

• Pick a source with at least a few hundred people for best results.
• Create several sizes (1 percent, 3 percent, 5 percent) and compare cost per lead.
• Lookalikes cannot be used in Special Ad Category campaigns.

Good to know: A lookalike is only as good as its source, so build it from your best customers rather than from all contacts.