If you’re looking to get the most out of your Facebook advertising spend, targeting the right audience is key. In this guide, we’ll walk through some of the most effective methods for Facebook ad targeting to help you reach your ideal audience.

👥 Demographic Targeting

One of the most basic forms of targeting is demographic targeting. This allows you to narrow down your audience based on factors such as age, gender, relationship status, education level, and more. Depending on the nature of your product or service, certain demographics may be more likely to convert, making this a useful starting point when it comes to targeting.

A pie chart showing percentages of the different demographics.

📍 Location Targeting

Got a local brick-and-mortar business? Then you’ll want to make sure you’re targeting customers in the right location. Location targeting enables you to target users based on their city, state, region, or zip code. You can also exclude certain locations, which is useful if you don’t want to waste ad spend on people who are unlikely to visit your physical location.

A map showing the targeted location.

📱 Device and Technology Targeting

With over a billion active users accessing Facebook on mobile devices, it’s important to consider which devices your target audience is using. Device targeting lets you deliver different ads to people based on what type of device they use, while technology targeting allows you to target users based on their internet speed or the browser they’re using.

A mobile and desktop icon showing device targeting.

🔍 Interest Targeting

Interest targeting is all about finding people who are likely to be interested in your product or service based on the things they like on Facebook. Some of the interests to target can include categories such as hobbies, specific types of music, books, movies, and TV shows that they follow, publications they like, and activities they enjoy.

A magnifying glass searching through interests.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Behavior Targeting

Behavior targeting allows you to target individuals based on certain behavior patterns, such as past purchase history, specific activities, job behavior, etc. This data is collected by Facebook and allows you to reach a more specific and engaged audience. For example, you can target people who have made a purchase from a competitor, or target people who have recently moved.

A graph showing behavior patterns.

📣 Custom Audiences

Custom audiences are created by uploading a list of email addresses, phone numbers, and/or Facebook user IDs to Facebook. This allows you to target people you already know, such as your existing customers or subscribers. Facebook looks for those users in its database and delivers your ads directly to them.

A list of email addresses, phone numbers, and/or Facebook user IDs.

🌟 Lookalike Audiences

Once you’ve created a custom audience, you can create a lookalike audience. This is an audience that shares similarities with your existing custom audience in terms of demographics and interests. The lookalike feature allows you to deliver your ads to people who are more likely to convert.

A group of people who look alike.


By utilizing these Facebook ad targeting methods, you’ll be able to reach your ideal audience with greater efficiency and effectiveness.

A screenshot of a Facebook ad targeted to an ideal audience.