Episode 23: Campaign objectives, audience targeting and placements
Choosing campaign objectives, audience targeting (core, custom, lookalike, broad) and placements.
Meta delivers exactly the goal you give it. Just like a genie.
Ask for likes and you’ll get likes. Ask for orders and it will look for orders. Think carefully before asking the genie.
6 campaign objectives
| Objective | What Meta will look for | When to use |
|---|---|---|
| Awareness | Cheap reach to the most people | Launches, brand recall |
| Traffic | People who click | Blog/page visits (not sales) |
| Engagement | Likes, video views, messages | Building video viewers, WhatsApp chats |
| Leads | People who fill forms / get in touch | Enquiries, bulk orders |
| App promotion | App installs | Not for StyleStreet |
| Sales | People who buy | Website/WhatsApp orders |
StyleStreet’s goal is orders. So both BOFU and TOFU use the Sales objective (or messages, for WhatsApp).
4 types of audience
Core / Saved
Location, age, gender, interests.
Jaipur, 24–38, women, “kurta”, “office wear”
Custom
People who already know you.
Video viewers, website visitors, customer list
Lookalike
New people similar to your customers.
A 1% lookalike of 300 buyers
Broad / Advantage+
Few restrictions; Meta finds people itself.
Only location + age, AI does the rest
Narrow targeting vs broad
Marketers used to choose very specific interests. Now Meta’s system is so smart that broad + a good creative often works better.
- The creative is the targeting: an office-kurti Reel naturally attracts working women
- A very small audience = expensive and tires quickly
- But do set basic limits like location and age
So are interests completely useless?
No. In a new account with little data, interests give a starting hint. The best approach: one ad set with interests, one broad, and test both (Chapter 25).
Placements: where the ad appears
| Placement | Character |
|---|---|
| Instagram Reels | Vertical video, discovery, Priya’s favourite |
| Instagram Stories | Full screen, quick action |
| Instagram/Facebook Feed | Carousels, detail |
| Facebook, Audience Network, etc. | Cheap, but quality varies |
Start with Advantage+ placements (automatic), then check the breakdown report. If a placement eats money without orders, remove it.
Exclusions: who NOT to show
- Remove existing customers from TOFU ads
- Remove people who already ordered from BOFU ads
- Locations where you don’t deliver
Exclusions put the money on the right people, and customers don’t see the “buy now” ad over and over.
StyleStreet’s real problem
Expecting sales from an “Engagement” campaign
Neha’s old campaigns had the Engagement objective. Meta delivered exactly that: likes and comments, mostly from people who like things but don’t buy.
The audience was also so narrow from 30 interests that it was just ~40,000 people. In 2 weeks the same people got bored of seeing the ad again and again.
Practical example: StyleStreet TOFU ad set setup
| Setting | Choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Objective | Sales (conversion: WhatsApp messages/purchases) | The goal is orders |
| Location | Jaipur + 50 km, Jodhpur, Udaipur | 60% of orders come from here (Chapter 3) |
| Age / gender | 24–38, women | Persona Priya |
| Detailed targeting | Test A: interests; Test B: broad | Compare both |
| Exclude | Existing customers list | Save money |
| Placements | Advantage+ (auto) | Data first, then decisions |
Your mission: Build a targeting plan
For StyleStreet:
- Choose the right objective for each funnel level and explain why
- Write a core audience (location, age, gender, 5 interests)
- Write 3 custom audiences StyleStreet can build
- Decide the source for a lookalike audience
- List the exclusions
- Placement plan: auto at the start, manual when?
Quiz
-
StyleStreet wants orders. The objective?
- A. Engagement
- B. Traffic
- C. Sales
- D. Awareness
Show answer
Correct answer: C. Sales
Meta looks for whatever you ask for in the objective.
-
What kind of audience is “watched 50% of a video”?
- A. Core
- B. Custom
- C. Lookalike
- D. Broad
Show answer
Correct answer: B. Custom
People who’ve already engaged with your content are a custom audience.
-
To find new people similar to 300 customers?
- A. Lookalike audience
- B. Exclusion
- C. Placement
- D. Interest
Show answer
Correct answer: A. Lookalike audience
A lookalike finds new people similar to your best customers.
-
Why exclude existing customers from TOFU ads?
- A. It’s Meta’s rule
- B. They don’t need an intro ad; it wastes money
- C. They’ll block you
- D. Not needed
Show answer
Correct answer: B. They don’t need an intro ad; it wastes money
Showing “hello, we’re StyleStreet” to someone who already knows you is waste.
Output for the client project
Your project file now has a Targeting Sheet:
- Funnel-wise objectives
- Core, custom, lookalike audiences
- Interest vs broad test plan
- Exclusions list
- Placement plan
Golden rule: Ask the genie for what you truly want. The right objective, a clean audience, and exclude those who don’t need it.