Does Open Targeting Really Work for Online Course Creators?

A lot of course creators are being told to just “go broad” with Facebook and Instagram ads right now… but that advice could easily waste your budget if your business isn’t ready. 

 ‍‍ ‍‍

• Cut your lead gen costs in HALF with my $37 mini-course–NOW only $17!
• Watch Episode 972: Troubleshooting Facebook and Instagram Ads Increase in Cost Per Lead

 ‍‍ ‍‍

I break down what open targeting really is, when it actually works, and the clear signals you should avoid it. 

I also share smarter targeting options I start with inside client accounts so you can bring in better leads without gambling your money away.

‍‍ ‍‍ ‍‍
‍‍ ‍‍ ‍‍
‍‍ ‍‍ ‍‍
‍‍Watch this episode on YouTube!

‍‍ ‍‍ ‍‍

Please click here to give an honest Rating/Review for the show on iTunes! Thanks for your support!



‍‍ ‍‍ ‍‍

Kwadwo [QUĀY.jo] Sampany-Kessie’s Links:

• Get 1:1 Meta Ads Coaching from Kwadwo!
• Say hi to Kwadwo on Instagram
• Subscribe to The Art of Online Business’s YouTube Channel

Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Should you be using open targeting for your Facebook
and Instagram ads?
Good question, online coursecreator.
You've probably heard that rightnow in 2025, open targeting is
working and Meta's algorithm isdeveloped enough, advanced
enough, for you not to reallyput any targeting guidelines on

(00:20):
your ads and just to show themto a big old wide open audience.
There are some very clearsignals that you should not use
open targeting, that that wouldjust waste your ad budget.
And so, really, it depends onthe stage of your business.
I'm going to outline who shoulduse it and who should not use it
and what open targeting reallyis with Facebook and Instagram

(00:43):
ads right now.
So open targeting is when youchoose inside of Meta Ad Manager
to only target a broad age rangeor maybe a narrow age range of
folks in a specific country.
Do not confuse open targetingwith worldwide targeting where
you target anyone in the world.
Actually, never do that.

(01:04):
Ever, ever do that.
Like maybe some business likeCoca-Cola could do that.
But you're an online coursecreator, most likely with
clients who come from one to twocountries.
Don't do worldwide targeting,please, because like Meta will
show your ads to the places, thecountries where it can get the
cheapest conversions for you.
So your ads are being shown toBangladesh.

(01:25):
I don't know why that came intomy mind.
I'm sure you could serve someonefrom Bangladesh, but if their
salary is on average, becauseChatGPT is telling me right here
on my other monitor,$2,945 ayear, and all your offers are
like$1,000.
Is somebody really going tospend half a yearly salary on

(01:47):
your offer?
And that's where it makes senseto choose specific countries.
Now you would do age range andgender and specific country,
i.e.
location, and not do anydetailed targeting with that,
and not do any look-aliketargeting with that.
The only catch is really thatthis is not for smaller course

(02:08):
creator businesses, and it'salso not for businesses that
have just recently installed themeta pixel.
Why is that?
Well, it's quite simple.
Open targeting relies heavily onthe algorithm.
The algorithm relies on the datathat it has on your business.
So if your pixel is notseasoned, i.e.

(02:29):
mature, i.e.
has a lot of data from ads andfrom just people in general who
have been opting into your leadmagnets, following you on
Instagram, or watching yourvideos from Instagram and
Facebook, then you what data isit really going to optimize off
of?
I have seen bigger, moreestablished online course

(02:49):
creator businesses, I've seentheir ads do better with open
audiences.
Of course, like anything, youhave to test it.
Never just randomly trust arandom Facebook and Instagram
ads manager from the internetsor a podcast, no matter how
handsome he looks.
Just kidding.
Because the only thing that canbe guaranteed is that at one
point or another you will losemoney with Facebook and

(03:11):
Instagram ads.
That's how it is, because youhave to test.
And not all tests go well.
This is not a get rich quicktype of method.
I always say Jesus savesFacebook and Instagram ads do
not.
More eyeballs on a bad offerdoes not a healthy business make

