Meta Ads Audience Targeting, Location, Gender, Age, Interests, Behaviors 101: The Beginner's Guide

Targeting the right people is key to Facebook advertising success. This guide will break down the different audience targeting options available and how to best utilize them. You'll learn to precisely reach your ideal customers by leveraging location, demographics, behaviors and more.

We'll cover:

• Location and distance targeting

• Gender, age and relationship targeting

• Interests and behaviors targeting

• Custom audiences and lookalikes

• Optimizing audience definition over time

• Examples and best practices

By the end, you'll have a solid understanding of how to build laser-focused audiences for tailored Facebook ad campaigns.

Facebook advertising is a powerful tool for businesses of all sizes to reach their target audience and achieve their marketing goals. But with so many options and features available, it can be tough to know where to start.

We have managed hundreds of Facebook and Instagram campaigns for businesses of all sizes, and we know what it takes to achieve success.

If you're a business owner and ready to take your Facebook advertising to the next level, schedule a meeting with us today. We'll help you create a custom campaign that meets your specific needs and budget, and we'll manage everything from start to finish so you can focus on running your business.

Click here to schedule a meeting and learn more about our Facebook ads management service.

Location Targeting

Precise location targeting allows reaching people by:

• Cities, regions, ZIP/postal codes or custom distances

• Individual countries or global reach

• Political entities like states/provinces

Location targeting allows you to reach specific people based on where they live, work or travel. This is one of the most fundamental ways to target your ideal audiences. Whether you operate locally or globally, leveraging location data properly will take your campaigns much further.

Types of Location Targeting:

Cities & Postal Codes:

Target people living in specific cities or postal codes. Great for highly local businesses like contractors, dentists, restaurants etc. You can target major cities broadly or niche down to neighborhoods.

Regions & Metro Areas:

Reach larger contiguous geographic regions using options like counties, states/provinces or DMAs (designated market areas). Useful when services span multiple cities nearby.

Custom Distance Targeting:

Draw custom circles around locations to target people within a certain radius in miles/kilometers. Common uses include advertising events near a city or store awareness near new locations.

Country Targeting:

Include or exclude entire countries for global/international outreach. Play around with country combinations for granular international segmenting.

Location Targeting Best Practices:

• Don't overlapped targeted areas for clarity of specifc regions.

• Test combinations of specific and broad locations for varied placement.

• Exclude own location/country to avoid wasting budget.

• Leverage Geo-fencing for time-based/travel ads.

• Retarget visitors by location for follow up promotions.

• Consider temporary or recurring locations like colleges or hometowns.

With practice, you'll get comfortable experimenting with different location types and combinations to expand reach strategically using local placement data. Always base specs on customer and logistical realities.

Demographics Targeting

Targeting by age, gender and relationship status allows reaching very specific populations. These core specs help ensure ads reach those most likely to be interested.

Age Targeting:

• Use age ranges 18-24, 25-34 etc for distinct life stages.

• Test single years like 35-36 for precision if budget allows.

• Consider behavioral changes as people age for customized messaging.

Gender Targeting:

• Choose male, female or custom combinations as applicable.

• Consider gender preferences if marketing products.

• Some topics may resonate more with certain genders.

Examples:

• Women for beauty products

• Men for sports equipment

Best Practices:

• Use images of target gender

• gender-specific language/colors

• Consider cultural sensitivities

Relationship Targeting:

• Target single, married, engaged or civil partners specifically.

• Ads can vary significantly based on relationship status.

• Events cater more to couples versus singles for example.

Best Practices:

• Target couples for Valentines

• Engaged for wedding vendors

• Sympathyads for anniversaries

Additional Options:

• Locations, languages, education and workplace allow deeper targeting.

• Household composition like families with children adds context.

• Leverage life events for limited time ads around dating anniversaries.

Location Examples:

• NYC for financial advisors

• Texas for BBQ restaurant

Education Examples:

• College grads for careers site

• Parents of kids 5-12 for toys

Best Practices:

• Use age/gender together for full context of audience.

• Consider how mentalities evolve through life stages.

• Ensure visuals and copy suit targeted demographics.

• Adjust bids based on different response rates between groups.

• Layer specs for precision

• Use locales creatives match

• Consider demos + interests

Combining demographics with other specs like interests fine-tunes audiences further. Continuous testing uncovers optimal targets.

Interest Targeting

Interests allow reaching hyper-targeted audiences based on their passions and curiosities. There are endless possibilities to precisely align ads.

