- Meta Ads
- audiences
- definition
Meta lookalike audiences: how they work, and whether they still help
A lookalike audience finds people who resemble your customers. How to create one, which source to choose, and what it is worth next to Meta's broad audiences.
Published on · Joh · 5 min read
A lookalike audience is an audience Meta builds from a starting list: your customers, your site visitors, people who sent an enquiry. Meta then looks, in the chosen country, for the people who most resemble them in their behaviour.
How to create one
- Choose a source. A custom audience of at least 100 people from one country: an uploaded customer list, people who sent a form, visitors to a specific page.
- Choose the country or area.
- Choose the size, from 1% to 10% of the area's population. 1% resembles the source most, 10% is broader and less precise.
It all comes down to the source
A lookalike audience resembles what you give it. That is the rule to remember.
- A list of signed customers makes the best source: people who bought.
- People who sent an enquiry come next, provided the enquiries are good.
- Site visitors or people who liked the page make a broader, fuzzier source.
A lookalike built on people who clicked out of curiosity will mostly find more curious people.
Does it still help?
Less than before. Meta's broad audiences, driven by the algorithm and the creative, often do as well or better. With Advantage+ options, a lookalike audience often becomes a mere starting suggestion that Meta can go beyond. Advantage+ campaigns.
It remains useful in three cases:
- A new account, with little history, to give the algorithm a direction.
- A very good customer list, large and recent.
- A test, to compare with a broad audience and keep whichever costs least per enquiry.
For a local business
Area matters more than resemblance. A France-wide lookalike for a tradesperson working within 40 km makes no sense: always combine it with the geographic area. Geographic targeting on Facebook.
And the customer list must be uploaded within the legal frame: customers who gave you their details, informed of how they are used.
Further reading: Retargeting and How to structure a Meta campaign for enquiries.
Got a customer list and not sure what to do with it? . We check whether it can serve as a source, and how.