Solved: Facebook Ads Targeting Men Instead of Women

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

It sounds like a really frustrating situation with your Meta ads. It's a common problem when the platform's automation doesn't quite get what you're trying to do. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on how to get things back on track and properly target your ideal customers on Instagram. The issue isn't really with the platform itself, but more about how you're telling it who to go after. With a few tweaks to your strategy and structure, you should be able to get much better results.

We'll need to look at why Advantage+ is failing you...

First off, let's tackle the elephant in the room: Advantage+ and the unwanted male audience. It's a classic case of giving the algorithm too much leash. When you use Advantage+ placements or Advantage+ audience, you're essentially telling Meta, "Here are my ads, just go find people who might convert, I trust you." The problem is, Meta's definition of "might convert" is often just "who can I show this ad to for the lowest possible cost?".

Here’s the uncomfortable truth about these broad, automated campaigns, especially for a newish account without tons of conversion data. You're paying the platform to find the cheapest attention, not the best customers. Men, in the context of a ladies' salon, are not a high-demand audience for your competitors. Their attention is therefore cheaper for Meta to buy. The algorithm sees this, and in its quest for cheap impressions and clicks, it starts showing your ads to men, even if you’ve set the gender to 'women'. It expands beyond your core settings because it thinks it's helping you get 'more results' for your money, but it's completely missing the context.

You are actively paying the world's most powerful advertising machine to find you the worst possible audience for your service. This has to stop.

The solution is simple, but it's non-negotiable for a business like yours: you need to take back control. For now, you should disable all Advantage+ features related to audience and placements. Go back to manual placements and select Instagram Feed, Instagram Stories, and Instagram Reels only. You know your customers are on IG, so let's focus all the budget there. Don't let Meta spend a single penny on Facebook placements if they aren't delivering the right people. By forcing the platform to stick to your specific instructions, you immediately cut out a huge chunk of the waste. The 'errors' you're seeing when you try to do this are almost certainly not platform bugs, but a sign that the campaign setup itself is a bit tangled. A fresh start will sort that out.

I'd say you need to fix your campaign foundations...

Getting a lead or two and then having the campaign splutter and die is a symptom of a weak foundation. You can't build a solid house on shaky ground, and the same goes for ad campaigns. We need to scrap what you have and build a simple, logical structure that's designed for growth. The best way to do this is by thinking in terms of a funnel: Top of Funnel (ToFu), Middle of Funnel (MoFu), and Bottom of Funnel (BoFu).

• ToFu (Top of Funnel): This is your cold audience. These are women on Instagram who have never heard of your salon before. The goal here isn't necessarily to get an immediate booking, but to make them aware of you and pique their interest.
• MoFu (Middle of Funnel): This is your warm audience. These are people who have engaged with you in some way—they’ve watched one of your videos, visited your Instagram profile, or clicked through to your website but didn't book. The goal here is to build trust and remind them you exist.
• BoFu (Bottom of Funnel): This is your hot audience. These are people who have shown strong intent, like visiting your booking page or even starting the booking process but not finishing. The goal here is a direct push to get them to complete the booking.

You should have separate campaigns for each stage of this funnel. For a local business with a modest budget, you can probly combine MoFu and BoFu into a single 'Retargeting' campaign. But you absolutely MUST separate your 'Prospecting' (ToFu) from your 'Retargeting' (MoFu/BoFu). Why? Because you talk to strangers differently than you talk to acquaintances. The ads, offers, and messaging need to be different for each group. Mixing them all together in one ad set is a recipe for disaster, as Meta will just spend the money on the easiest-to-reach audience (usually your warm MoFu audience), and you'll never grow by reaching new people.

Here’s a visual representation of what that simple, effective structure looks like. This is the blueprint you should be using.

You probably should rethink your audience targeting from scratch...

Now that we have the structure, we need to fill it with the right people. This is where most businesses go wrong. They choose interests that are far too broad. For a ladies-only salon, just targetting "women" aged 25-55 within 10 miles is lazy and ineffective. We need to get way more specific.

Your ideal customer isn't just a demographic. You need to get into her head. What is the *problem* she's trying to solve by visiting a salon? It’s not just about getting her nails done. It’s about feeling confident for a big event, de-stressing from a hard week at work, or treating herself because she deserves it. Your targeting should reflect this. Your ICP isn't a person; it's a problem state.

So, for your ToFu (Prospecting) campaign, you need to test different ad sets with different themes of interests. Don't just lump them all together. Here’s how I would start:

• -> The Luxury Lover: Target interests like 'Luxury Goods', 'Champagne', 'Net-a-Porter', 'Harrods', high-end makeup brands (e.g., 'Charlotte Tilbury', 'Dior Beauty'), and magazines like 'Vogue' or 'Tatler'. These women value quality and are likely willing to pay for a premium experience.
• -> The Wellness Seeker: Target interests like 'Spa', 'Yoga', 'Meditation', 'Wellness', 'Skincare', and brands like 'Lush' or 'The Body Shop'. These women are looking for relaxation and self-care.
• -> The Event Goer: This is a bit more creative. You can use demographic targeting to reach women with an anniversary in the next 30 days, or friends of women with an upcoming birthday. You can also target interests like 'Weddings', 'Bride-to-be', or even local high-end wedding venues. These women have a specific, urgent reason to look their best.
• -> The Competitor Customer: This is a cheeky one, but it works. Target women who have shown interest in other high-end salons in your area. If Meta allows you to target them as interests, great. If not, think about the brands and publications those salons associate themselves with.

