Key Takeaways
- Custom conversions are specific data points to track that allow you to better refine your audience targeting in Meta Ads.
- Broad audiences allow for expanded reach as the algorithm targets a wide audience and narrows its scope from there, but it may not always yield the highest lead quality.
- Build off custom conversions by setting up elements to track, establishing custom reporting, A/B testing different events, and using Meta Advantage+ to increase your conversions.
- A hybrid approach that involves manual testing and custom conversions that is then expanded through Meta Advantage+ yields the best balance.
Using Custom Conversions To Enrich Your Meta Advertising
The world of Meta advertising can be dizzying to say the least, between new updates, difficulties pinpointing audiences, and an algorithm that can be tough to wrangle in. You’ll likely come across different schools of thought on how to navigate it, such as whether broad audience targeting is enough to drive ad success or if manual targeting is still worthwhile.
While Meta advocates for broad audience targeting when marketing across Facebook and Instagram, the “set-it and forget-it” approach may not be going far enough to drive the best leads. Broad targeting can be beneficial, especially for those who want a more hands-off approach, but it could limit you in your ability to target the ideal customers and drive the best return on ad spend.
Yes, the algorithm may save you time, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to maximize your profits and refine ad spend. I advocate for using custom conversions to pinpoint your ideal end consumer and really get the most value out of broad audiences in your ad targeting.
Meta’s Algorithm
Broad targeting is purely contingent on Meta’s algorithm, which defines how ads are spread across Facebook and Instagram. The algorithm uses key information points you provide, like age and location, in tandem with information it has learned about its users to determine which audiences to target with select ads.
The algorithm works by considering your input information, reviewing the content of your ads, and analyzing user behavior, relevance, and interaction to determine who is best to show ads to. The algorithm is constantly taking in new information to determine the most likely audiences for engaging with your ads, using elements like a real-time ad auction system, relevance scoring, and user data analysis.
What Are Broad Audiences?
Broad audience targeting relies on using Meta’s algorithm to find the right individuals to show your ads, using limited inputs of information like age, location, and sometimes, gender as a foundation for identifying the ideal audience for your ads. Rather than manually deciding specific interests or behaviors to target, you allow the algorithm to start with this baseline information and then optimize who sees your ads based on its testing, information, and interaction signals.
Broad audience targeting is often recommended as general advice from Meta since it provides stronger algorithm feedback. For many people, this is the default approach, especially as it is particularly hands off, and is easiest to manage with little interaction. After you set the guidelines and rules you want it to follow, and the algorithm does the rest.
Broad targeting often works best in the following cases:
- You have strong conversion signals, like pixels, API, or app events
- You have a large budget that allows the algorithm to experiment with the best audiences.
- You’re optimizing specifically for bottom funnel outcomes, like purchases
However, broad targeting may not always find you your ideal target audience either. While it can be great for reach, you may find yourself dissatisfied with lead quality and needing to make refinements.
Why Custom Conversions Are Worth It
Custom conversions are advantageous for gathering more focused information about your audience by tracking key actions to optimize future ad targeting. Custom conversions are parameters you set to understand data that is already being tracked, like which leads are clicking on your website or spending a specified amount of money. Ultimately, custom conversions empower you to play the game of broad audiences but include multiple conversion points that are equally important to understand.
Custom conversions offer all the following capabilities:
- Filtering events
- Setting up events with Meta Pixel base code
- Setting performance goals
- Controlling what you share with and report to business partners
Optimizing for customer conversions allows you to further refine for the most valuable audiences. For example, for a dental services client, we’ve tried both optimizing for dental hygienist leads and more broadly for dental professionals. Optimizing for hygienists only has helped drive better results, with a higher percentage of those leads converting, and these leads willing to pay and invest more in the business.
Optimizing broadly may need up to 50 conversions to learn from, but if 48 of those leads are dental assistants, we’re spinning our wheels on lower-quality leads who don’t fully align with the targeted intent. Instead, building a custom conversion rule for individuals who click a hygienist-specific link on-site helps identify the leads that are most likely to spend and invest more for future ads.
“Custom conversions allow you to play the game of broad audiences but include multiple conversion points that are equally important to understand.”
Steps to Implementing Custom Conversions in a Way That Works
Follow these steps to make custom conversions work for you.
1. Set up custom conversions
To set up custom conversions, you’ll need to first decide what custom actions you want to create and set them up in your dashboard. Think about behaviors like purchases of a specific value, engagement metrics above a certain threshold, or clicking a certain button.
