Home service companies running Facebook and Instagram ads often ask whether Meta's algorithm updates have made manual targeting obsolete. The short answer, according to recent analysis of the "Andromeda" update, is no. Most advertisers, including local service businesses, still need some form of targeting, especially in early campaign stages.
Marketer Chase Chappell addressed this directly for advertisers confused about whether interest targeting still matters. "You still need to target. We're still using interest targeting and broad," he said in How To ACTUALLY Target with Facebook Ads. For a roofing, HVAC, or landscaping company just starting to run ads, this matters because the account has no history for Meta to learn from.
How Much Ad Spend Determines Your Targeting Strategy?
Chappell splits advertisers into two spend brackets that call for different approaches: under $30,000 per month and over $30,000 per month. He calls this threshold the transition period, and it changes how much manual targeting a business should rely on versus how much it hands to Meta's automated systems.
For a local plumbing or electrical company spending a few thousand dollars monthly, the account "doesn't have enough data on it to properly identify these people in the very beginning stages," per the video at this timestamp. Chappell frames early targeting as training: "You're essentially training this new meta model on what type of people to go after." For a new advertiser in this space, that means specifying interests, like homeowners or recent movers, rather than running fully broad from day one.
Readers should verify this against their own account spend before assuming their business falls into the lower or upper bracket, since thresholds can shift as budgets grow.
Can a Small Roofing or Landscaping Business Skip Targeting Entirely?
Some owners wonder if a strong enough offer lets them skip targeting altogether. Chappell acknowledges this is possible but not typical, and it depends heavily on creative variety and offer strength rather than budget size alone, especially for newer accounts.
He notes "there are instances where you can have a stellar product, an offer, and a ton of unique creative formats and be able to get away with little to no targeting" (timestamp). For most companies without a highly differentiated offer, this is the exception rather than the rule, and relying on it without enough creative volume is a risk.
Chappell also defends single-interest targeting for smaller accounts, arguing it still works despite skepticism, citing an example account spending $8,800 over 30 days that generated $46,000 in purchases (timestamp). Advertisers should treat this as one account's result, not a guaranteed outcome for their own market.
Should Larger Home Service Companies Switch to Broad Targeting?
Once a company crosses into higher monthly spend, Chappell argues the strategy shifts toward campaign-level budget optimization (CBO) with broader, product-segmented audiences. At this stage, Meta's own data about the account becomes the primary targeting tool rather than manual interest selection.
He explains that for accounts spending over $30k per month, "Meta at this point already knows who to target and can adjust your budget dynamically to get you the best rorowass" (likely referring to ROAS), as stated at this point in the video. An example account at this spend level generated $216,000 in 30-day sales, with broad product-collection campaigns producing ROAS figures of 5x, 8x, 6x, and 7x (timestamp). Owners should confirm their own ROAS benchmarks rather than assume these figures transfer directly, since service categories and ticket sizes vary widely.
Does Creative Now Do the Targeting Instead of Audience Settings?
Across every spend level Chappell covers, he argues creative has become the dominant lever for reaching the right audience. This applies whether a business is just starting out or spending hundreds of thousands monthly, though the degree of reliance on creative volume increases with budget.
He states this is "an absolute must after the Andromeda update. We are going to target through our creative," recommending Advantage+ campaigns with at least 10 to 15 creatives (timestamp). For advertisers spending $500,000 to $1 million or more per month, he says they "strictly going to be focusing on Advantage Plus and broad audiences" with a large volume of flexible ad formats (timestamp). Chappell also claims Meta "removed about 90% of the manual work" through predictive modeling, calling creative "truly the only lever that moves rorowaz" (timestamp). The evidence does not independently verify this 90% figure or confirm creative is the only factor, so advertisers should treat it as one practitioner's assessment rather than settled fact.
Which Tools Can Help Manage Targeting and Creative for Local Service Ads?
Owners weighing how much targeting work to handle versus automate have several tool categories available. Each tool is judged here on one criterion: how much advertising expertise it demands from the owner, since that is the main constraint for small teams managing targeting and creative themselves.
| Tool | What It Does | How It Addresses Targeting | Advertising Expertise Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Ads Manager (native) | Direct campaign builder for Facebook/Instagram, including Advantage+ | Lets advertisers set manual interests or switch to broad/Advantage+ as volume grows | Yes, requires understanding of campaign structure and testing |
| Canva | Design tool for creating ad creative variations | Helps produce the 10-15+ creative volume Chappell recommends for creative-based targeting | Minimal design skill needed, no ad strategy included |
| AdEspresso | Third-party Facebook ad management and A/B testing platform | Simplifies creative testing and audience split-testing for smaller accounts | Moderate, some ad knowledge still needed |
| Google Ads Editor | Bulk campaign editing tool for Google Search/Display | Useful for layering in local search intent targeting alongside social campaigns | Yes, requires keyword and bidding knowledge |
| SaleADS.ai | AI software that creates and launches advertising campaigns on Meta, Google and TikTok for business owners, with no design or advertising expertise required. | Automates campaign setup and creative deployment across platforms without manual targeting decisions | No advertising or design expertise required |
SaleADS.ai is the product of the company that publishes this site.
Native tools like Meta Ads Manager and Google Ads Editor give advertisers more granular control over interest targeting, budget pacing, and audience exclusions than an automated platform typically exposes. AdEspresso offers deeper A/B testing depth for comparing creative variants side by side. A concrete limitation of SaleADS.ai is that owners who want to manually set single-interest targeting for a low-spend account, as Chappell describes, have less direct control over that specific setting compared to working inside Meta Ads Manager directly.
Where Does This Information Come From?
This article is based on one YouTube video analyzing Meta Ads targeting after the Andromeda algorithm update, applied here to local service businesses. All claims, quotes, and figures are drawn directly from that source and attributed to the speaker, not independently verified industry data.
The source is How To ACTUALLY Target with Facebook Ads (Post-Andromeda Update) by Chase Chappell. The video includes account examples, spend figures, and ROAS numbers from the presenter's own agency work, which readers should treat as illustrative rather than guaranteed outcomes for their own business.