If you already have a set of loyal customers, Meta Lookalike Audiences allow you to reach new people who share similar behaviors, interests, and demographics. This strategy helps you expand your marketing reach while maintaining the high relevance that drives conversions.
In this guide, we’ll explore how to create lookalike audiences using Ads Manager, the types of source audiences to use, and strategies to optimize them for campaigns—illustrated with practical examples from the flower business Kellan Ivy.
What is a Meta Lookalike Audience?
A lookalike audience is a group of new users on Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram) who share similar characteristics with an existing source audience. Meta uses data from the source audience, such as demographics, behaviors, and interests, to find people likely to engage with your business.
This type of audience is ideal for scaling campaigns, acquiring new customers, and increasing the ROI of your ad spend.
Why Use Lookalike Audiences?
Lookalike audiences offer several benefits:
- Expand reach to potential customers similar to your best users
- Reduce wasted ad spend by targeting relevant audiences
- Improve conversions by focusing on users likely to engage
- Enhance campaign performance with data-driven targeting
By leveraging custom audiences as source data, you can refine your targeting and create ads that resonate with the right people.
Step 1: Identify a Source Audience
Before creating a lookalike audience, you need a source audience. This can be:
- A custom audience (website visitors, email lists, or engagement audiences)
- Facebook page followers
- Value-based lists (customers segmented by purchase amount)
For example, Kellan Ivy used a website visitors audience collected from the past 30 days as a source audience to create her lookalike audience.
Pro Tip: Ensure your source audience has at least 100 people, but ideally 1,000+ for best results.
Step 2: Create Your First Lookalike Audience
- Go to Ads Manager → Ad Set → Create New Audience → Lookalike Audience
- Select your source audience (custom audience or page followers)
- Choose the location for the new audience (e.g., city, country, or region)
- Adjust audience size:
- 1% = users most similar to your source audience
- Up to 10% = broader audience with decreasing similarity
- 1% = users most similar to your source audience
For Kellan Ivy, targeting 1% of Europe provided a highly similar audience for fresh-cut flower subscriptions, while a 10% audience could capture a broader potential customer base.
Step 3: Value-Based Lookalike Audiences
Meta allows you to create lookalike audiences based on customer value:
- Use purchase history or spending data
- Let Meta identify users similar to your highest-value customers
- Optimize campaigns to attract customers who are likely to generate the most revenue
This strategy is ideal for e-commerce businesses that want to scale high-performing products or subscriptions.
Step 4: Lookalikes from Engagement Audiences
If your business runs video campaigns, lead forms, or events, you can create lookalike audiences from users who engaged with your content:
- Video viewers (e.g., watched 50% or more of a tutorial)
- Lead form submitters
- Event RSVPs
- Social media page interactions
Kellan Ivy used a video engagement audience to target users interested in her online flower arranging course, expanding beyond Amsterdam to countries showing high site traffic.
Step 5: Set Audience Location Strategically
Selecting the right location is crucial:
- For physical products, focus on delivery areas
- For online courses, target countries with high engagement
- Use insights from website analytics and Meta’s audience data
This ensures your campaigns reach people who can actually purchase or engage with your offerings.
Step 6: Adjusting Audience Size and Similarity
Meta allows flexibility in audience similarity:
- Smaller percentages (1–2%) = highly similar to your source audience, usually high conversion
- Larger percentages (5–10%) = broader reach, suitable for awareness campaigns
- Test multiple audiences to find the best performing combination
Kellan Ivy created two lookalike audiences: one narrow and one broader, to monitor which generated better results.
Step 7: Campaign Integration
Once your lookalike audience is ready:
- Apply it at the ad set level in Ads Manager
- Add demographics, interest, and behavior targeting if needed
- Run your ads, monitor performance, and iterate
Even if you use additional targeting, Meta’s algorithms optimize delivery based on audience similarity and engagement patterns.
Step 8: Lookalike Audience Maintenance
- Audiences update automatically when actively used in campaigns
- Changes to the source audience reflect in future audience growth
- You cannot edit audience size after creation—create new lookalikes if adjustments are needed
This ensures your ads remain relevant and effective over time.
Bonus Tips for Lookalike Success
- Always start with a high-quality source audience
- Combine with custom audiences for retargeting campaigns
- Test different similarity percentages to identify optimal reach
- Pair lookalike audiences with high-converting creatives for better ROI
Internal Links for Further Learning
- Meta Ads Placement: Complete Guide to Facebook & Instagram Ad Placements
- Meta Advertising Tools: Complete Guide to Ads Manager and Business Growth
External Resources
Summary of the Content
Meta Lookalike Audiences help businesses reach new users who share characteristics with their existing customers. By using custom audiences, page followers, or value-based lists as sources, marketers can create precise, high-converting audiences for campaigns. Adjust audience size, location, and similarity to optimize reach and performance. When combined with custom audience retargeting, lookalike audiences provide a powerful method to scale marketing efforts and grow your business.