Meta has recently updated the campaign setup flow for Leads and Sales campaigns, introducing significant changes that affect advertisers who prefer manual audience targeting.
When creating new campaigns, users will now see a notice stating: "You no longer need to choose a campaign setup." This change reflects Meta's strategy to automatically enable all Advantage+ options by default, leveraging AI to maximize campaign performance.
While this update pushes advertisers toward AI-driven targeting, manual options remain available—but they're now less obvious in the interface.
How to Access Manual Targeting Options
To continue using manual audience targeting, advertisers need to follow these specific steps:
- Navigate to the ad set level of your Leads/Sales campaign
- Scroll down to the Audience section
- Look for the gear icon with text that reads "Further limit the reach of your ads"
- Click this option (Meta will display a warning that switching to manual targeting may limit your audience and reduce performance)
- Click "Switch setup" to confirm and reveal all original manual audience targeting options
Important Considerations
When switching to manual targeting, be aware that several default settings may still allow Meta's AI to expand beyond your specific parameters:
- Age and gender targeting controls are set to "Use as a suggestion" by default
- This setting allows Meta to target beyond your specified parameters
- Advertisers need to manually deselect these default options where precise targeting is required
This update reflects Meta's continued push toward AI-driven ad targeting while maintaining manual options for advertisers who require more specific audience control.
