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Targeting Overview

Targeting determines who sees your ads. When you configure an ad set, you define your target audience using criteria like location, age, gender, interests, and behaviors. Each platform offers different targeting options, but the core concepts remain consistent across Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and Google.

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Understanding Audience Targeting

Audience targeting lets you show your ads to specific groups of people based on their characteristics and behaviors. Instead of showing ads to everyone, you define criteria that match your ideal customers.

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Why Targeting Matters

Effective targeting helps you:

• Reach the right people: Show ads to users most likely to be interested in your product or service
• Control costs: Avoid wasting budget on users unlikely to convert
• Improve performance: Higher relevance leads to better engagement and conversion rates
• Test audiences: Compare different audience segments to find what works best

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Core Targeting Dimensions

All platforms support these fundamental targeting dimensions:

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Location Targeting

Define where your audience is located:

• Countries: Target entire countries or exclude specific countries
• Regions: Target states, provinces, or regions within countries
• Cities: Target specific cities or metropolitan areas
• Radius: Target areas within a certain distance from a location
• Postal codes: Target specific zip codes or postal code ranges

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Demographic Targeting

Define audience characteristics:

• Age: Each platform uses its own age format — Meta uses numeric min/max (e.g. 18–50); TikTok and Snapchat use brackets (e.g. 18-24, 25-34, 35-44); Google uses range codes. In Whathead you set age as a range (e.g. 18–50 or 18–24). A mapping system converts this to the correct format per platform (e.g. 18–50 → platform-specific brackets like 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 50+ on Snapchat, or the equivalent on Meta/TikTok/Google).
• Gender: Target all genders, men, women, or non-binary (platform support varies)
• Language: Target users who speak specific languages
• Education: Target by education level (some platforms)
• Relationship status: Target by relationship status (some platforms)
• Parental status: Target parents or non-parents (some platforms)

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Interest Targeting

Target users based on their interests and hobbies:

• Categories: Broad interest categories (e.g., Sports, Technology, Fashion)
• Subcategories: More specific interests within categories
• Brands: Users interested in specific brands or companies
• Activities: Users who engage in specific activities

Interest targeting uses platform data about user behavior, page likes, content engagement, and browsing history.

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Behavior Targeting

Target users based on their actions and behaviors:

• Purchase behavior: Users who have made purchases online or in specific categories
• Device usage: Users on specific devices or operating systems
• Travel behavior: Frequent travelers or users planning trips
• Digital activities: Users who engage with specific types of content

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Platform-Specific Targeting Options

Each platform offers unique targeting capabilities based on their user data and advertising ecosystem:

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Custom Audiences

Custom audiences let you target specific groups of users based on your own data:

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Customer Lists

Upload lists of email addresses, phone numbers, or mobile advertising IDs. Platforms match these to user accounts and let you target those users directly. Use cases:

• Re-engage existing customers with new offers
• Exclude existing customers from acquisition campaigns
• Target high-value customers with premium products

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Website Visitors

Target users who visited your website by installing a tracking pixel. You can create audiences based on:

• All website visitors
• Visitors to specific pages
• Visitors who completed specific actions
• Visitors within a time window (e.g., last 30 days)

Use cases:

• Retarget users who viewed products but didn’t purchase
• Re-engage users who abandoned shopping carts
• Exclude recent converters from acquisition campaigns

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App Users

Target users who installed or used your mobile app. Create audiences based on:

• All app users
• Users who completed specific in-app events
• Users who reached specific levels or milestones
• Users who made in-app purchases

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Engagement Audiences

Target users who engaged with your content on the platform:

• Users who watched your videos
• Users who liked or commented on your posts
• Users who visited your profile or page
• Users who engaged with your ads

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Lookalike Audiences

Lookalike audiences (also called similar audiences) help you find new users similar to your existing customers or audiences. Platforms analyze your source audience and find users with similar characteristics and behaviors.

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How Lookalikes Work

1. Choose a source audience: Customer list, website visitors, or custom audience
2. Select similarity level: 1% (most similar) to 10% (broader reach)
3. Define location: Where to find lookalike users
4. Platform creates audience: Algorithm finds similar users in that location

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Best Practices for Lookalikes

• Use high-quality source audiences: At least 1,000 users, ideally your best customers
• Focus on converters: Use purchasers or high-value actions, not just website visitors
• Test multiple sources: Compare lookalikes from different source audiences
• Refresh regularly: Update source audiences as you acquire new customers

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Audience Exclusions

Exclude specific audiences to avoid wasting budget or creating poor user experiences:

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Common Exclusions

• Recent converters: Don’t show acquisition ads to users who just purchased
• Existing customers: Exclude from new customer acquisition campaigns
• Competitors: Exclude users who work at competitor companies (B2B)
• Low-value segments: Exclude audiences that historically don’t convert

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Targeting Best Practices

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Start Broad, Then Narrow

Begin with broader targeting to gather performance data. Narrow your audience based on what you learn:

1. Launch with broad demographic and interest targeting
2. Analyze which segments perform best
3. Create focused campaigns for high-performing segments
4. Exclude or reduce budget for low-performing segments

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Layer Targeting Criteria

Combine multiple targeting dimensions for precision:

• Location + Demographics + Interests
• Custom audience + Lookalike audience
• Behavior + Interest + Exclusions

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Test Audience Variations

Create multiple ad sets with different audience configurations:

• Broad vs. narrow targeting
• Different interest categories
• Different age ranges
• Different locations

Compare performance to identify your best audiences.

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Monitor Audience Size

Each platform shows estimated audience size when you configure targeting. Watch for:

• Too small: Under 50,000 users may limit delivery and increase costs
• Too large: Over 10 million users may be too broad for effective optimization
• Just right: 100,000 to 5 million users typically works well for most campaigns

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Refresh Audiences Regularly

Update your custom audiences and lookalikes as your business grows:

• Upload new customer lists monthly or quarterly
• Extend website visitor windows during slow periods
• Create seasonal audiences for holiday campaigns
• Archive audiences that no longer convert

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Targeting Validation

Whathead validates your targeting configuration before publishing:

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Required Fields

All platforms require:

• At least one location (country, region, or city)
• Age range (minimum and maximum)
• Gender selection (can be “all genders”)

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Platform-Specific Requirements

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Targeting and Campaign Objectives

Your targeting options may be limited based on your campaign objective:

• Awareness objectives: Broader targeting recommended for maximum reach
• Consideration objectives: Interest and behavior targeting for relevant users
• Conversion objectives: Custom audiences and lookalikes for high-intent users

Some objectives restrict certain targeting options. For example, Meta’s special ad categories limit demographic targeting for housing, employment, and credit ads.

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Next Steps

Now that you understand targeting concepts, explore these related topics:

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Common Questions

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Related Pages