Facebook houses thousands of categories like:

• Hobbies - Cooking, hiking, cycling

• Media - Movies, TV shows, podcasts

• Lifestyle - Yoga, travel, parenting

• Brands - Apple, Nike, Starbucks

• Cultural interests - K-pop, Hinduism, feminism

Combining Categories

Layer multiple related interests to niche down. For example:

• Cooking + Food Network + Recipe Blogs

• Hiking + Patagonia + Outdoor Photography

Negating Interests

Exclude people interested in related but irrelevant topics:

• Running + Exclude Golf

• Travel + Exclude Real Estate

Best Practices

• Evaluate your buyers' core interests

• Surface new interests through top conversions

• Refine interests regularly based on performance

Interest targeting provides laser-focused audiences perfectly aligned with your messaging when leveraged strategically.

Here are some additional tips for leveraging interest targeting effectively:

Niche it Down

Don't be afraid to target very niche interests, even if audiences are smaller. Quality can trump quantity.

Keep Interests Fresh

Regularly add new and emerging interests to discover untapped demand. Remove inactive older ones.

Mix Broad & Narrow

Test mixes of broad foundational interests plus narrower topic layers for balance.

Consider Negatives

Remove interests like politics that could turn off buyers rather than aligning them.

Use Interest Pages

Target fans of pages deeply related to your offering versus loosely connected pages.

Combine Demos

Layer interests with age, gender, locations for full audience context beyond singular interests.

Frequency Cap

Limit how often same people see same ad to avoid fatigue through frequency capping setting.

Ad Copy Testing

A/B test ad copy changes referencing targeted interests to maximize relevance.

Split Testing

Isolate single interest variables to understand best/worst performing for future audience stacking.

Tapping into Behaviors Targeting

Behaviors targeting leverages what people do online and off to find your most engaged prospects. It provides insights beyond basic demographics and interests.

Website Behaviors

Target people who visited specific pages on your website, even without converting. This identifies engaged leads.

App Usage

Reach people using relevant apps like your company app, fitness trackers, dating/meetup apps, games etc.

Facebook & Instagram Behavior

Target profiles who like/follow/comment on your Facebook or Instagram Page, competitor pages or discuss related topics in some cases in Facebook.

Device Usage

Choose desktop only, mobile only or all devices if behaviors differ between platforms.

Purchase Behaviors

Audience Studio/3rd parties provide insights into customer lists, service usage and product buyers for prospecting.

In-Market Audiences

Homebuyers researching “homes for sale” or job seekers viewing “jobs near me” actively in the market.

Recent Buyers

Re-engage past customers and cart abandoners with reminders and recovery campaigns.

Best Practices:

• Test relevance of all available behaviors

• Layer behaviors with interests/demos

• Nurture engaged behaviors into lookalike sequences

• Continuously optimize based on new actions

Behaviors targeting reveals audiences ready to move forward in their journey with your business like no other spec can.

Custom Audiences Targeting

Custom audiences allow targeting people you already know through powerful uploads. Properly leveraged, they provide unparalleled precision and scale.

You can reach people on different platforms using your lists. This feature allows you to effectively sell your products to a wider audience.

Email List Uploads

Upload lists for prospecting past customers, nurturing leads or re-engagement campaigns. Match rates vary by list quality/Freshness.

Website/App Upload

Upload hashed website/app IDs and names for attribution to remarket visitors. Consider time windows for conversations.

CRM Data Uploads

Match customer lists with CRM attributes like purchase histories, service areas, lead stages etc. unlocking segmentation potential.

Off-Line Data Uploads

Reach audiences from POS purchase data by B2B businesses, store visit behavior, demo info, postal responses and more.

Video & Messenger Matches

Target people who engaged with video ads, discussed interests in Messenger or had positive customer service experiences.

Lookalike Audiences

Create new audiences resembling custom lists for finding additional/similar prospects automatically without their data.

Best Practices:

• Keep lists secure, anonymized and GDPR compliant

• Use uploads for accelerated ads but also long-term customer value strategies

• Continually improve match rates through hygiene, hashing techniques and combining uploads

• Nurture match audiences with omni-channel journey campaigns

• A/B test upload performances against other targeting options

Custom audiences unlock targeting superpowers through strategic list building, uploading and nurturing over time. Combined with website tracking pixels, they allow fully harnessing the value of your first-party data on Facebook.

Lookalike Audiences

Lookalikes allow discovering new customers resembling your most engaged lists organically built by Facebook. When used correctly, they amplify ROI exponentially.

How Lookalikes Work:

After uploading a qualified custom audience, Facebook analyzes hundreds of data points to find profiles with similar characteristics, interests, behaviors and demographics without having their private info.

Attributes Considered:

• Location, age, gender

• Education, workplace

• Interests, behaviors online/off

• Device usage, past purchases

• Relationships to others in lists

Best Practices:

• Test small budgets initially for quality validation

• Compare insights to parent source metrics

• Gradually increase budget as performance holds

• Consider rotating lookalikes to stay "fresh"

• Run sequential campaigns to nurture over time

• Layer lookalikes with other key audience specs

• Analyze variables contributing to quality matches

Proper list quality, testing and optimization unlocks their full potential for precisely finding new ideal customers at massive scale. Always nurture and champion conversions to fuel ongoing lookalike discovery.

