People love to argue targeting vs creative, but the data tells a clearer story. Creative's doing the heavy lifting now-no question. after the privacy changes and signal loss, targeting just isn't what it used to be. you can't rely on it the same way.
that said, don't write off targeting entirely, especially for niche products or services. Open targeting brings volume, sure, but it also drags in a ton of low-quality leads. had a campaign last year where performance tanked after adding a few extra interests. leads were still in the same niche, but quality went to absolute hell. took months of digging through reports to find that just 2-3 of those interests were responsible for ruining the whole thing.
so targeting still needs care, but creative is what actually stops someone from scrolling. The hook matters most now. here's a practical example: if you're going after students aged 18-25, call them out directly in the opening-"Are you studying at XYZ school, college, or prepping for higher studies?" That's it. No fluff.
video ads outperform static images every time. In 30-60 seconds you can walk through the problem, your service, the solution, and the outcome. Static posts just generate random curiosity clicks, videos filter for better quality leads because the viewer has to invest time.
biggest thing though? make sure the problem actually exists before you build the solution. Otherwise you're selling something nobody needs, and no amount of clever targeting or creative will fix that.
