What radius should I use for Meta ads for a local newsletter?

Location is the one targeting setting I actually spend time on. Everything else stays broad. Here's how I set it up.

What radius should I start with?

Drop a pin on the central part of the market and set a radius. My working default is 10 miles. That number is an instinct from one market, not a tuned figure.

The trade-off is the entire decision. A bigger radius is cheaper because Meta has more people to work with. But you start paying for people who won't care about your local content.

"The more population, the lower your subscribe cost. But you can't just do a massive population because they have to care."

What if my area isn't a clean circle?

Mix city names and pins. If a neighborhood name really means three cities, put the three cities in. Or drop a pin, say five miles, and check whether it covers the area well.

One campaign I worked on that was getting 11 cents a subscriber was set up exactly like that: three typed city names plus a pin with a two-mile radius for another area.

Start narrow and expand later.

When should I exclude places?

When your radius swallows an area you don't cover. A guest on my podcast targets 10 miles around his city and excludes the neighboring city and state that fall inside it. Exclusions keep the radius honest.

What about age and other settings?

• Age: leave the default. You won't get many subscribers under 25, and even if you set 18, they won't subscribe and Meta probably won't show it to them much.
• Detailed targeting: blank.
• Statewide brands: split into two campaigns, one targeting the metro and one targeting the rest of the state, each with creative that names its audience.

Should I widen the radius when costs rise?

Not first. When cost per subscriber creeps toward a dollar, refresh the creative before you change anything else. Widening the radius just buys you people who care less. More in when to refresh creative.