Here are tips for maximizing Lookalike Audiences.

Testing Different Sources:

Experiment sourcing lookalikes from varied high-converting lists like CRM attributes, site visitors or purchasers.

Evaluating Match Quality:

Closely monitor conversion rates and engagement against parent sources to gauge match relevance over time.

Refreshing Regularly:

Update lookalikes every 6-12 months as real world audiences evolve to catch attitude/interest shifts.

Balancing Precision vs Scale:

Consider narrowing targeted attributes on larger parent lists for focused prospecting over broad reach.

Adjusting Budgets Dynamically:

Gradually decrease investment in weaker performing but increase top lookalikes for optimal spend.

Combining with other data:

Layer lookalikes with website behaviors, cart residents etc for even tighter multi-touch audiences.

Testing Formats/Creative:

Iterate ad formats, visuals and copy focused on lookalike specific interests to maximize relevance.

Sequential Testing:

Test lookalike sequences for continuous prospecting and refinement of targeting assumptions over time.

Looking for Qualities that Transfer:

Analyze attributes most correlating in lookalikes' qualities to parent sources for refined uploading.

Patience and testing is key to truly understanding lookalikes' potential for marrying organic discovery with known customer traits.

Frequently Questions & Answers

Q: How narrow/broad should my targeting begin?
A: Start broad, around 500k-1M potential reach, then narrow as you optimize by removing underperformers. Give ads scale to learn initially.

Q: How many specifications is too many?
A: Most say 5-7 is ideal but test - fewer people to reach fewer potential customers. Too many could overcomplicate or exclude viable targets.

Q: What's the best way to expand reach?
A: Gradually expand strong performing interest/behavior combinations or create new lookalike audiences from best custom lists and site visitors.

Q: How often should I optimize targeting?
A: At minimum, monthly as audiences and interests evolve. For new campaigns, optimize weekly based on learnings from reporting.

Q: Can I upload customer lists as a CSV?
A: Yes, CSV file uploads with email addresses or other identifiers are common for remarketing or prospecting lists against CRM data.

Q: How are behaviors and interests different?
A: Interests reflect likes/follows, behaviors represent actions - what people do rather than just follow online and off.

Q: How do I interpret Lookalike results?
A: Compare metrics to parent list for quality - conversion rates within 25% are viable. Scale carefully and refine assumptions over multiple iterations.

Q: Can I target internationally?
A: Yes, use country targeting in location specs. Consider cultural/language differences in creative/copy. Ensure legal compliance in foreign markets.

Q: How do I use custom combinations efficiently?
A: Layer specifications narrowly without excluding viable prospects. Balance reach vs hyper-targeting. Continuous A/B testing helps optimization.

Q: Is age or life stage generally better?
A: For some categories like parenting, life stage works better. Otherwise age remains a stable proxy. Often best layered together for full audience context.

Q: How do I find additional relevant interests?
A: Analyze top performing ad's expanded audience insights for suggested interests to try. Also consider competitor interests.

Q: Should I manually adjust bids?
A: Only adjust bids manually if automatic bidding isn't working. Facebook's algorithm generally sets efficient bids, but monitor and make adjustments as needed.

Q: Is smaller always better for starting budgets?
A: Not always, scale helps learning. Start with $50-$100/day minimum usually works. Consider size of target audience when setting initial budget.

Q: How long until I see results?
A: Most of the time 1-2 weeks, depending on objective. Stick with it at least 2-4 weeks for learning. Optimizing through that period yields better outcomes.

Q: When is the best time to run ads?
A: Testing throughout the week and dayparts is best. Generally, more people online mid-week and after work hours. Weekend dayparts also see spikes. A/B test days and times.

Q: How often should I create new ad sets/ads?
A: Every 1-2 weeks is a good cadence to introduce new angles and keep things fresh. But also maintain top performers long term alongside experimentation.

Q: What format is generally best - image, video, carousel?
A: Generally image ads work best for awareness/consideration testing. Video and carousel with multiple images tend to outperform for engagement objectives. But A/B test your options.

Q: Should I publish/boost my own posts or use separate ads?
A: Paid promotion boosts organic reach but lacks targeting/optimization options of standalone ads. Try both - separate ads give you more control for prospecting.

Q: Should my business page post frequently?
A: Frequent, high-quality posting engages fans organically for later ad targeting. 2-3x weekly minimum keeps your page top-of-mind and feeds engagement.

Q: How can I get more page likes/follows?
A: Leverage ads and promote quality content that adds value for viewers. Post at optimal day/time. Request follows gently, reward likes/shares for giveaways. Promote via other channels to increase fans.

Happy Optimising!