Expand Your Client Profile, Expand Your Business

Welcome to Part 2 of our series where we’ll continue discussing the power of creating your ideal customer profile.

In Part 1 we talked about how creating the customer profile is crucial for the sales cycle, what an ideal profile looks like, and using data/data enhancement as part of the process.

In this installment, we’ll focus on using current client data to create lookalike audiences on social platforms and through other mediums like email as a way to scale your marketing efforts.

What does a lookalike audience look like?

If you’re looking to find new and creative ways to reach more people, we have good news. Using lookalike audiences, you can use your best customers and find more just like them.

Lookalike audiences are created by using highly advanced targeting tools that go beyond basic interest and demographic functionality. They allow brands to create new audience streams using an established audience source such as previous purchasers or those who have interacted with your content. This approach connects brands to people that are more likely to be interested in the offerings from the company because they resemble your current customers.

Put simply, this means using what’s working with your current target demographic to generate more solid leads, which will eventually lead to more sales.

Creating a Lookalike Audience on Facebook

Lookalike audiences are currently one of the most effective Facebook targeting tools to find your ideal customers. Using your source audience, Facebook replicates all of the data points to find new and almost identical audiences. These targeting tools are highly effective because they are essentially replicating your ideal target customer.

One highly effective way brands use lookalike audiences on Facebook is through video. Facebook users watch an average of 100 million hours of video on the platform.

When done correctly, video is a highly powerful way to build brand recognition and a connection with consumers. If a company uses video as part of its marketing strategy, it can use lookalike audiences to find new potential customers based on those who have watched the videos. The viewers indicate people potentially interested in the product, service, or content presented.

Through the Facebook algorithm, lookalike audiences can also be based on an original audience like the followers of a Facebook page, an email list, or those collected by a pixel, which collects attributes used to define users with similar characteristics (i.e. geographical data, demographics, behaviors, etc.).

Using Facebook ads, you can use lookalike audiences to deliver your message to a group of people likely interested in your business because they mirror your existing customers.

Here are some best practices and tips from the Meta Business Center:

  • Target the same ads to each of the Lookalike Audiences with initial bids
  • See how well the ads perform based on revenue per conversion or the lifetime value of the people in each audience
  • Modify your bids for each audience based on your findings (bid more for more valuable audiences and less for less valuable audiences)
  • It’s recommended that a source audience has between 1,000-5,000 people
  • You can create up to 500 lookalike audiences from a single source audience
  • You can use lookalike expansion to show your ads to people outside your defined lookalike audience

Using Lookalike Audiences on LinkedIn

Similar to Facebook, lookalike audiences on LinkedIn combine a brand’s ideal customer profile with its rich member and customer data to help companies find new, yet similar audiences. 

As the number one social media platform for professional audiences, LinkedIn users are already primed and ready to engage with your marketing message, particularly if relevant to their interests. 

How it works: “Lookalike audiences use a proprietary algorithm to build upon your selected audience. LinkedIn member profile data and company attributes are used to determine similarity to expand to audiences based on similar characteristics. Your lookalike audience size can be up to 15 times larger than your original audience size. The original Matched Audiences segment will not be included in your new lookalike audience.”

Here are few reasons why lookalike audiences on LinkedIn are a highly effective marketing strategy:

  • 4 out of 5 LinkedIn members drive business decisions
  • LinkedIn’s audience has two times the buying power of the average web audience
  • Only active LinkedIn members will be included, which means dollars are spent only on engaged and qualified prospects
  • Audiences can be easily tested
  • LinkedIn provides access to +750M member profiles, 180M senior- level influencers, 63M decision-makers, and 10M C-level executives
  • Audiences can be refined with highly targeted options
  • Find companies similar to yours via lookalike audiences
  • A forecast panel can give an estimate of how your lookalike audience will perform

Let’s find your company more prospects!

No matter where your business is in defining its ideal customer profile, our experienced and dynamic team is here to collaborate with you to ensure that it is being maximized to the fullest potential. 

Whether it’s helping you identify your target audience, using data enhancements for greater impact, or creating lookalike audiences on social media platforms, reach out to LSC Marketing Group to grow your prospects and ultimately your sales. 

We are passionate about data and digital, and will seamlessly bring both together to grow your business.

Sources: FacebookLinkedIn