Why You Should Stop Trying To Compare Interests Vs Lookalikes Vs Broad Performance

‍‍It doesn't matter! 

‍Use them all and allocate spend based on performance (or let CBO do it for you).

‍They're all different and great to run together.

‍BUT overall, all roads lead to broad. . .

‍If you're optimizing to purchases and targeting:

A. Broad ad set

B. 1% LAL stack ad set

C. Relevant interests ad set 

Which will win over time?

Broad.

‍Why?

And wait, didn't you just say "it doesn't matter".

It doesn't matter that one wins, you should still use them all. . .

‍The relevant interests and lookalikes can help to target potentially more relevant users early on. If your input is right, those users will convert efficiently.

‍When those users convert, it teaches FB's machine learning to look for more of those users that purchase.

‍FB's machine learning learns what types of users convert for each interest and lookalike audience. 

‍It also learns the overall user profile that will convert for anything optimizing to that same pixel event.

‍That includes *broad* targeting!

Since a broad audience is bigger (duh) and has fewer barriers, FB is able to find even more users that are similar to your purchasers via more attributes than just those interests/lookalikes you defined.

‍Attributes we can't comprehend.

‍It will also do so more efficiently. . .

A broad audience has more opportunities to target more relevant users at more available times.

‍This means they can enter more auctions with less competition, which equals lower costs.

‍So, even if your LAL looks better now, it might not next month as FB continues learning.

‍This is even more valid now that interests and lookalikes have audience expansion (sometimes automatically turned on).

Everything (prospecting-wise) is effectively broad targeting now, but LAL and interests have a human input for where FB should start.

‍I already hear someone asking: "If broad is best and everything is basically broad, then why use the other targeting at all?"

‍Diversity! It can maybe help FB learn more/faster, especially if you have a smaller number of daily/weekly conversions.

‍Or maybe try going all broad!

The key takeaway here is to stop obsessing over the things that do not matter, like which audience is "best".

Focus on: 

-Consolidating wherever you can

-Minimizing other variables

-Creative iteration

-Keeping the creative testing targeting consistent (I recommend broad!)

‍

‍🏁That's all for now!‍‍