Facebook Target Audience Guide: Complete Ad Targeting Options

Facebook's targeting capabilities let you reach the exact people most likely to buy from you. This guide covers every targeting option available for Facebook ads.

Quick Answer: Best Facebook Targeting Options

For most businesses: Start with Custom Audiences of past buyers, then create Lookalike Audiences to scale. For a complete walkthrough of building ad campaigns around these audiences, see our Facebook funnel strategy guide.

Understanding Facebook Audience Types

Facebook offers three main audience types for ad targeting:

1. Core Audiences (Detailed Targeting)

Build audiences from scratch using demographics, interests, and behaviors.

Includes:

• Demographics (age, gender, education, job title)
• Interests (hobbies, pages liked, topics followed)
• Behaviors (purchase history, device usage, travel)
• Location (countries, cities, zip codes, radius)

2. Custom Audiences

Target people who already interacted with your business.

Sources:

• Customer list (emails, phone numbers)
• Website visitors (pixel-based)
• App users
• Video viewers
• Lead form submitters
• Instagram/Facebook engagers

3. Lookalike Audiences

Find new people similar to your existing customers.

How it works:

1. Create a source audience (Custom Audience)
2. Facebook finds users with similar characteristics
3. Choose lookalike percentage (1-10%)
4. 1% = most similar, smaller audience
5. 10% = broader reach, less similar

Facebook Detailed Targeting Options (Complete List)

Demographics

Age & Gender:

• Age ranges: 18-65+
• Gender: All, Men, Women

Relationship Status:

• Single
• In a relationship
• Engaged
• Married
• Divorced
• Widowed

Education:

• High school
• Some college
• In college
• College graduate
• Graduate school
• Professional degree
• Specific schools and fields of study

Work:

• Job titles (over 10,000 options)
• Employers
• Industries
• Office types

Life Events:

• Recently moved
• New job
• Newly engaged
• Newlywed
• New parents
• Anniversary within 30 days
• Upcoming birthday

Parents:

• All parents
• Parents with children (by age)
• Expecting parents
• New parents (0-12 months)

Interests Targeting

Business & Industry:

• Advertising
• Agriculture
• Architecture
• Banking
• Construction
• Design
• Economics
• Engineering
• Entrepreneurship
• Healthcare
• Marketing
• Real estate
• Retail
• Sales
• Small business

Entertainment:

• Games (video games, board games)
• Live events
• Movies (by genre)
• Music (by genre)
• Reading (books, magazines)
• TV shows

Family & Relationships:

• Dating
• Family
• Fatherhood
• Friendship
• Marriage
• Motherhood
• Parenting
• Weddings

Fitness & Wellness:

• Bodybuilding
• Dieting
• Gyms
• Meditation
• Nutrition
• Physical exercise
• Running
• Weight training
• Yoga

Food & Drink:

• Alcoholic beverages
• Cooking
• Cuisine (by type)
• Food
• Restaurants

Hobbies & Activities:

• Arts and crafts
• Cars
• Current events
• DIY
• Gardening
• Home improvement
• Pets
• Photography
• Politics
• Travel

Shopping & Fashion:

• Beauty
• Clothing
• Cosmetics
• Fashion accessories
• Shopping
• Toys

Sports & Outdoors:

• Outdoor recreation
• Sports (by type)

Technology:

• Computers
• Consumer electronics
• Software

Behavior Targeting

Digital Activities:

• Facebook page admins
• Facebook Payments users
• Operating system used
• Browser used
• Primary email domain
• Network connection type

Mobile Device User:

• All mobile devices
• Feature phones
• Smartphones and tablets
• iOS devices
• Android devices
• Specific devices (iPhone, Samsung, etc.)

Purchase Behavior:

• Engaged shoppers
• Online buyers
• Store visitors (offline activity)

Travel:

• Frequent travelers
• Business travelers
• Currently traveling
• Returned from travel (1 week, 2 weeks)
• Commuters

Expats:

• People who live away from home country

How to Set Up Facebook Target Audience

Step 1: Open Ads Manager

1. Go to facebook.com/adsmanager
2. Click Create to start a new campaign
3. Choose your campaign objective
4. Proceed to the ad set level

Step 2: Define Your Audience

In the Audience section:

1. Location: Enter countries, regions, cities, or addresses
2. Age: Set minimum and maximum age
3. Gender: All, Men, or Women
4. Languages: Target specific language speakers

Step 3: Add Detailed Targeting

1. Click Edit next to Detailed Targeting
2. Browse categories or search for specific interests
3. Click Suggestions for related options
4. Use Narrow Audience to require multiple criteria

Step 4: Set Connections

Target people based on their connection to your:

• Facebook Page
• App
• Event

Options:

• People who like your Page
• Friends of people who like your Page
• Exclude people who like your Page

Step 5: Save Your Audience

Click Save This Audience to reuse it in future campaigns.

