Advertiser method. Meta does not publish this as a rule. The mechanics below come from Meta’s documentation; the method itself is common advertiser practice, and results vary.
How do I retarget people who engaged with my business?
Build engagement custom audiences from people who interacted with your Page, Instagram professional account, videos, lead forms or shop, then show them a follow-up ad. Meta lets you include them for retargeting or exclude them from prospecting. You choose the engagement type and the retention, up to 365 days for Page and Instagram audiences.
Retarget people who engaged with you when you have activity to follow up, such as Page or Instagram interactions, video views or lead form opens, and a next step to offer. If your goal is purchases and you hold website data, compare it with a website audience, because engagement is a different signal from a site visit. Meta builds these audiences from actions across its own technologies, not from your website.
Which kinds of engagement can you retarget?
Meta lists these engagement audience types: video, lead form, Instant Experience, shopping, Instagram account, events and Facebook Page.
| Type | Who it holds, as Meta describes it |
|---|---|
| Facebook Page | People who engaged with your Page; the default event is everyone who engaged |
| Instagram account | People who started following or engaged with your Instagram professional account |
| Video | People who watched your video content |
| Lead form | People who opened or submitted a lead form on your ads |
| Instant Experience | People who interacted with your full-screen Instant Experience ads |
| Shopping | People who browsed or purchased from your Facebook or Instagram shop |
| Events | People who responded to your Facebook events |
Only an Instagram professional account, either a business or a creator account, can be used. Personal accounts can’t.
How do engagement audiences differ from website audiences?
Meta says engagement audiences use actions taken across its technologies, while website audiences use actions taken on your website, known as events. Which to use is your call. You can use engagement audiences for earlier steps and website audiences for later ones. That is method, not a Meta rule.
How long should people stay in?
For Facebook Page and Instagram audiences, Meta says retention must be 365 days or less. Meta says the number of days is dynamic. If you go back 30 days, someone who engaged 29 days ago is in, and they drop out if they don’t engage again the next day. Anyone new who engages in the period is added.
Meta uses 30 days as an example of the mechanism, not a recommendation. A shorter period keeps the audience recent and smaller. A longer one holds more people whose engagement is older.
How do you include and exclude?
Meta gives two examples of use for a Page audience: include everyone who engaged for a retargeting campaign, or exclude them from a prospecting campaign. You can add up to 4 further criteria to a Page audience.
For an Instagram audience, Meta says that when you include and exclude engagement types, exclusionary rules override inclusionary ones. Someone who fits both is excluded.
What can go wrong?
Meta says you can’t create new ad sets with audiences based on Facebook Pages that have been deleted, and you can’t use those audiences in other campaigns. This includes associated lookalike audiences and saved audiences that include them. Targeting options are also limited for audiences that include people under 18.
How can you decide for your own account?
- Name the next step you want engagers to take, then pick the engagement type closest to it.
- Start with the engagement you already have, such as Page or video audiences, rather than building every type.
- Set a retention period and check the audience status.
- Decide whether the same audience should be excluded from your prospecting ad sets.
FAQ
Can I use my personal Instagram account?
No. Meta says you can only use an Instagram professional account, meaning an Instagram for business account or a creator account, to make an Instagram engagement audience. Personal accounts can’t be used.
What happens if someone matches an include rule and an exclude rule?
On the Instagram audience page, Meta says exclusionary rules override inclusionary ones, so the person is excluded from the audience. Meta’s Page audience page lets you add include and exclude criteria too, but the pages cited here state the override only for Instagram.
Can engagement audiences help me find new people?
Yes. Meta says you can use an engagement custom audience as a source for a lookalike audience, which finds people similar to those who engaged with your content across Meta technologies. That is a separate step from retargeting the engagers themselves.
Sources
- About engagement custom audiences (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
- Create a Facebook Page engagement custom audience (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
- Create an Instagram account custom audience (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
- About custom audiences (Meta, checked 3 Oct 2026)
Drafted with AI and checked claim by claim against the pages linked under Sources. Found a mistake? Tell us via the corrections policy.