How to Create Lookalike Audiences in Meta Ads Manager (2025 Guide)

A Lookalike Audience is a group of people that Meta identifies as similar to your existing audience. Meta uses signals like demographics, behaviors, purchase patterns, website activity, and platform engagement to find new people who are most likely to take the actions you want—such as booking, submitting a lead, or purchasing.

Lookalikes are created based on a **source audience** such as:

• Customer lists exported from CRM platforms like GoHighLevel
• Website visitors tracked via Meta Pixel
• Purchasers or add-to-cart users
• People who submitted lead forms
• High-engagement audiences (video watchers, IG engagers)

The better your source audience, the better your Lookalike results.

Your Lookalike is only as strong as the data you feed Meta.

For best results, use at least **1,000+ high-quality users**, such as:

• Your best customers
• Closed deals
• Booked appointments (not just leads)
• Website purchasers
• High-engagement audiences

If you're using GoHighLevel, export:

• Customer lists
• Pipeline stages
• Tags (e.g., “Booked Appointment”)
• Closed-won opportunities

Make sure your list includes name, email, phone, and country for the highest match rate.

Before you can create a Lookalike, you must build a Custom Audience in Meta Ads Manager.

Here’s how:

1. Open Meta Ads Manager
2. Go to Audiences
3. Click Create Audience → Custom Audience
4. Select your source type:
   • Customer List
   • Website (Pixel)
   • App Activity
   • Instagram Account
   • Lead Forms
5. Upload or configure your audience
6. Give it a clear name like “Closed Deals – Jan 2025”

Once created, Meta will begin processing the audience. When it’s ready, you can use it to generate Lookalikes.

Now that you have a source audience:

1. Click Create Audience
2. Select Lookalike Audience
3. Choose your source audience
4. Select your location (e.g., United States)
5. Choose an audience size (1%–10%)

What the percentages mean:

• 1% = Most similar, highest quality, best for cold acquisition
• 2–5% = Larger audience, good for scaling
• 6–10% = Broad reach, used for big budgets

Once created, your Lookalike Audience becomes available inside your Ad Sets for targeting.

When creating a new Ad Set:

1. Go to the Audience section
2. Under Custom Audiences, choose your new Lookalike Audience
3. Layer with optional filters:
   • Age
   • Gender
   • Interests (if needed)
4. Launch your campaign

For best results, pair Lookalikes with strong creatives—especially:

• User-generated content (UGC)
• Testimonials
• Short video hooks
• Clear value propositions

Lookalike performance has evolved significantly due to Meta’s shift toward AI-optimized delivery. These best practices help maximize results:

• Start with 1% Lookalikes for best performance
• Use value-based Lookalikes if you have purchase values
• Refresh customer lists every 30–45 days
• Exclude existing customers from cold campaigns
• Stack Lookalikes (1%, 2%, 5%) for scaling
• Allow the algorithm space to optimize—avoid unnecessary filters

If you’re using GoHighLevel, you can automate syncing CRM tags or pipeline stages with Meta Custom Audiences using Zapier or Make.com.

Integrating CRM data, creating high-quality Custom Audiences, syncing booked appointments, and setting up Lookalikes can be time-consuming—especially if you’re scaling.

Our team at GoHighLevelSupport.io helps businesses:

• Export clean CRM data
• Sync GHL contacts with Meta
• Build high-value Custom Audiences
• Create optimized Lookalikes
• Track campaigns end-to-end with GA4

Book a quick call to get expert help building profitable audiences.