Facebook updates ‘Lookalike Audiences’ ad program to help brands target you better

Facebook’s latest “Lookalike Audiences” ad initiative is pretty self-explanatory.

“Lookalike Audiences let advertisers find people who have similar characteristics to their existing audiences among people who are on Facebook. Advertisers can use the ads create tool or Power Editor to create a Custom Audience,” Facebook explained in a post announcing the initiative.

With Lookalike Audiences, advertisers can tailor-make, and thus target, ads using email addresses, phone numbers, app user IDs, and of course Facebook profile pages.

“If you have a website or mobile app, you can use a Facebook pixel or the Facebook SDK to reach people who’ve visited your site or have taken actions within your app with Facebook ads,” Facebook explained.

The updated initiative shows that Facebook is betting much of the farm on cross-platform ad sales and is a swipe at Google Ads, which is leading the virtual ad arena.

“It’s about customers, demographics, and interests. [About] customization. People don’t like shorter ads, they like good ads,” a Facebook spokesperson told VentureBeat.

Today’s update to Lookalike Audiences represents a somewhat lengthy upgrade because it allows advertisers to identify, track and target people that have similar characteristics to the people who like their Page, visiting their websites and use their mobile apps. It marks another effort by the social networking giant to further enable advertisers developers using Facebook’s virtual toolbox to craft more stringent, and hopefully, more effective ads.

“Say you’re using a travel booking app. You already know you have a set of clients that book to Hawaii. Not only do you want to target them because they book Hawaii, you want [to lure in] that are like them and likely also going to book a Hawaii trip. the others outside that ring. It’s a way to acquire more customers,” the Facebook spokesperson said.

In other words, empowering the people. At least the ones trying to reach the biggest audience possible while avoiding third-party middlemen who purport to do all the lifting themselves.

And it marks Facebook’s broader push into both the desktop and mobile ad space by cutting out direct marketers and targeters. That’s a healthy proposition for saving budgets, and ultimately, overall ad campaign costs.

“We’re giving the advertisers the relevant tools to direct ads,” the spokesperson said. “You’re got more relevant ads. It’s about creative and product. If not, your advertising is pointless.”

In other words, empowering the people. At least the ones trying to reach the biggest audience possible while avoiding third-party middlemen who purport to do all the lifting themselves.

And it marks Facebook’s broader push into both the desktop and mobile ad space by cutting out direct marketers and targeters. That’s a healthy proposition for saving budgets, and ultimately, overall ad campaign costs.