How Meta’s Targeting Works in 2025: A Complete Guide

Meta advertising has transformed the way businesses reach their target audience. With billions of users actively engaging on Facebook and Instagram, advertisers have access to one of the most sophisticated ad-targeting systems available.

But how exactly does Meta’s targeting work? What makes it so effective?

Meta uses a combination of first-party data, AI-powered audience segmentation, and machine learning to help advertisers deliver their message to the right people at the right time. Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, understanding how this targeting works is essential to maximizing your return on ad spend.

In this guide, we’ll break down the different types of targeting, from manual audience selection to AI-driven optimizations, and show you how to leverage them for better campaign performance.

1. Core (Manual) Targeting: Defining Your Audience

The most basic form of targeting on Meta is manual audience selection, where advertisers define specific characteristics to determine who sees their ads.

Key Targeting Options:

Demographics

Advertisers can narrow down audiences based on factors like age, gender, location, education level, job title, relationship status and more.

Interests

Meta tracks users’ likes, follows and interactions with pages, groups and content, allowing advertisers to target based on hobbies, entertainment preferences and industry-related topics.

Behaviors

This includes data on users’ purchase history, travel frequency, device usage and engagement with digital content.

Location-Based Targeting

Businesses can target users in specific countries, cities, or even a custom radius around a physical location.

This level of targeting ensures that businesses are showing their ads to the most relevant audience instead of wasting ad spend on broad, untargeted campaigns.

2. Custom Audiences: Leveraging First-Party Data

Custom Audiences allow advertisers to target people who have already interacted with their brand, making it a highly effective tool for remarketing.

Types of Custom Audiences:

Website Visitors

Using the Meta Pixel, businesses can track users who have visited their website and retarget them with relevant ads.

Customer Lists

Advertisers can upload a list of emails or phone numbers, and Meta will match those users to their Facebook or Instagram profiles for targeted advertising.

App Activity

Businesses with mobile apps can retarget users who have taken specific actions within the app, such as adding items to a cart but not checking out.

Engagement Audiences

Meta allows advertisers to create an audience based on users who have interacted with their content, including video views, post engagements and page follows.

Custom Audiences are powerful because they focus on users who are already familiar with your brand, increasing the chances of conversions.

3. Lookalike Audiences: AI-Powered Expansion

Lookalike Audiences take Custom Audiences a step further by finding new potential customers who share similar traits and behaviors with your existing audience.

How Lookalike Audiences Work:

• Meta’s AI analyzes your Custom Audiences and identifies key characteristics.
• It then finds new users who closely match these traits.
• Advertisers can choose the size of the Lookalike Audience, from 1% (most similar) to 10% (broader reach).

For example, if you upload a list of high-value customers who have purchased from you multiple times, Meta’s AI will find similar people who are more likely to become buyers.

Lookalike Audiences help businesses scale their advertising without losing relevance, making them one of the most effective ways to acquire new customers.

4. Advantage+ 

Meta’s Advantage+ targeting is an advanced AI-driven solution that automatically adjusts your audience targeting to maximize results. Unlike manual targeting, where advertisers define strict parameters, Advantage+ dynamically refines who sees your ads based on real-time engagement and conversion data.

What Makes Advantage+ Unique?

Dynamic Audience Expansion

If Meta’s AI detects that a broader audience would improve results, it will expand targeting beyond the original parameters.

Automated Testing

Instead of running multiple split tests manually, Advantage+ continuously tests different audience segments and optimizes in real time.

Increased Ad Efficiency

Meta’s algorithm prioritizes showing ads to users with the highest likelihood of conversion, reducing wasted ad spend.

Best Use Cases for Advantage+ Targeting:

• eCommerce Brands: Automatically find the best potential buyers based on past purchase behavior.
• Lead Generation Campaigns: Identifies users who are most likely to fill out a form or request information.
• Broad Audience Campaigns: Works well when businesses don’t have a highly specific customer persona and want AI to determine the best audience.

This AI-powered system takes a lot of the guesswork out of audience selection and lets businesses focus on optimizing their creatives and messaging instead.

5. Retargeting: Engaging Warm Audiences

Retargeting is one of the most effective Meta advertising strategies, as it allows businesses to reconnect with users who have already shown interest in their brand. Rather than targeting cold audiences, retargeting focuses on engaging those who have interacted with your website, app or social media content.

Why Retargeting Works:

Keeps Your Brand Top-of-Mind

Users who have visited your website may not convert immediately, but retargeting reminds them of your offer.

Increases Conversion Rates

Warm audiences are more likely to take action compared to cold traffic.

Reduces Wasted Ad Spend

Targeting users who are already familiar with your brand often leads to better ROI.

Types of Retargeting Ads:

Recent Website Visitors

Targeting users who browsed your website but didn’t take action.

Engagement-Based Retargeting

Reaching people who interacted with your Facebook or Instagram posts but didn’t visit your website.

Video View Retargeting

If someone watches a certain percentage of your ad video, you can show them another ad to push them further down the funnel.

A well-structured retargeting campaign can dramatically improve ad performance and increase the likelihood of conversions.

How to Use Meta’s Targeting Effectively

Meta offers a wide range of powerful targeting options, making it essential to choose the right strategy to reach your ideal audience. Whether you’re using Custom Audiences, Lookalike Audiences or Meta’s Advantage+ targeting, understanding these tools can significantly impact your campaign’s success.

At Brawn Media, our digital team brings years of experience running successful Meta campaigns across various industries. Whether you’re looking to launch or enhance your Facebook and Instagram advertising strategy, we’re here to help. Contact us today for a free consultation!