For many business owners, the idea of an online strategy is a “this-or-that” approach. Some use email marketing, while others use Facebook™ marketing. But too many of them consider splitting their marketing budget so that they use Facebook™ AND email.
Spending money on Facebook™ ads without a clear image of the audience you want to reach is like fishing without bait. You sit by the fishing rod while fish swim by your hook and never give it a glance—because there’s nothing interesting for them there.
The New Art of Lead Generation: Reach People who are Most Likely to Want to Read Your Message
Back in the heydays of Facebook™ marketing (or of any kind of online marketing, really), the idea was to reach as many prospects as possible. The number one idea was to have lots of likes and a huge traffic funnel to the website. Once companies realised that Likes and traffic do not equal sales, they changed the paradigm: reach people who are most likely to do business with you.
And how do you do that? You create customer personas, and voilá—you have an audience. Out of this audience you get a number of leads and then some clients. Now what? You’ve reached the end of the potential targeted audience?
Not at all! And this is where email marketing steps in. Your email list is valuable not only as a target for lead nurturing messages, but also as a source of inspiration of new people to reach on Facebook™. This is what Facebook™ calls a lookalike audience.
Creating Lookalike Audiences with the Help of Email Lists
The idea is simple: you find your subscribers on Facebook™, and use them as a source for a lookalike audience. That sounds simple, right? But it’s not exactly easy as pie, otherwise more business owners would use this idea.
The factors that define an audience on Facebook™ are numerous, but not all of them are equally important. For instance, if you are targeting new moms with an online fitness course, their precise location is not very important. However, if you own a gym and create a special fitness subscription for new moms, precise location is one of the key selection criteria for your audience.
This being said, let us take a look at the ways in which you can combine email marketing with a lookalike audience to grow your business:
- Segment Subscribers According to Their Sales Funnel Phase
The earliest subscribers are at the top of the funnel. The others are in the middle or bottom of the funnel. You also have customers as subscribers. The most relevant members of your subscribers’ list are the clients and the qualified leads at the bottom of the funnel.
Thus, create a special list of emails containing these subscribers. They are the closest thing you have to a clear portrait of your ideal customer. Once you have this list, go to your Facebook™ Ads Manager page and create an audience out of this list.
- Create a Lookalike Audience
Based on these email subscribers, create a lookalike audience on Facebook™. To do that, you must add a location and an estimate number of people you want in this lookalike audience. Do not be greedy! The larger your estimate audience number, the weaker their resemblance will be to your email list audience.
The reason for this is simple: once the most relevant similarities are accounted for, the Facebook™ algorithm will resort to less relevant ones to create the audience size you want. Remember what we stated earlier in the article: the numbers mean nothing if they are not matched by sales.
- Create a Super Targeted Message
Your ad must hit home and make the prospect want to click on it. Here, knowledge is power: the more you know about your customers from your analytical data, the closer you are to coining a super persuasive message. Think of their worst pain point. Think of what makes them tick. Then put it in simple and punch words that drive the mouse cursor or the finger to click on your ad.
- Opt for Lead Ads
As a first contact with potential leads, you do not want to push a sale. There is absolutely no way you will be able to sell to a complete stranger, no matter how similar they are in tastes and preferences to your actual customers. What you want for them at this point is to become your subscriber.
And Facebook™ makes it easier than ever for potential subscribers to join your list with Lead Ads. This type of ad has one purpose: to get the person who clicked to sign up for your newsletter/email list. Once they click on the ad, their name and email address is automatically filled in by Facebook™. That’s right, they don’t have to leave the social media platform, they don’t have to type anything. Just two clicks and they are subscribed.
And once you’ve got a new group of leads, wait till they mature a little, and you can repeat this process to find other lookalike audiences.