When it comes to Facebook ads, the best audience to target is none at all. Targeting interest groups, lookalike audiences, and retargeting may seem appealing. Still, these audiences are often smaller, and the information used to categorize them is only sometimes accurate. Additionally, these audiences will eventually fatigue, leading to decreased performance and ad costs.

On the other hand, broad or open targeting is stable, cost-effective, and continually improves over time as Facebook’s machine-learning algorithm learns which users are most likely to engage with your ads. This means you can reach a larger audience and never worry about ad fatigue.

Moreover, broad targeting provides no restrictions on which users will see your ads, ensuring they are shown to the best people possible. This not only maximizes your reach but also helps to stabilize the type of users who come into your store and increases their lifetime value to your business.

Broad targeting is stable, projectable, and cost-effective. This means you can have confidence in future outcomes and never need to use anything else. Broad targeting never fatigues because it is everyone and provides no restriction to the users your ads are most appealing to, meaning your ads will always be shown to the best people.

The Best Facebook Ads Audience is None at All

An easy example of this is a typical hack to improve return on ad spend, targeting people who have opened emails in the last 24 hours with a Facebook ad. This audience will have the best ROAS of any targeting audience, but you may lose money. You’re giving Facebook credit for conversion after someone views or clicks on an ad the same day they open an email and purchase.

When you use broad targeting instead of stealing credit from other channels, your reporting becomes even less trustworthy, and you waste more money. Broad targeting improves the volume of opportunity for all other channels, a concept known as incremental lift. Facebook is a business amplification tool, not a profit-generating device, and broad targeting is the most effective way to stabilize the type of user that comes into your store and get those users at a lower cost, allowing you to focus on improving the customer experience and, ultimately, their lifetime value to your business.