On Tuesday, Facebook started offering advertisers another tool to target potential consumers with Lookalike Audiences, a feature that lets them reach users similar to those in their Custom Audience database. Custom Audiences, which launched in late 2012, lets marketers use existing data such as email addresses, phone numbers and user IDs to inform their Facebook strategy. Lookalike Audiences, as the name implies, is a tool that alerts advertisers to similar consumers. Facebook also noted in a recent blog post that marketers can buy Custom and Lookalike audiences in conjunction with any other ad buy.
For example, a business could choose to run an offer to two people who they know have bought from them before, as well as customers who share similar attributes to them. The object is to lure in new fans, but Lookalike Marketers will only know certain attributes of their Lookalike Audience, such as their size. Facebook has vowed not to share any of this personal information with advertisers. They also claim that such targeting increases efficacy. Facebook launched Lookalikes in beta in February. The product ties in with Facebook’s goal of improving overall ad performance.
In January during the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told analysts, “There’s a big opportunity in front of us to make every ad that we’re showing a lot better. The biggest ways we’re going to do this are by improving targeting and relevance so we can show everyone content that they care more about and by designing better ad products that aren’t just about links and text and images. For targeting, I’m most excited about the work that we’re doing on Custom Audiences.”
So what do you think? Do you think you would spend money on the new Lookalike ad feature? Or think that it’s unnecessary?
Leave a comment and let us know!