Best Facebook Audiences by Business Type

E-commerce

Best approach: Layered targeting with retargeting

1. Top of funnel: Lookalike of purchasers (1-3%)
2. Middle of funnel: Website visitors, cart abandoners
3. Bottom of funnel: Past purchasers (upsell/cross-sell)

Detailed targeting example:

• Interests: Online shopping, specific product categories
• Behaviors: Engaged shoppers
• Demographics: Income level (if relevant)

Local Business

Best approach: Location + interest targeting

1. Radius targeting: 10-25 miles around location
2. Interests: Related to your service
3. Behaviors: Recently moved (for service businesses)

Detailed targeting example for dentist:

• Location: 15-mile radius
• Age: 25-65
• Interests: Health, dental care, family
• Behaviors: Parents with children

B2B / Professional Services

Best approach: Job title + interest stacking

1. Job titles: Decision makers in target industries
2. Interests: Industry publications, conferences
3. Behaviors: Business page admins, small business owners

Detailed targeting example:

• Job titles: CEO, Founder, Marketing Director
• Employers: Companies of target size
• Interests: Business software, industry events

SaaS / Software

Best approach: Behavioral + interest combination

1. Behaviors: Technology early adopters
2. Interests: Competitor tools, industry topics
3. Job titles: Roles who use your software

Detailed targeting example:

• Interests: Project management, productivity tools
• Behaviors: Technology early adopters
• Job titles: Project Manager, Operations Manager

Facebook Custom Audiences: Complete Setup

Customer List Upload

What you need:

• Email addresses or phone numbers
• Minimum 1,000 entries (recommended 10,000+)
• Properly formatted CSV file

Steps:

1. Go to Audiences in Ads Manager
2. Click Create Audience > Custom Audience
3. Select Customer list
4. Upload your CSV file
5. Map columns to Facebook identifiers
6. Create audience

Match rate expectations:

• Good: 60-80% match rate
• Typical: 40-60% match rate
• Low: Under 40% (check data quality)

Website Custom Audience (Pixel)

To create website audiences, you need the Facebook Pixel installed on your site.

Prerequisites:

• Facebook Pixel installed
• Website traffic flowing

Audience options:

• All website visitors (30, 60, 90, 180 days)
• Visitors to specific pages
• Visitors by time spent (top 25%, 10%, 5%)
• Custom events (add to cart, purchase, etc.)

Best website audiences:

1. Cart abandoners (visited cart, didn't purchase)
2. Product viewers (viewed product pages)
3. Blog readers (content consumption)
4. Converters (completed purchases—for Lookalike)

Engagement Custom Audiences

Facebook Page:

• Everyone who engaged with your Page
• Anyone who visited your Page
• People who engaged with posts/ads
• People who clicked CTA button
• People who sent a message
• People who saved your Page or posts

Instagram Account:

• Everyone who engaged with your professional account
• Anyone who visited your profile
• People who engaged with posts or ads
• People who sent a message
• People who saved posts or ads

Video:

• People who watched 3 seconds
• People who watched 10 seconds
• People who watched 25%, 50%, 75%, 95%
• People who watched through completion

Facebook Lookalike Audiences: Best Practices

Choosing Your Source Audience

Best sources (in order):

1. Purchasers (highest intent signal)
2. High-value customers (top 25% by spend)
3. Email subscribers
4. Website visitors with key actions
5. Engaged video viewers

Minimum source size: 100 people (1,000+ recommended)

Choosing Lookalike Percentage

Layering Lookalikes with Interests

Combine Lookalike + Detailed Targeting for precision:

1. Create 1-3% Lookalike
2. Add 2-3 relevant interests
3. Test against broad Lookalike

This narrows your Lookalike to the most relevant segment.

