Meta's Update that Affects Interest Targeting
Another week, another Meta ads update. But this time, I actually think it’s one worth celebrating.
So...what’s the update?
Last week Meta announced that starting on January 15th they will be discontinuing some of the detailed targeting options that are either not widely used, redundant with others, too granular, or relate to topics people may perceive as sensitive (e.g., targeting options referencing causes related to health, race or ethnicity), or because of legal or regulatory requirements.
If this feels a bit like deja vu, it’s because this isn’t the first time that Meta has made an update to their platform like this.
In fact, if you follow me on IG, you probably saw that back in March of 2022 I made a reel talking about a very similar update.
During that first update back in 2022, we lost quite a bit of targeting options that my clients in coaching and service based industries would typically use to target their audience with ads.
Well known people such as Tony Robbins, Gabby Bernstein, and even broader interests such as Spirituality were removed from the platform.
At first it felt like a big loss to no longer have these targeting options, but it didn’t take long for my clients to find new interests to target that worked for them and many of them were already utilizing the power of lookalike audiences.
If you’re not familiar with lookalike audiences, they're basically a way to target new people who are very similar to your existing customers or audience.
You can create one by uploading your customer list or email list and then Meta will look for more people who are just like them. Or you could even create them based on people who have followed you or engaged with your brand on IG.
They are still one of my favorite audiences to use to this day because they tend to perform better than interests a lot of the time since Meta is basing this targeting off data about your audience that you’ve provided them with.
Anyway, back to the update made this week and why I think it’s something to celebrate.
In this blog post, I’ve talked a lot about how Meta is simplifying things on their platform and this is no different when it comes to ad targeting.
Remember the days when we had to spend hours, maybe even days, researching and testing different audiences to target with our ads? It was like trying to find a needle in a haystack.
But, here's the good news: those days are long gone!
Facebook's evolution means we don't have to play the guessing game anymore. Their extensive data and sophisticated algorithms now do the heavy lifting for us.
Now is the time more than ever to embrace the art of simplified targeting (only testing 1-2 interests or lookalikes) and the new Advantage+ Audience Targeting option where you provide Meta with suggestions on who they should target, but ultimately leave it open to them find your people for you.
Think of Advantage+ Targeting as your savvy assistant who knows your audience better than you think. You give Facebook a nudge in the right direction with your suggested targeting options, and then – voila – they take over the reins, fine-tuning and optimizing to connect you with your ideal customers.
It's the reason it’s now become the default targeting option because, let's face it, Facebook is confident they can pinpoint your audience more effectively than ever before.
All this to say – audience targeting used to be one of the things we would stress about the MOST when it comes to creating and setting up effective ads – but because of how things have evolved we no longer have to.
And I don’t know about you but I LOVE the idea of having one less thing to stress about getting right when it comes to creating effective ads.
This year the key success will be all about making ads work for you, not the other way around.
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