Shauna ThoresenCEO & Founder, Social Waves Media · CEO & Founder at Social Waves Media

Special Ad Category Targeting: Lies Insurance Agents are told about Meta Ads→ Lie #4

4 Nov 2025 · 2 min

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1:58

In this YouTube commentary, Shauna Thoresen debunks the fourth common lie told to insurance agents about Meta advertising: that audience targeting is a complicated, essential step. She explains that since January 2025 insurance ads fall under Meta’s Special Ad Category, direct demographic targeting (including look‑alike audiences) is prohibited, making audience targeting largely irrelevant. Instead, she argues that success hinges on proper campaign structure, ad placement, form/landing‑page tactics (e.g., conditional logic), and, most critically, ad messaging. The algorithm will automatically learn which age groups respond best based on performance signals, even without explicit targeting. Thoresen criticizes lead‑generation vendors who over‑promise custom audiences and charge premium prices, urging agents to stop over‑paying for leads, simplify their approach, and take ownership of their marketing to drive growth. The video ends with a call to follow for more myth‑busting content.

Chapters

Lies insurance agents are told about lead generation and Meta ads. Lie number 4, targeting the right audience is so complicated. Hearing the audience targeting is complicated is hilarious, especially after January of 2025. You see, that's when insurance became a Meta special ad category. Audience targeting barely matters in a regular campaign, and whenever it comes to a Meta special ad category, it really doesn't matter. But shady marketers and lead vendors will talk about it because it sounds super custom and super technical and super strategic to say we're testing 47 custom audiences. And when I hear someone say, and it takes time to build the right lookalike audience, bro, you can't even run a lookalike audience in the Meta Special Ad Category. So stop talking about it to sound like you know something that other people don't. Here's the truth, because what actually matters in the Meta Special Ad Category is the right campaign structure setup, the right ad placement, using the right form or landing page strategies like conditional logic forms. But the absolute most important element of your entire ad campaign is your ad ad's messaging. You see, we live in a world where the content finds the user. So even if as advertisers we're not able to see those metrics on the backend, it does not mean that they're not still at play. So the algorithm is going to be testing your messaging. And if someone who is 30, 40, or 50 is not responding well to your ad, and then all of a sudden Mary, who's 64 years old, and Bob, who's also about to turn 65, are clicking on your ad and becoming a lead, the algorithm catches on and it's going to start serving more to that demographic. So when you know how to read your metrics, you're actually able to see if your ads are serving in the right age population, even though we can't target age. You don't need to be tech savvy in order to get good results. So stop overpaying for leads or for someone that overcomplicates what Meta's algorithm automatically does anyway. It's time to break free from these industry lies because believing them keeps you dependent. And when you own your marketing, you own your growth. Follow for more industry lies.