Creating Lookalike Audiences in Ad Manager
Lookalike audiences help you reach new people who share characteristics with your existing customers. This guide explains how to create and use these audiences during campaign setup.
Accessing the Lookalike Audience Feature
You can create a lookalike audience while setting up a campaign. In the campaign creation process, navigate to the second step labeled 'Budget and Audience'. Within the Audience Controls section, find the Intended Audience area. Click the Lookalike Audience tab, then select the dropdown menu labeled 'Create new or select lookalike audience'. The first option in this list is 'Create a Lookalike Audience'.
How to Create a Lookalike Audience
A lookalike audience is a new group of people similar to your current customer base. You start by selecting a source audience, and the system finds users with similar traits.
Clicking 'Create a Lookalike Audience' opens a dialog box where you define the audience parameters:
- Data Source: Choose the source for your lookalike audience from the dropdown. Options include:
- Page: Select from a list of all pages integrated with your Ad Manager.
- Custom Audiences: Choose from your existing custom audiences within the Ad Manager.
- Audience Name: Enter a descriptive name for easy identification.
- Geographic Location: Select the country or countries where you want to find similar people. Only country-level targeting is supported; you cannot use cities, neighborhoods, or provinces.
- Audience Size: Set a percentage range between 0% and 10%. A smaller percentage (e.g., 0-1%) creates a highly similar, smaller audience. A larger percentage results in a broader, more general audience.
After entering all required information, click 'Create audience'. The audience will appear in the lookalike dropdown but may not be immediately usable.
Audience Statuses
After creation, your lookalike audience will have one of the following statuses:
- Ready: The audience is fully created, meets all platform requirements, and can be used in campaigns.
- Populating: The system is building the audience, which can take between 6 and 24 hours. Once complete, the status changes to Ready. The audience refreshes automatically every 3-7 days while it's being used in active campaigns.
- Audience Not Created: This indicates the source audience was too small. You will need to create a new lookalike audience with a different source.
Once successfully created, your lookalike audience will appear in the dropdown list and can be selected for campaigns when its status is either Ready or Populating.