Facebook Audience Targeting Mistakes to Avoid

1. Audience Too Narrow

Problem: Potential reach under 10,000 Impact: Limited delivery, high CPMs Solution: Broaden age, remove some interests

2. Audience Too Broad

Problem: Potential reach over 50 million Impact: Wasted spend on irrelevant users Solution: Add more targeting criteria, use Lookalikes

3. Interest Stacking (OR Logic)

Problem: Adding many interests = OR logic (any interest) Impact: Diluted targeting Solution: Use Narrow Audience for AND logic

4. Excluding Too Much

Problem: Excessive exclusions reduce reach Impact: Missed potential customers Solution: Only exclude known non-converters

5. Not Testing Audiences

Problem: Assuming one audience works best Impact: Missing better-performing segments Solution: A/B test audience variations

Audience Overlap: How to Check and Fix

Checking Overlap

1. Go to Audiences in Ads Manager
2. Select 2+ audiences (checkbox)
3. Click Actions > Show Audience Overlap
4. View overlap percentage

Acceptable Overlap Levels

• Under 20%: Different audiences, safe to run together
• 20-50%: Moderate overlap, monitor performance
• Over 50%: Significant overlap, consolidate or exclude

Fixing High Overlap

Option 1: Exclude one audience from the other

In ad set targeting:

• Add Custom Audience to exclude
• Choose the overlapping audience

Option 2: Consolidate into one audience

Combine similar audiences into one ad set to avoid competing against yourself.

Facebook Audience Size Guide

Recommended Sizes by Objective

Why Audience Size Matters

Too small (under 10K):

• Limited learning
• High CPMs
• Delivery issues

Too large (over 50M for conversions):

• Inefficient spend
• Lower relevance
• Harder to optimize

Advanced Facebook Targeting Strategies

Strategy 1: Funnel-Based Targeting

Top of Funnel (Awareness):

• Broad interests
• Lookalikes 5-10%
• Video view campaigns

Middle of Funnel (Consideration):

• Website visitors
• Engagement audiences
• Lookalikes 1-3%

Bottom of Funnel (Conversion):

• Cart abandoners
• Product viewers
• Past purchasers

Strategy 2: Exclusion Stacking

Exclude recent converters from prospecting:

1. Create Custom Audience of 30-day purchasers
2. Exclude from all prospecting campaigns
3. Create separate retargeting for repeat purchases

Strategy 3: Value-Based Lookalikes

Target based on customer value:

1. Export customer list with purchase values
2. Upload to Facebook with lifetime value column
3. Create Lookalike—Facebook weights high-value customers

Strategy 4: Testing Framework

Phase 1: Test 3-5 audiences with same ad

• Lookalike 1%
• Lookalike 2-3%
• Interest stack A
• Interest stack B
• Broad (18-65, your country)

Phase 2: Scale winners, kill losers Phase 3: Create variations of winning audiences

Measuring Audience Performance

Key Metrics to Track

Audience Quality Indicators

High-quality audience:

• Consistent delivery
• Strong engagement
• Good conversion rate
• Sustainable CPM

Poor-quality audience:

• Delivery issues
• Low engagement
• Few conversions
• Rising CPMs

FAQs

What's the best Facebook audience size for conversions?

For conversion campaigns, aim for 500,000 to 2 million potential reach. This gives Facebook enough data to optimize while staying focused. Smaller audiences (100K-500K) work if your offer is highly targeted. Avoid audiences under 50,000 for conversion objectives.

Should I use detailed targeting or Lookalike Audiences?

Use both, but prioritize Lookalikes if you have quality source data. Lookalikes of past purchasers typically outperform interest targeting. Use detailed targeting when you're starting without conversion data, or layer interests on top of Lookalikes for more precision.

How often should I refresh my Custom Audiences?

Customer list audiences: Upload monthly for active customer bases. Website audiences: Set 30-90 day windows and they auto-refresh. Engagement audiences: Set 30-180 day windows based on your sales cycle. Lookalikes based on these will also stay fresh.

Why is my audience not delivering?

Common causes: audience too small (expand targeting), bid too low (increase budget), ad disapproved (check policy), audience exhausted (refresh or expand), or too many exclusions. Check the Delivery column in Ads Manager for specific issues.

Can I target competitor audiences on Facebook?

You cannot directly target competitor customers. However, you can target interests in competitor brands if they're large enough to appear as interests. You can also target interests in industry topics your competitors' customers would follow.

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Related Resources:

• Facebook Ad Funnel Strategy Guide
• Lookalike Audience Complete Guide
• Facebook Advertising Costs
• Facebook CPM Benchmarks
• Facebook CTR Benchmarks
• How to Create a Facebook Business Page

Related Tools:

• Facebook Engagement Calculator
• Facebook Content Ideas Generator
• Facebook Caption Generator

Ready to create better Facebook ads? Try SocialRails for scheduling, analytics, and audience insights.