Lookalike audience
Also called lookalikes, similar audience
What is a lookalike audience?
A lookalike audience is a group of new people that an ad platform builds because they share traits with a source audience you supply, such as your customer list, site visitors or top video viewers. Meta made the term popular; TikTok, LinkedIn and others offer similar tools. You pick the source and the country.
On Meta you also choose a size, from 1% (the closest match in a country) to 10% (broader, less similar). The platform uses its own data to find matches, so you never see who is in the audience.
As platforms have moved toward broad, automated targeting, lookalikes matter less than they used to. Broad targeting with good creative often performs as well, and Meta may expand a lookalike beyond the size you set. Still, a strong source list remains a useful signal.
Why a lookalike audience matters
Lookalikes help you find new customers who resemble the ones you already have, instead of guessing at interests. For a small business with a few hundred good customers, that can be a quicker path to profitable prospecting.
The quality of the source decides the quality of the lookalike. A list of your best repeat buyers usually beats a list of everyone who ever clicked.
How to create a lookalike audience
- Choose a source: your best customers, purchasers in the last 180 days or engaged video viewers.
- Upload or select it in the ad manager as a custom audience (respect privacy law and platform terms).
- Create a lookalike from it, choosing the country and size.
- Run it against broad targeting with the same creative to see which performs better.
- Refresh the source list every few months.
Lookalike audience FAQ
What size lookalike audience should I use?
Smaller percentages are closer matches but limit reach; larger ones reach more people with a weaker match. Testing a 1% lookalike against a broader one is a common starting point.
How big does the source audience need to be?
Meta requires at least 100 people from one country, but a source of 1,000 or more of your best customers usually gives a better result.
Related terms
Retargeting shows ads to people who already interacted with your business, such as site visitors or video viewers, to bring them back to buy.
A target audience is the specific group of people a business wants to reach with its marketing, defined by needs, traits and behavior.
An ideal customer profile (ICP) describes the type of customer, usually a company, that gets the most value from you and is most valuable to you.
Paid social is advertising on social platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and LinkedIn, where you pay to show posts to a chosen audience.
A buyer persona is a fictional profile of an ideal customer, based on research, that helps a business write and plan for real people.