Facebook Inc. (FB) Developing ‘Lookalike’ Tool for Advertisers

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ:FB) has been gathering quite a bit of momentum as an advertising platform, generating a lot of opportunities for advertisers who can get access to a number of the social platform’s one billion users. But how do advertises find new customers, or how can they efficiently find new prospects without taking a buckshot approach and posting ads to a varied group of users – especially if a common thread can be found among common customers?

Facebook Inc. seems ready to roll out its latest tool which it calls “lookalike audiences,” which apparently will take a look at the big data compiled about an advertiser’s current customer base, and would develop an algorithm to identify the current Facebook users who are not customers but are similar in profile to existing customers. This current tool takes last fall’s “custom audiences” tool and expands a step beyond. With custom audiences, advertisers could target their existing customers on Facebook. Now this tool takes the demographic and regional information about an advertiser’s current customers who are on Facebook and develop a list of potential customers based on similarities in the user profiles with the existing customer base.

“Now with lookalike audiences, Facebook can use attributes like interests or demographics and show ads to people who share common attributes as existing customers,” Facebook Inc. wrote in a blog post. The new feature is scheduled to be available in the power editor toolbox for advertisers by the end of the week.

What do you think about this new targeting feature by Facebook Inc.? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.

Please see these related FB articles:

Facebook at Odds with Developers

Facebook Opens Temporary Vancouver Office

Why Facebook and Google are Making Right Moves in 2013