Without cold audiences, you’ll never successfully scale your Facebook ad campaigns.

Here are the 3 cold audiences you need to master…

…and more importantly, the correct order to unlock each level for maximum results.

Level 1 – Interest-based audiences

These are the most commonly used cold audiences on Facebook. Facebook uses its 72,000 data points per user to place people into common groups which you can target.

Using interest-based audiences allows you to tailor your ad copy and creative for maximum results. With individual ad sets you can quickly establish the audiences that work and the ones that don’t work. 

Facebook has removed thousands of interest-based audiences. Fewer audiences leads to more competition in the most popular audiences. In addition, smaller audiences are performing worse than larger audiences. 

Interest-based audiences are a great way to get started with Facebook ads. Test multiple audiences in direct and parallel interests to your topic. Aim for an audience size per ad set of 7-15 million people if possible.

Level 2 – Lookalike Audiences

When your ads start converting, build Lookalike audiences. Ask Facebook to find the 1% or 5% of the population who look most like the people who have converted.

Based on your conversion data Facebook will build audiences of the people most likely to take the action you want. This means you can reach a wider audience, in a more cost-effective manner for even better results.

The downside to Lookalike audiences is that Facebook needs a substantial sample size to identify which data points are most likely to indicate the perfect person to show your ads to.

Start with interest-based audiences first, and once you have conversions flowing, introduce Lookalike audiences. Remember, there is no such thing as the best audience type. Our goal is to leverage all 3 types.

Level 3 – Broad Audiences

A broad audience is where you define location only. This gives Facebook the ultimate freedom to pick and choose anyone they think has a likelihood of taking the action you specify.

As Facebook’s algorithm improves, the results from Broad targeting are getting better and better. It enables Facebook to better manage its distribution of ads across its users, producing a lower CPM for you.

By using broad targeting, you give up control to Facebook. This is good if they have lots of data on leads and sales. Without this data, they are shooting in the day, and they could waste a lot of ad $$$’s 

Use broad targeting when you have built substantial conversion data in your ad account based on your level 1 and level 2 audiences. Broad targeting will be one of the best audiences for scaling your campaigns.