The Complete Guide to Facebook Ad Targeting in 2024

Facebook targeting isn't what it was in 2019. iOS 14 happened. Privacy changes happened. Half the targeting options you relied on are gone or neutered. But here's the thing — Facebook ads still work. You just need to know the new playbook.

Forget What You Knew About Detailed Targeting

Remember when you could target "people interested in Nike who also like running and earn $100k+"? Those days are over. Detailed targeting is a shell of what it was. Meta's been stripping options for years.

The new reality: Broad targeting with strong creative wins. Meta's algorithm has gotten scary good at finding buyers — if you give it room to work.

The Targeting Stack That Works Now

1. Advantage+ Audiences (Let Meta Cook)

Sounds counterintuitive, but giving Meta more freedom often beats tight targeting. Their machine learning has billions of data points you don't. Use Advantage+ as your baseline, then layer in suggestions (not restrictions).

2. Custom Audiences (Your Money Audiences)

This is where the gold is. Build audiences from:

• Website visitors: Retarget people who hit your site (install the pixel, obviously)
• Customer lists: Upload your email list for direct targeting
• Video viewers: People who watched 50%+ of your videos are warm leads
• Engagement: Anyone who engaged with your page or ads in the last 365 days

3. Lookalike Audiences (Scale Your Winners)

Take your best custom audience and let Meta find similar people. The key:

• 1% lookalikes: Tightest match, best for high-ticket offers
• 3-5% lookalikes: Good balance of reach and relevance
• 5-10% lookalikes: More reach, works with proven creative

Pro tip: Build lookalikes from purchasers, not just leads. Quality in = quality out.

The Exclusion Strategy Everyone Forgets

Exclusions are as important as inclusions. Always exclude:

• Recent purchasers (unless you're running upsells)
• People who visited your checkout but didn't buy (create a separate retargeting campaign for them)
• Current customers from cold campaigns
• Employees and competitors (create a list)

Geographic and Demographic Basics

Don't overthink this:

• Location: Start with countries where you can actually fulfill orders
• Age: Use your customer data, not assumptions. 18-65+ is often fine to start
• Gender: Test all unless your product is clearly gendered
• Language: Match your ad creative language

The Testing Framework

Don't test targeting and creative simultaneously. Here's the order:

1. Start broad, test multiple creatives
2. Find your winning creative
3. Then test different audiences with that creative
4. Scale the winning audience + creative combo

Bottom Line

Facebook targeting in 2024 is about working with the algorithm, not against it. Give it good data (custom audiences), let it find similar people (lookalikes), and trust it to optimize (Advantage+). The brands winning right now aren't the ones with the most granular targeting — they're the ones with the best creative and the cleanest data.