(03:32):
your messaging and the betterquality of messaging messaging
that you have is what will helpyour business sales.
Now, yes, there are definitelysome best practices, and here's
another one.
If open targeting isn't reallyfor your business, then probably
start off with look-alikeaudiences.
These are cold audiences thatyou can create based off of some

(03:55):
of the more healthy or morevaluable warm audiences that
your business already has.
For example, do you have anemail list?
And is that email list over 600to 1,000 people?
If so, upload that thing to Metaand build a cold look-alike
audience off of it.
Meta will look at your emaillist of a thousand people and

(04:16):
give you a big old audience ofsay 2,600 people that you can
target with your ads.
This is good.
Maybe you don't have the emaillist quite yet built up, but you
do have a super solid largesocial media following on
Instagram, you could build alook-alike audience off of your
Instagram followers or even offof your website visitors.

(04:36):
And then these audiences, whilethey should work well, you know
that you need to do sometesting.
Speaking of testing, if youreally want to get better
results from your ad because youhave a reliable testing method
for new Facebook and Instagramads, I have a course for that
called the ad testing cheatcode.

(04:58):
It is my framework that I use totest new ads on behalf of my
Facebook and Instagram clientseach time I launch new ads in
their account.
And by doing that, in like twoto three weeks, you will know or
end up with, say, two or threeads that you can trust are
getting you the highest qualitylead at the lowest cost
possible.

(05:18):
And that course is supervaluable.
And you can get it in the shownotes below.

I was asked a question (05:23):
how much budget do I actually need for
open targeting to work?
Like, can I test it with$20 to$30 a day, or do I need way
more?
You know, I would say$20 to$30 aday is like the minimum daily ad
spin that you should be using ifyou're running a lead magnet.
And at that point, there'seasier ways to target, mainly

(05:47):
using lookalike audiences.
If you're going like$40 a day orabove, and you already have a
seasoned pixel with plenty ofdata about your business and
opt-ins and leads and thus salesinside of it.
Yeah, sure, go ahead and tryopen targeting.
But remember, it's just one ofmany audiences you can test.
If you have a low budget, like$15, like really low budget,

(06:12):
open targeting might flop.
And the last thing you want isto throw spaghetti at the wall
because this would be quiteexpensive spaghetti.
Another question I've beenasked, by the way, you can ask
me a question too.
Just go to my Instagram,Q-U-A-Y-J-O, that's me on
Instagram.
DM me.

(06:32):
I like to get questions and Ilike to make videos to respond
to questions.
So if I do open targeting, won'tmeta just show my ad to a bunch
of random people?
Well, no, because remember itdepends on your meta pixel
having lots of data.
Did you know that Meta collectsaround 52,000 data points on

(06:54):
every user?
Therefore, it really knows youbetter than you know you, better
than your mama knows you.
And so if you have a bunch oftraffic, leads, sales, or even a
big old Instagram account, Metareally knows a lot about who you
are trying to reach.
And you can try open targetingand it won't show your ads to

(07:18):
random people.
If you're worried, then just usea look-alike audience based off
of the most valuable, warmaudience that you have and get
on with targeting.
It's really thatstraightforward.
Pick one audience, test.
If it doesn't meet you the goalsthat you feel your business
needs to have in order toprofitably run lead magnet ads

(07:40):
and make money on the back endof those email nurture sequences
that are attached to the leadmagnet, well then switch
audiences and try somethingelse.
Oh, here's another question.
When should I know it's time toswitch from interest-based
targeting to look alike or opentargeting?
And I guess actually, hold on,another question that's quite

(08:01):
related to that is if I had goodsuccess organically, does that
mean I should jump straight intoopen targeting or should I start
with interest targeting first?
Look, interest-based targetingwould be last.
You could try open targeting ifyour business has enough leads

(08:22):
and sales volume and lots ofdata on that pixel.
I almost always, I do alwaysstart with lookalike-based
targeting.
And if you want to learn moreabout the best way to do
targeting as an online coursecreator, you know, with a lead
magnet, a repeatable launchthat's done two to three times a
year, then look down in the shownotes of this episode and you

(08:46):
will see another episode linked.
That episode is called FacebookAds Best Targeting Strategy for
Leads, Online Course CreatorEdition.
Until the next time you see meor hear from me, take care, be
blessed, and we'll see eachother in the next episode.
Bye.