No, Broad Targeting on Meta Ads Isn't a Silver Bullet
It seems that every week that passes by I see some new ‘advice’ from LinkedIn influencers aiming at taking advantage of newbie marketers’ lack of knowledge of how Meta Ads works. Case in point, the new ‘Don’t Even Worry About Targeting, Just Go Broad’ pseudo-meme that’s coming up over and over again on LinkedIn.
To understand why it’s become so popular, you have to understand the monumental changes that happened to the platform in 2020/2021.
How iOS 14 Impacted The Meta Ads Platform
The release of iOS 14 (and, previously, the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal) radically changed Facebook audience targeting options for the worse. Previously, advertisers enjoyed a cornucopia of targeting options, being able to hone in on hyper-specific audiences in order to maximize ROAS.
Simply put, data was bountiful and I highly suspect that future advertisers will refer to the period between 2015-2020 as the Meta Ads Golden Age. RIP.
That’s not to say that you can’t get good performance on Meta Ads these days, however. It’s just that you’ll no longer be able to target the following:
- Demographic data such as credit history
- Health-related causes
- Sexual orientation
- Religious practices and affiliations
- Political beliefs, social issues, causes, organizations, and figures
While there are specific methods to compensate for the loss of tracking data, targeting the specific interests and behaviors that have been removed from Facebook's platform is no longer possible.
Furthermore, it’s absolutely indisputable that if you’re going to use detailed targeting, you have to build a targeting model which is broader than before. Gone are the days when you could have an audience target of 20-50K and expect decent results. These days I highly recommend ~250K as a minimum.
But that doesn’t mean you should just remove all of your audience targeting altogether and just turn over the keys to Meta entirely. Here’s why.
Your Product Probably Isn’t Mainstream Enough
I’ll just go out and say it: if your product is so mainstream that it can potentially appeal to everyone then you’re probably either A) Working at Procter & Gamble (Or some other faceless conglomerate), B) You’ve made a mistake by positioning your product too widely (and thereby ignoring the power of choosing a niche) or C) You’re overestimating your product’s appeal.
If you even suspect that options B) or C) apply to your product then broad targeting likely isn’t for you.
So why are some self-styled ‘gurus’ recommending broad targeting to B2B SaaS companies or ‘highly niche’ products or services? The argument they put forward is what we’ll explore in the next section.
Dissecting The Argument For Meta Ads Broad Targeting
Much of the argumentation for broad targeting comes from the fact that Meta Ads is constantly trying to serve your ad to those most likely to lead to your chosen conversion goal. In this way, audiences act as guidelines, instructing Meta on who to filter. Since Meta knows more about who is more likely to convert than you could, why not just let Meta work with the largest data pool possible – therefore giving them all the information they could possibly need to serve your ads to the right audience and saving you the guesswork?
Theoretically, it could work. The logic is fairly sound (and, in fact, I’ve employed a version of this argument when I’ve pitched look-alike audiences for years now)
However, there’s a caveat: broad targeting could only possibly be viable if you possess enough Meta Pixel data for Meta to accurately discern which individual is a more suitable match than another. As with any type of targeting, the more conversion data Facebook has at its disposal, the more adept it becomes at predicting the appropriate audience for your broad targeting campaigns. The difference with Broad Targeting, however, is that conversion data is even more important as you aren’t giving Meta any guidelines whatsoever.
When to Use Broad Targeting on Facebook/Instagram
Whenever I’m either setting up a new Meta Ads account or taking over marketing efforts from another marketer, I start from scratch. You might have an idea about what works and what doesn’t work but in your first cycle of A/B testing, it’s always important to leave things as open-ended as possible.
To this end, I may opt to start off with a broad targeting test (vs a different type of targeting model, usually) – this is the approach I would most likely take with D2C/B2C brands (unless the product was obviously gendered in some way. 80-90% of self-identifying men will not be interested in buying a bikini unless it was a gift for a loved one)
Another use case for broad targeting would be ‘seasoning’ a new Meta pixel. This is a pixel with little associated information on conversions. While Broad Targeting may not be the best option from a CPA perspective, it can serve as a useful shortcut when one needs to accrue primary/secondary metrics data on a brand-new pixel. That being said, once you actually acquire ~50-100 conversions or so, I’m willing to bet that other types of targeting will start to become more appealing (look-alike targeting being the one I tend to favor the most)
There’s No Silver Bullet When it Comes to Facebook/Instagram Ads
I’ve noticed that a lot of the hype surrounding broad targeting happens to follow hot on the heels of the AI revolution. The two are often intertwined, with some going as far to offer some variant on ‘AI knows better about how to target than you do’.
This is bogus. AI might be here and is a valuable tool, but it won’t ever truly be able to act independently of human-set parameters.
If anyone ever tells you that there’s a way to turn off your brain and just let the AI do all the work, they’re selling you snake oil. There is no substitute for using your reason to formulate tactical decisions about how to approach your Meta Ads. Period.
How To Prioritize Your Meta A/B Tests as a Marketer
I’ve spent my entire career thinking about that very question. From the Veitia Matrices to my SUREFIRE methodology, I’ve synthesized everything I’ve learned over the past decade into a total productivity system that will ensure that you will not only know how to prioritize your A/B tests, but you will have the right toolset for maximizing your marketing efforts. Want to find out more? Sign up for my newsletter below and I’ll send you my Veitia Matrices template. This template will visually reorient you towards tasks and projects (including A/B testing) that will provide the highest impact regardless of your mental fatigue or energy levels.
