Do You Still Need Detailed Targeting?

So, on a prior episode, we talked about whether lookalike audiences were still relevant and whether you should completely abandon them. While this is a similar concept with interests and behaviors—also known as detailed targeting—it’s not entirely the same, and my advice here is a little different.

Originally, similar to lookalike audiences, detailed targeting—which includes interests, behaviors, and everything within those definitions—was incredibly helpful and important. I still remember when it was first made available; it was a big deal because it helped advertisers isolate their ideal customers.

Our targeting inputs determined the success or failure of our advertising, so it was an important role for advertisers to define this properly. Many spent a ton of time testing different combinations because some were productive, some weren’t, and it was actually kind of fun and interesting to figure out.

We even had access to partner categories based on buyer histories and user personas—like soccer moms and so much more.

To understand what to do with this now, the first thing to know is that Meta has eliminated a lot of detailed targeting options—you probably already know that. Meta has faced numerous lawsuits and discrimination charges, which led to things like special ad categories. Advertisers were using detailed targeting to manipulate elections and in discriminatory ways for credit, employment, real estate, and more.

The second factor is that Advantage+ Audience is now the recommended default. If you’re providing detailed targeting inputs within Advantage+ Audience, they’re only suggestions. Based on my experience, they’re probably ignored for the most part.

Even if you’re using original audiences, your audience is often expanded. I’m still convinced many advertisers don’t realize this. When using original audiences and providing detailed targeting, they think those inputs are strict constraints—but often, they are not.

If your performance goal is optimizing for conversions, link clicks, or landing page views, your audience is expanded. Algorithmic targeting and audience expansion aren’t perfect, but they’re unavoidable in these cases.

Because of that, it’s kind of silly to waste a ton of time and energy figuring out which interests and behaviors to target when you really don’t have much control. Meta is going to show your ads to the people it wants to show them to.

In general, I don’t use detailed targeting at all anymore.

Now, there may be one potential exception: times when your audience isn’t expanded. That means using original audiences while optimizing for through plays, post engagement, or even instant form leads—really, anything other than conversions, link clicks, or landing page views.

Understand that optimization is extremely flawed for anything other than conversions. I’ve long complained about this—it’s a whole other topic. Ultimately, Meta’s algorithm will get you as many of the actions you want within your budget. That means it will find cheap engagement, clicks, or whatever you’ve asked for because the algorithm doesn’t know or care what those people do after that initial action.

This isn’t a problem for purchases, though. When optimizing for purchases, you and the algorithm are aligned: you want purchases, and it’s trying to find purchases for you.

I wouldn’t generally recommend optimizing for through plays, post engagement, or similar actions, but I understand that sometimes you might not have any other options or have very few. If that’s the case, Meta needs guardrails because otherwise, it has full reign to get you as many of those through plays (or whatever action you’re optimizing for) within your budget.

In that scenario, detailed targeting may help define your audience to at least ensure that those people match the interests and behaviors you’ve selected.

Now, when I talk about eliminating detailed targeting, you may think that’s crazy. You’ve done it for years, and you’re convinced it’s important and useful. But I encourage you—especially if optimizing for purchases—to test detailed targeting versus not using it. Honestly, you’ll probably want to use Advantage+ Audience because, in that case, the algorithm is likely ignoring those inputs anyway.

The bottom line is that these inputs just aren’t as impactful as they once were. Keep questioning your assumptions. If we just kept doing what we’ve always done from day one, that would be a bad idea. Things change, the environment we work in changes, and you need to adjust accordingly.