How to Target the Right Audience with Social Media Advertising

If you’ve ever run a social media ad and thought, “Why isn’t this working?” - you’re not alone. We see it all the time. The truth is, the magic of social media advertising isn’t just in flashy graphics or clever copy. It’s in the targeting. At our agency, we spend just as much time figuring out who should see your ad as we do designing the ad itself. Because when you nail the audience, the results follow.

Why Targeting Matters More Than Ever

Throwing your ads out to “everyone” might feel safe, but it’s usually just expensive. A study by Sotrender found that over 80% of Meta (Facebook & Instagram) ad sets reached less than 5% of their estimated target audience. That means most campaigns are barely scratching the surface of the people they’re trying to reach.

On the flip side, when you use smart social media ad targeting strategies, your cost per click drops, your engagement goes up, and your ROI climbs. We see it every day.

Our Go-To Social Media Ad Targeting Strategies

Here’s how we approach finding the right audience for social media ads for our clients:

1. We build buyer personas first.

Before we launch a single ad, we map out who we’re talking to: demographics, interests, behaviors, and even the problems they’re trying to solve. We get specific, “eco-minded moms of toddlers in Miami” works a lot better than “parents.”

2. We use your own data.

Your email lists, website visitors, and customer history? Pure gold. We build lookalike audiences from them so platforms like Meta and TikTok can find more people who act like your best customers.

3. We retarget and nurture.

People rarely convert the first time they see an ad. We track actions like video views, site visits, and abandoned carts, then retarget with follow-up ads. That second or third touch is often where the sale happens.

4. We geo-target when it makes sense.

If you’re a local business or running an event, we zero in on specific ZIP codes or a radius around your store. No wasted impressions in cities you don’t serve.

5. We constantly A/B test.

Different creatives, copy, and audience segments get tested against each other. We keep the winners and cut the losers fast.

Our Step-by-Step Workflow

1. Research your audience with surveys, social listening, and analytics
2. Set campaign goals (brand awareness vs. leads vs. sales)
3. Build targeting layers (demographics, interests, lookalikes, geo)
4. Create tailored ad creatives for each segment
5. Run small tests and scale what performs
6. Monitor, tweak, and refresh audiences regularly

What We’ve Learned Along the Way

• Privacy changes mean your data is more valuable than ever. We lean heavily on first-party data and consent-based tracking.

• Overlap kills performance. We exclude audiences where necessary so we’re not competing with ourselves.

• Broad isn’t always bad. Once we have enough data, we test broader audiences to see if we can scale without losing ROI.

Bottom Line

We’ve run enough campaigns to know this: social media ads only work if they’re shown to the right people. With smart targeting, testing, and creative tailored to your audience, your ad spend can finally feel like an investment instead of a gamble.

If you’re tired of throwing money at ads that don’t convert, it might be time to bring in a partner who lives and breathes this stuff (hint: that’s us)