If you’re running ads on Meta platforms—Facebook and Instagram—one of your biggest goals is probably this: reaching the right people. You don’t want to spend money showing ads to users who’ll scroll right past them. You want to connect with those who are likely to engage, click, and convert.

Let’s get into some practical, no-fluff Meta Ads tips that will help you find and speak to your ideal audience.

Start With Audience Research, Not Assumptions

Before you even open Ads Manager, get clear on who you’re trying to reach. Not just their age or location, but their interests, pain points, behaviors, and goals. A common mistake is targeting too broadly or relying only on basic demographics.

Ask yourself:

• What do they care about?
• What keeps them scrolling?
• What type of content makes them click?

Use this as your foundation.

Pro tip: Facebook Audience Insights (now within Meta’s Business Suite) can give you valuable data about your current followers and similar audience segments.

Use Custom Audiences for Warm Leads

Custom Audiences are your best friend if you already have data—like website visitors, email subscribers, or app users. These people already know you, and Meta lets you retarget them.

Some high-performing custom audiences include:

• People who visited your site in the last 30 days
• Users who watched 75% of your video ad
• Past customers or email list subscribers

Reaching out to warm audiences often leads to lower costs and better results.

Lookalike Audiences: Scale With Similar People

Once you’ve built a good custom audience, you can create a Lookalike Audience. This tells Meta, “Find more people like this.”

Start with your highest-quality audience—for example, people who purchased or filled out a form—and create a 1% Lookalike. This keeps the targeting narrow and high intent.

You can expand to 2-5% later once you start seeing results.

Layer Detailed Targeting for Precision

Detailed targeting lets you refine your audience by adding interests, behaviors, or demographics.

Instead of just targeting “Entrepreneurs,” layer it with:

• Age range: 30-45
• Location: Urban areas
• Interests: Small business, online marketing, SaaS tools

This kind of layered approach helps reduce wasted ad spend and keeps your message tight.

Avoid this mistake: Adding too many interests that don’t align. Quality matters more than quantity.

Test Narrow vs. Broad Targeting

Some advertisers swear by broad targeting—trusting Meta’s algorithm to find the right people. Others prefer to manually define every layer.

Truth is: both can work.

The key is to test both approaches. Create one ad set with broader parameters (e.g., just age and location) and another with tight interests and behaviors.

Then compare the results over a week. Let the data tell you what works best for your business.

Optimize Creatives for Each Audience

It’s not just about who you’re targeting—it’s about what you’re showing them. The same creative won’t work for every segment.

If you’re running ads to a cold audience, use copy that introduces your brand or builds trust.

For warm leads, highlight social proof, testimonials, or limited-time offers.

Matching your message to the audience’s awareness level is what separates good ads from great ones.

Exclude Audiences to Avoid Overlap

Just as you define who you want to reach, you should also define who you don’t.

For example:

• Exclude purchasers from seeing ads for the same product
• Exclude newsletter subscribers from lead-gen campaigns

This helps you avoid ad fatigue and reduces redundancy, especially when scaling.

Use Location Targeting Strategically

If you serve specific areas, use geo-targeting to focus your ad spend.

You can target:

• A city or zip code
• A mile radius around your store
• People recently in the area (great for tourism or local events)

Always think: Where is my ideal customer physically located when they’re most likely to buy?

Keep Monitoring and Refining

One of the most important Meta Ads tips: don’t “set and forget.”

Even if your audience targeting feels perfect, ad performance can change. Algorithms adjust, people’s behavior shifts, trends evolve.

Check your campaigns every few days. Look at metrics like:

• Cost per result
• CTR (click-through rate)
• Frequency
• Conversion rate