A few years ago, success on Facebook and Instagram depended on finding exactly the right interests to target. That has changed. Meta's delivery system now does much of the audience selection itself, and many advertisers get better results by giving it more room. Knowing when to go broad and when to narrow down is still a skill.
What broad targeting means
Broad targeting means setting only the essentials, such as location, age range and language, and letting Meta decide who within that group sees your ad. The system learns from who responds and looks for more people like them. It works best when the campaign has reliable conversion tracking, because that is the signal it learns from.
What detailed targeting means
Detailed targeting narrows the audience by interests, behaviours and demographics, such as people interested in home improvement or fitness. It gives you more say over who sees the ad, and it can help in a new account with little data. Meta has also been making these selections suggestions rather than strict limits in more campaign types over time.
Your creative does the targeting
The ad itself signals who it is for. An ad that opens with a problem only homeowners have will mostly hold the attention of homeowners, and the system notices who stops to watch. This is why distinct creative for distinct audiences often works better than slicing interests. Speak clearly to one kind of person and Meta will find more of them.
Audiences built from your own data
Some of the most useful audiences come from your own information. Custom audiences let you reach people who visited your website, watched your videos or are on your customer list. Lookalike audiences ask Meta to find people similar to them. These are good starting signals, and custom audiences are essential for retargeting and for excluding existing customers.
How to choose
If you have working tracking and a reasonable volume of conversions, test broad targeting with strong creative. If your account is new or your product serves a narrow niche, start with some detailed targeting and widen as data builds. For local businesses, location is usually the only restriction you need. Test both approaches side by side and let the cost per result decide.
Targeting matters less than it used to, and creative and tracking matter more. Structured audience testing is part of how we manage every Meta account.