Facebook/Meta Advertising Targeting Changes
By Katelyn Lugo
Surprise! Facebook (also knows as Meta these days) has changed their advertising targeting … again: “…we’re removing some Detailed Targeting options because they are either not widely used, they may be redundant with others or too granular, or because they relate to topics people may perceive as sensitive, such as targeting options referencing causes, organizations, or public figures that relate to health, race or ethnicity, political affiliation, religion, or sexual orientation.” This is due to the extra critical eye the platform has received over the past few years as customer privacy has become the hottest topic.
Have you checked your campaigns to see if this change affected your ad sets? If not, take a look as soon as you can! One of Wahl’s healthcare clients was specifically affected when all detailed targeting options related to weight loss were removed. We are now in the midst of pivoting their campaign to ensure we continue to deliver effective results. What can your brand do if this detailed targeting change has negatively affected your Facebook & Instagram campaigns?
Facebook, despite these changes, is still an excellent platform to reach users based on (certain) interests as well as custom audiences. Since the iOS 14 update where Apple users can now ask apps not to track them, Facebook has been pushing advertisers to use their own customer data instead of interest targeting to combat the loss of some Apple users. Through the Facebook pixel, advertisers can create custom audiences based on their website and app visitors. Advertisers can also utilize their own CRM data to target customer names, phone numbers, email addresses, home addresses, and more on Facebook & Instagram! If advertisers want to find new audience members with similar online behaviors to their current customers, lookalike audiences are a great option. The platform automatically finds people who do similar things online as customers you already have. However, these lookalike users have never been to the website before, making them brand new potential customers. These are the main options we here at Wahl Media utilize to combat the interest-targeting changes as well as the Special Ad Category restrictions.
Though Facebook is the #1 used social platform in the world, there are a few others that allow interest targeting and other cool options to reach your potential customers. However, before deploying ads on these platforms, make sure it fits your target audience. If you audience is on the platform, you should be as well.
| Platform | Major Demographic |
| Age 25 – 54, Over 50% are Female | |
| Age 18 – 44 (Largest group 25 – 34), Over 50% are Female | |
| Age 25 – 34 | |
| Age 25 – 44, Over 50% are Female | |
| Snapchat | Age 18 – 34 |
| Age 18 – 54, Over 50% of users are Male | |
| TikTok | Age 12 – 44 (Majority being 18 – 34) |