UBCNews - Business - Stealing Your Competitors' Customers: Facebook & Instagram Ad Targeting Secrets

Episode Date: February 25, 2026

Welcome back, everyone! Today we're tackling something that every marketer wrestles with - how do you actually target your competitors' customers on Facebook and Instagram? Sitting with me is someone who's been deep in the trenches of ad strategy for years. Thanks for joining us. GetHookd LLC City: Miami Address: 40 SW 13th street Website: https://www.gethookd.ai/

Welcome back, everyone. Today we're tackling something that every marketer wrestles with. How do you actually target your competitors' customers on Facebook and Instagram? Sitting with me is someone who's been deep in the trenches of ad strategy for years. Thanks for joining us. Happy to be here. Yeah, this topic comes up all the time. And honestly, it's gotten trickier with privacy policies tightening up. Right, exactly. Facebook used to make it easier to target competitor audiences direct. But those days are gone. So, where do we even start now? Well, the first step is defining your own target audience. You can't simply go after every competitor's customer.

You need to know who you're actually trying to reach. Create that ideal customer profile. Think about demographics, interests, behaviors. Once you've got that down, you can identify which competitors have similar audiences. That makes sense. So you're saying, don't just pick any competitor, pick the ones whose customers look like yours. Exactly, and from there, you can start researching their Facebook pages.

Look at who's liking their posts, check the community section, see what related pages pop up. It's a bit of detective work, but you can piece together a picture of their audience. Mm-hmm, makes sense. So you're basically mining their engagement data? Yeah, and you can also use meta-business suite insights to see aggregated data, things like interests, demographics, locations. You won't get a direct list of fans, but you'll see patterns. For example, if a competitor's audience is heavily interested in e-commerce tools or performance

marketing, you can use those interests as filters in your ad targeting. That's clever. So instead of targeting the competitors page directly, you're targeting the interests and behaviors that their audience shares. Precisely. In Ads Manager, you can use the detailed targeting section to, layer on interests, demographics, and behaviors. For instance, if you're going after digital marketers, you might target interest in Facebook and Instagram ads, filter by job role, and narrow by location.

The key is to combine multiple criteria so you're not casting too wide a net. And I imagine the messaging has to be on point, too. You're trying to convince someone to switch, after all. Oh, definitely. Your ad copy needs to speak directly to their pain points. I actually had a client last year who was targeting users of a competitor's ad research tool. We crafted messaging that focused on specific gaps, like the ability to generate video scripts or access a larger ad library. Within two weeks, we saw a 30% bump in click-through rates. That approach worked because it was honest and solution-focused without directly calling out brands by name. Have you ever wondered why some ads just seem to know exactly what you need? That point about

speaking to pain points sets up our next piece, using AI to speed up creative production. But first, a quick word from our sponsor. If you're spending hours trying to figure out what ads your competitors are running, there's a smarter way. GetHooked is an AI-powered creative tool that lets you research competitor ads, filter by niche and performance benchmarks, and generate ad scripts and images in minutes. With access to over 21 million ads, you can see what you can see what's working and replicate those strategies for your own campaigns. Learn more at gethooked.a. Picking up on pain points, how do you handle the actual creative production once you've

identified what resonates with a competitor's audience? Great question. Once you know what's working, whether it's a hook, a visual style, or a script format, you can use AI tools to speed up the process. Think about generating video scripts based on competitor ads that are proven to convert or creating image variations in different colors and formats. The goal is to test concepts faster and launch more creatives without getting bogged down in manual production. You test faster, you learn faster. Same principle, different angle. So the focus is on volume and speed, but also precision. You're not just throwing spaghetti at the wall. Right. You're using data to inform your creative decisions. For example, if you see a competitor's ad has been running for months and

refreshing regularly, that's a signal they're investing in it because it's working. You can analyze the hook, the visuals, the call to action, and then create your own variations that speak to the same pain points, but position your solution as better. And I'm guessing you also need to offer some kind of incentive to get people to switch, right? Switching costs are real. Oh, for sure. You a buyout for existing contracts, free migration, or complementary training, people are hesitant to move if it's going to be a hassle, so you have to make it as frictionless as possible. Address those objections up front in your messaging. Otherwise, you're just asking them to take a leap of faith, and let's be honest, nobody loves change unless there's a clear win in it for them.

Right. Nobody's going to jump ship for fun. Exactly. Another tactic is to use Rose benchmarks to show potential customers that your solution delivers better returns. If you can demonstrate higher profitability or lower acquisition costs, that's a powerful motivator. So to everyone listening, have you thought about how you're positioning your solution against competitors? The real question is outcomes, not features alone. Exactly. And testing is critical. You want to measure everything. Click-through rates, conversion rates, cost per acquisition. What works for one audience might not work for another, so you need to iterate quickly. The beauty of platforms like Facebook and Instagram is that you can test multiple ad variations simultaneously and let the data guide your decisions. Before we wrap up,

any final thoughts on targeting competitor audiences? I'd say the biggest mistake marketers make is being too broad. They think, I'll just target everyone interested in marketing, and then they wonder why their ads don't convert. Narrow your focus, use competitor insights to inform your strategy, and always, always test your messaging. It's a process, but when you get it right, you can pull customers away from competitors and build your own loyal audience. That's solid advice.

Thanks so much for breaking this down with us today. For everyone listening, remember, targeting competitors' customers requires smart research, precise messaging, and relentless testing. Until next time.