Once you decide your preferred custom conversion metrics, you’ll need to take these steps:
- Go to Meta Events Manager
- Click “Create custom conversion” in the top-left menu
- Name the conversion with a description (e.g., “purchases beyond $100“)
- Select the data source
- Select the conversion event
- Choose the standard event for optimization
- Set up a rule for the event using a URL
You can add as many rules as you like; for example, you can add and combine separate rules, like targeting leads who have purchased an item more than $75 and have also signed up for your newsletter. However, keep in mind that the more conversion rules you add, the smaller your audience—it’s all a balancing act.
2. Establish Custom Reports
Custom reports will tell you how often the event has taken place and allow you to adjust future conversion criteria based on your findings. For example, if you set a custom conversion event for anyone who has spent more than two minutes on a product description landing page, your report will tell you how many people clicked on an ad variation and how many of those clicks aligned with this custom conversion criteria.
Use the custom conversion tab in Events Manager to identify how often the event has taken place and adjust future conversion criteria based on these results. These reports allow you to identify which ads are generating the most clicks, and which are bringing the most high-intent visitors, guiding your ongoing ad strategies. Custom reports offer a great supplement to your general social media ad reporting, giving you precise insights into which ads yield results.
3. A/B Test Generic Standard Events and Custom Events
Continuously running tests on Meta is key to finding the sweet spot in your ad strategy. Both standard events and custom events can help optimize for conversions and build audiences, but A/B testing allows you to identify trends between signal quality and quantity. You should test both types of events to assess which drive access to your ideal target audience and compare costs per lead.
Generic standard events are actions with predefined names that Meta is familiar with and supports across each of its ad products. Some examples of these events include:
- Adding payment info during checkout
- Adding an item to a cart
- Adding an item to a wishlist
- Completing registration for a newsletter or part of your site
- Contacting your business through phone, email, chat, or other means
Custom events are unique actions you assign that are not covered by standard events, also allowing you to optimize for conversions and build audiences using pixel code or Conversions API code. Custom events may include scrolling a select depth down a page, time-on-page, engaging with a specific content type embedded on a page, and so on.
Then, test tying your custom conversions to each type of event to see which events appear to drive the best results, what audiences are bringing the most positive feedback, and what cost per lead you experience.
Turning Engagement Into Conversion
Our social media targeting builds audiences while turning warm leads into conversions. See the strategy that yields results like 48% click-through rates and 7% lower CPMs for our clients.
4. Use Meta Advantage+ to Refine Your Conversions
Once you’ve set your ideal custom conversions and identified a refined target audience, you can use Meta Advantage+ to scale and target more of your high-intent users. Meta Advantage+ will refine and optimize your ad targeting by expanding on your defined audiences and reach the users that have shown the most promise for your ads.
This method offers a bit of a best of both worlds approach. While you are able to have the control to manually set custom conversion triggers, you have the benefit of the algorithm then using the information it gathers to further refine targeting for similar high-value users, based on these conversion triggers. The tool narrows your scope by allowing you to reach more of the users that are most likely to convert.
The Effects of Andromeda on Audience Targeting
Andromeda has been fully brought to life as of October 2025. Andromeda is changing how Meta ad targeting looks, and I’ve seen mixed results, for better or for worse.
The Impact
The AI-powered Andromeda tool can help you expand your audiences quickly and put your ads before new people with minimal effort, which can be helpful for reach. On the other hand, the AI takes control out of your hands and spends your budget how it sees fit, which has its obvious pros and cons when marketers are used to being able to define exactly how their ad spend is directed and quickly adapt
While some are seeing a boost in traffic since the complete update roll-out, others have seen progress stumble. The reasoning behind this seems to be twofold:
- First, the algorithm may be favoring automated campaigns over those focused purely on manual targeting
- Second, the algorithm seems to lean more toward favoring reach than intent quality
The Approach
As with any new rollout or update, paid social marketers are having to figure out how to adapt. Finding the sweet spot between manual targeting and automation will be a challenge. This is why I’ve taken a blended approach, using manual campaigns and testing to identify successful creatives, setting custom conversions, and then scaling reach with Meta Advantage+.
Still, Andromeda is still very new and we’re going to see refreshes, algorithm changes, and more, so the best strategy for adapting to the update and the continued growth of AI tools is going to be staying on our toes.
Navigate the Weeds of Meta Ads with collystring
Custom conversions are crucial for generating further refinement in your ad targeting. Still, Meta ads are notoriously volatile, with updates like Andromeda and the continued growth of AI consistently changing the landscape. Having dedicated experts to support you in your paid social ads strategy can make all the difference in cracking the code for reach.
If you’re in need of extra support as you attempt to navigate the roller coaster that Meta and social media ads can create, our Paid Social team can help, consistently pulling the levers to pinpoint strategies and targets that work and bring the best possible return on ad spend across platforms. From helping you refine your audience targeting to adjusting spend based on results, we’ll help you to maximize reach and drive the most qualified leads.
Schedule a discovery call with us at collystring to figure out what we’re all about.