Meta Core Audiences · Demographics, Interests & Behaviours

Core Audiences (called "Detailed Targeting" in Ads Manager) are audience segments built from information users provide to Meta — their profile data (age, gender, location, education, job title), their on-platform activity (pages liked, events attended, content interacted with), and their off-platform behaviour signals (app usage, purchase behaviour, travel patterns captured through Meta's tracking network).

Core Audiences are the starting point for prospecting campaigns targeting people with no prior relationship with your brand. Unlike Custom Audiences (which require your own data) or Lookalike Audiences (which require a seed list), Core Audiences are always available from campaign day one.

Location is required for all Meta campaigns — you must specify at least one location. Options:

Location inclusion options

• People living in or recently in this location. Default; includes residents and recent visitors
• People living in this location. Only long-term residents — excludes travellers
• People recently in this location. Users whose device was physically in the location recently
• People travelling in this location. Users whose home location differs from their current location

Demographic targeting options in Meta Core Audiences:

Interest targeting reaches people based on their demonstrated interests — derived from Pages they follow, content they engage with, ads they click, and off-Facebook activity. Meta's interest taxonomy contains thousands of categories organised hierarchically.

How Meta assigns interests

Meta classifies users into interest segments based on: Facebook Pages and Instagram accounts they follow and engage with; content they interact with (posts, videos, links); ads they click; websites they visit that have the Meta Pixel installed; app activity on Android devices.

Interest targeting best practices

• Use specific interests over broad ones. "Nike Running" is more targeted than "Running" — users who specifically follow Nike Running signals stronger athletic purchase intent than general running interest
• Stack related interests with OR logic. Multiple interests in the same targeting section create an OR relationship — users matching any of the interests qualify. Use this to reach different segments of the same broad audience
• Use AND with demographic/behaviour layer. Adding demographics or behaviours to interests creates an AND narrowing — users must match the interest AND the additional condition
• Check estimated audience size. Very narrow interest combinations produce audiences too small for effective delivery. Aim for 500,000+ for most campaigns; 1M+ for conversion campaigns needing data volume

Behaviour targeting reaches users based on activities and purchase behaviours — extending beyond interest signals to actual actions. Available behaviour categories include:

• Digital activities. Facebook page administrators; early technology adopters; online buyers; specific gaming behaviours
• Mobile device users. iOS or Android users; specific device brands; users who recently changed devices; users who access Facebook via specific mobile carriers
• Purchase behaviour. Buyers of specific product categories (fashion, home goods, electronics, food); business purchase decision makers
• Travel. Frequent travellers; business travellers; users who recently returned from travel; expats
• Financial. Income-based behaviours (available in some countries); credit card holders

Advantage+ Audience (formerly Detailed Targeting Expansion) allows Meta's AI to extend delivery beyond your specified Core Audience targeting when Meta predicts better results outside your defined parameters. In 2024, Meta made Advantage+ Audience the default targeting mode — advertisers must manually switch to "Original Audience" to restrict targeting to their specified parameters only.

How it works: you specify your Core Audience targeting as audience suggestions (not strict restrictions). Meta shows ads to your specified audience but may also expand to additional users if doing so is expected to improve campaign performance. The expansion is based on Meta's models of who converts for your specific campaign objective and creative.

Advantage+ Audience works best when you have conversion data for Meta to learn from (Sales or Leads campaigns with pixel/CAPI data). For new campaigns without data history, the expansion is less informed. For campaigns requiring strict demographic restrictions (alcohol, gambling, financial products) use Original Audience to enforce compliance.

Ads Manager displays estimated audience size (a range) for your targeting combination. General guidance by objective:

Authentic Sources