You run these as separate ad sets within your Prospecting campaign. After a week or so, you'll see which 'theme' is resonating most, and you can start to move more budget towards the winners and turn off the losers. Once you have enough data (at least 100-200 bookings tracked through your Meta pixel), you can start building Lookalike audiences. A 1% Lookalike of your "past purchasers" or "booking confirmed" custom audience will almost always outperform interest-based targeting.

Your MoFu and BoFu campaigns are more straightforward as they are based on actions people have already taken. You'll retarget Instagram engagers, video viewers, website visitors, and people who abandoned the booking process. The key here is to use *exclusions*. In your MoFu campaign, you must exclude people who have already booked. There's nothing more annoying than being chased around the internet by ads for something you've already bought.

You'll need an offer they can't ignore...

This might be the most important part of this whole letter. The number one reason ad campaigns fail isn't the targeting, the creative, or the algorithm. It's the offer. An offer that isn't compelling enough will fail no matter how perfectly you target it.

The standard "Request a Demo" button is the most arrogant Call to Action in B2B marketing. Your B2C equivalent is simply saying "Book an Appointment". It presumes a new customer, who knows nothing about you, should immediately trust you with their time and money. It's high-friction and low-value. You are asking for a commitment before you've provided any real value.

Your offer’s only job is to deliver a moment of undeniable value—an "aha!" moment that makes the prospect sell themselves on your salon. For a new customer, the biggest barrier is risk. "What if I don't like it? What if it's not worth the money?" Your introductory offer must be designed to completely obliterate that risk.

Instead of just "Book Now", your ToFu ad should lead with an irresistible, low-friction offer. For example:

• -> "Your First Luxury Manicure for just £25 (Usually £40!)" - A clear, specific discount on a popular, lower-cost service to get them in the door.
• -> "Enjoy a Complimentary Glass of Prosecco & a £10 Voucher Towards Your Next Visit" - This adds value and encourages a second visit before they've even had their first.
• -> "Free In-depth Skin Consultation (Worth £50) with any Facial Booking" - This positions you as an expert and provides immense upfront value.

The ad copy needs to reflect this. Don't just sell the service; sell the transformation. Use the Problem-Agitate-Solve framework.
Problem: "Tired of rushed, impersonal salon experiences?"
Agitate: "You leave feeling like just another number, with a manicure that chips the next day. You deserve a moment of pure relaxation that actually lasts."
Solve: "At [Your Salon Name], we do things differently. It's your private sanctuary. To welcome you, we're offering [Your Irresistible Offer]. Click 'Book Now' to claim your moment of bliss."

This kind of messaging, combined with a strong offer, speaks directly to the customer's pain points and makes clicking your ad a much easier decision. For your retargeting (MoFu/BoFu) ads, you can be more direct. Show them glowing testimonials, behind-the-scenes videos of your beautiful salon, and maybe add a little urgency to your offer for those who abandoned the booking page: "Your 20% discount expires in 48 hours! Don't miss out."

Let's talk about what this will cost and what you can expect...

So, what should you expect to pay for a new customer? It varies hugely, but for a local service like a salon in the UK, a well-optimised campaign should be able to acquire a new booking (a lead) for anywhere between £5 and £25. It depends on your prices, your location's competitiveness, and the strength of your offer. I remember one campaign we worked on for a home cleaning company where we got leads for £5, but also for an HVAC company in a competitive area where leads were closer to $60. Your salon will likely fall somewhere in the middle.

The real question isn't "How low can my Cost Per Lead (CPL) go?" but "How high a CPL can I afford to acquire a truly great customer?" This is where understanding your numbers is vital. You need to know your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). If a new customer spends an average of £50 per visit and comes back 4 times a year, and your average customer stays with you for 2 years, their LTV is £400 (£50 x 4 x 2). If your profit margin is, say, 50%, then the gross profit LTV is £200. Suddenly, paying £20 to acquire that customer looks like an incredible bargain.

I've built a simple calculator below to help you play around with these numbers. Adjust the sliders to match your business, and see how changes in ad spend and booking value affect your overall Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). This will help you set realistic budgets and goals.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

To pull all of this together, here is a straightforward table outlining the core problems you're facing and the actionable solutions we've discussed. This is the roadmap I would use to turn your campaigns around.

I know this is a lot to take in, but fixing your Meta ads isn't about finding one secret button to push. It's about implementing a solid, proven strategy, piece by piece. It takes a bit of work to set up correctly, but once this structure is in place, it becomes a reliable machine for bringing new, high-quality clients into your salon every single month.

Trying to figure all this out on your own can be time-consuming and costly, especially when you're making mistakes with a live ad budget. Working with someone who has built and scaled these kinds of campaigns countless times can save you both time and money, and get you to profitability much faster.

If you'd like to go over this in more detail and have a look at your ad account together, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. We could walk through your specific setup and build a concrete plan of action for you.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh