Let’s start with this: the title of this article is a lie. There is no perfect Facebook audience.
But what if there were?
It would have all your best prospects in it. Susan, whose mother died due to a medication error in her nursing home. James, whose wife broke her hip in a fall from a Hoyer lift.
It would also have your future prospects in it, so that you could nurture them. Marquise, who just put his older sister in a nursing home and is concerned about her safety.
It would even have some people you never even considered when picturing your best prospects. Margaret, whose closest friend just lost her mother to a choking incident in her nursing home.
The perfect Facebook audience does not exist. But you can create a strong, successful Facebook audience that captures a wide variety of prospects through a method known as a lookalike audience.
What is a lookalike audience? A lookalike is a Facebook audience made up of people who Facebook believes are similar to (i.e., “look like”) your best customers. Creating a lookalike requires a “source” audience, such as a client list, a lead list, fans of your Facebook page, or people who watched your videos. Facebook’s algorithm then identifies the commonalities between these people to find similar people.
Why does it work? Lookalike audiences work because Facebook has a frankly ridiculous amount of data about all of its users. Just how well does Facebook know you? A 2015 study had more than 86,000 users take personality tests, then compared those results against Facebook’s assessments and assessments taken by people close to those users, such as friends, family, co-workers, and spouses. Facebook’s algorithm was able to better predict an individual’s personality test results than friends, family, and colleagues. Spouses came out very slightly ahead on most personality traits, though Facebook was better at predicting certain traits. In other words, Facebook may know you as well as your spouse does. When discussing lookalike audiences with clients, I have heard lawyers say things like “I don’t know if these people have anything in common. They’re all different ages and races.” These “obvious” markers — age, gender, race, income, etc. — can certainly be a part of lookalikes. Lookalikes are so much more than that, though. Facebook knows that you like watching sad commercials. Facebook knows whether you click on videos or images. Facebook knows what kinds of ads you scroll past quickly — and which ones make you stop and read them. And it’s these data points — and many thousands more that we can’t even conceive of — that go into the algorithm finding people who “look like” your clients.
How can I make a lookalike audience? First, identify your source audience. Source audiences can include a client list, a list of leads/inquiries to your firm, Facebook page followers, or people who watched your videos.
Two important factors matter here:
Size: Your source audience must have a minimum of 100 Facebook users. In practice, we have found that at least 150 people will result in 100 Facebook users. The bigger your source audience, the better —Facebook recommends 1,000 – 50,000
Quality: The higher the value of the prospects/clients included in your source audience, the better your lookalike should be for your business.
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Savvy readers will notice that these two factors are often in conflict with each other. A larger list — such as all inquiries to your firm — is usually lower in quality than a smaller list — such as only qualified inquiries. So, how do you decide what to use as your source audience? For most law firms, we recommend using a list of qualified leads from the practice area you are advertising. If you have hundreds of signed retainers in that practice area, by all means use a list of those clients. If you have relatively few qualified leads — especially under 150-200 — consider using something broader like all leads or even people who engaged with your advertising in that practice area. If you don’t have any of the above, you can always use Facebook advertising to work toward having a good source option. For instance, you could advertise free downloads to an eBook you wrote. Then, once you have collected a couple hundred downloads, you could use that list as a source audience. Once you have decided on a source audience, you can upload it to your Facebook ad account. For client and lead lists, you at least need names and email addresses, though the more information you provide, the better Facebook will be at finding and matching these people to their Facebook accounts.
Since client lists include private information, Facebook does not store any identifying information in your ad account. In other words, no one can go into your ad account and see who is on the client list you uploaded.
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Once you have uploaded your source audience, you can then create lookalike audiences from that source. Lookalikes are divided into 1% “segments” — each additional 1% finds approximately 2.2 million people in the United States. The lower the percent of your lookalike, the “closer” these people are to your source audience.
What should I do with my audience? Once you have your lookalike audience(s) created, it’s time to put it to use in your ads.
When using your lookalike audience, always keep your source audience in mind. You should use your lookalike in a place where you want to reach people similar to your source audience.
For example, you could advertise a free Motor Vehicle Accident survey to a lookalike created from your MVA clients. You should not, however, advertise for a mass tort like JUUL to that same list.
Advertising to a lookalike whose source audience doesn’t align with your advertising goals is likely to just flush money down the drain.
You can also “layer” in other targeting with your lookalike. For example, let’s say you want to use a lookalike to find new Hernia Mesh prospects. You know your best prospects are 35 – 64, so you add in those ages. You also know that people tagged in Facebook with “Hernia” or “Inguinal hernia” have converted well for you in the past. You can also add those interests. In fact, some of our best campaigns use a lookalike layered with demographic information like age and interests like “Hernia.”
However, you use your lookalike, make sure you regularly (we recommend every month or two) update your source audience by adding any recent individuals. The more recent someone is to the lookalike, the more data Facebook should have about them.
Lookalike audiences are not perfect. Sometimes, they fail spectacularly. However, as seasoned Facebook advertisers, we’ve seen them unlock success in campaign after campaign. With the right source audience, thoughtful application, and regular updates, a lookalike audience may pave your path to a sustainably profitable Facebook campaign.
