Lookalike Audience
A lookalike audience is a targeting option that finds new users who resemble your existing customers, based on platform data signals.
Lookalike audiences (called "Similar audiences" on some platforms) let you scale prospecting by asking the ad platform to find people who share characteristics with a seed audience — typically your best customers, high-LTV buyers or recent converters.
On Meta, you choose a seed Custom Audience and a percentage (1–10%). A 1% lookalike is the most similar (and smallest), while 10% is broader. Most advertisers test 1–3% for direct response and 3–5% for top-of-funnel awareness.
The quality of the seed matters more than the size. A seed of your top 500 customers by LTV will produce a better lookalike than a seed of all 10,000 purchasers, because it gives the algorithm a clearer signal of who your best customer looks like.
Related terms
Targeting
Targeting is the process of defining which users see your ads, based on demographics, interests, behaviours or custom data.
Retargeting
Retargeting shows ads to people who already interacted with your brand — site visitors, product viewers, cart abandoners — to bring them back.
Meta Ads
Meta Ads is the platform for Facebook and Instagram ads, supporting reach and conversion campaigns across Feed, Stories and Reels.
LTV
LTV is the total revenue or profit expected from a single customer across their entire relationship with your brand.