How do lookalike audiences actually work?

You provide the platform with a source audience—such as people who purchased from you. The platform analyzes the massive amount of data it has on each person (reportedly over 180,000 data points per person) and identifies hidden commonalities: similar interests, demographics, shopping behaviors, pages they like, and countless other characteristics. The algorithm determines what ties your customers together, then searches its entire network to find new people who match that profile. You’re essentially saying ‘find me more people like these successful customers’ and letting sophisticated machine learning do the heavy lifting.

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Asked by general teaching · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2018-08-30