Targeting

1. Define your seed audience. This should be a group of your highest-value players. Good seed audiences include:
   • Players who have made in-app purchases (highest value)
   • Players with strong Day 7 or Day 28 retention
   • Players who have reached a meaningful milestone in your game (for example, completed level 10 or joined a tournament)
   • All players who have played at least 2 sessions (broad but effective for new games)
2. Create a Custom Audience from your seed data in Ads Manager (see Custom Audiences below).
3. Build a Lookalike Audience from that Custom Audience. You can choose the lookalike percentage (1% to 10%), which controls how closely the lookalike audience matches your seed:
   • 1% lookalike: The most similar to your seed audience. Smaller reach but higher quality. Best for optimizing toward high-value players.
   • 3-5% lookalike: A balanced approach with broader reach and still-strong similarity. Good for scaling.
   • 5-10% lookalike: Much broader reach but lower precision. Useful for awareness or when your seed audience is very small.

• Start with a 1-3% lookalike based on your highest-value players (purchasers or high-retention players).
• As you scale, test broader lookalike percentages and compare performance.
• Refresh your seed audience regularly as your player base grows and evolves.
• Use a minimum seed audience of 1,000 users for effective lookalike modeling, though 5,000 or more will produce better results.

• Gaming interests: Puzzle games, action games, casual games, specific game titles, gaming platforms
• Related entertainment: Board games, card games, trivia, brain teasers
• Behavioral signals: Mobile gamers, users who have recently installed games, users active on gaming-related pages

• Use interest-based targeting when you do not have enough existing players to build a strong lookalike audience (for example, at launch).
• Layer multiple interests together to narrow your audience to the most relevant users. For instance, targeting users interested in “puzzle games” AND “mobile gaming” will yield a more focused audience than either interest alone.
• Avoid overly broad interest categories that include too many non-gamers.
• As your player base grows, transition from interest-based targeting to lookalike audiences for better performance.

• Exclude existing players: Upload your current player list or use the Facebook Pixel/App Events to create an audience of current players, then exclude them from your acquisition campaigns. This prevents you from spending ad budget on players you have already acquired.
• Re-engage lapsed players: Create an audience of players who played your game in the past but have not returned recently. Target them with a “come back” campaign highlighting new content or features.
• Target players of similar games: If you operate multiple games, create a custom audience of players from one game and target them with ads for another.
• Website visitors: If you have a website or landing page for your game, use the Facebook Pixel to build an audience of visitors and target them with C2P ads.

• Higher cost per install (CPI): More competition for ad impressions drives up costs.
• Higher player lifetime value (LTV): Players in these markets are more likely to make in-app purchases and generate ad revenue.
• Strong infrastructure: Fast internet connections and modern devices mean better game performance and player experience.

• Lower CPI: Significantly less competition for ad impressions means you can acquire players at a fraction of the cost of Tier 1 markets.
• Comparable retention: Many developers report that retention rates in Tier 2/3 markets are similar to Tier 1, meaning players are just as likely to come back and play regularly.
• Growing player base: These markets have rapidly expanding smartphone adoption and Facebook usage, offering access to a large and growing pool of potential players.
• Lower monetization per player: Players in these markets generally spend less on IAP and generate lower ad CPMs, so revenue per player is lower.

1. Start with a single high-priority market (e.g., the United States) to validate your campaign setup, creative, and game experience.
2. Expand to additional Tier 1 markets once you have established baseline performance.
3. Launch Tier 2/3 campaigns to scale your player base cost-effectively.
4. Allocate budget based on ROAS by market, shifting spend toward markets that deliver the best return.

• Age: Narrow your audience to the age range most likely to enjoy your game. Analyze your existing player data to understand which age groups have the highest retention and monetization.
• Gender: Some game genres skew strongly by gender. If your data shows that one gender has significantly higher engagement, consider creating separate ad sets for each gender with tailored creative.
• Language: Target users who speak specific languages, which is particularly useful when running localized campaigns.

• Use demographic targeting to refine, not restrict. Overly narrow demographics can limit Facebook’s optimization algorithm and increase costs.
• Keep demographics broad initially so the algorithm can optimize across a wide audience, then analyze results to identify high-performing segments.

• Simple to set up — no additional event tracking required beyond the basic install event.
• Maximizes the volume of new players at the lowest cost per install.
• Good for building initial player base and generating data for lookalike audiences.

• Optimizes for quantity, not quality. Players acquired through install optimization may have lower retention and lower lifetime value.
• Does not differentiate between players who try the game once and never return versus players who become engaged long-term users.

• Acquires higher-quality players who are more likely to engage deeply and monetize.
• Higher retention and lifetime value compared to install-optimized players.
• Better ROAS for games with strong monetization.

• Higher CPI than install optimization, since the algorithm is targeting a more selective audience.
• Requires you to set up and track app events using the Instant Games SDK and Facebook’s event tracking.
• Needs a sufficient volume of events to give the algorithm enough data to optimize effectively (typically at least 50 events per week per ad set).

• Acquires players who are more likely to become regular players.
• Better long-term engagement metrics compared to install optimization.
• Does not require complex event tracking beyond session tracking.

• May not optimize for monetization directly — a retained player is not necessarily a paying player.
• Availability may vary depending on your account and campaign setup.

1. Launch phase: Use interest-based targeting or a broad lookalike (3-5%) in your primary market. Optimize for installs to build your player base and generate data.
2. Optimization phase: Once you have enough player data (at least 1,000 installs and meaningful event data), create lookalike audiences from your best players and switch to AEO or retention optimization.
3. Scaling phase: Expand to additional markets, test broader lookalike percentages, and allocate budget toward the audiences and markets that deliver the best ROAS.
4. Mature phase: Run separate campaigns for different markets and audience segments, continuously refresh lookalike audiences, and test new targeting approaches to find incremental growth.