Facebook and Instagram Ads in Lebanon: What Works and What Wastes Budget

Lebanon has extremely high Facebook and Instagram penetration relative to population. Lebanese users — both resident and diaspora — are among the most active social media users in the Arab world. For businesses targeting Lebanese consumers, Meta Ads reaches this audience at some of the lowest CPMs in the region: typically USD 1–4 per thousand impressions, compared to USD 8–20 in the UAE.

But low CPM does not equal low cost-per-acquisition if the campaign structure is wrong. Most Lebanese businesses running Meta Ads make the same structural mistakes: wrong campaign objective, no retargeting infrastructure, and creative that does not match the Lebanese buyer's decision process. This article covers what to do instead.

The Lebanese Meta Ads Landscape: What Is Different

Facebook reaches older Lebanese demographics (35+) more effectively than Instagram. For services where the buyer is a business owner, a parent, or a decision-maker above 35 — clinics, schools, B2B services, real estate — Facebook placements often outperform Instagram for conversion campaigns.

Instagram dominates Lebanese youth audiences (18–34) and performs better for fashion, food, lifestyle, and beauty categories. If your target buyer is in this demographic, Instagram Stories and Reels are the highest-engagement placements. Video content in Lebanese dialect — casual, authentic, not over-produced — consistently outperforms polished corporate creative in Lebanese Instagram audiences.

The diaspora opportunity is unique: Meta's geographic targeting allows you to target Lebanese users by nationality or interest in Lebanon, regardless of where they currently live. A Lebanese restaurant in Beirut can run ads to Lebanese-heritage audiences in Sydney, Paris, or Toronto — people who want Lebanese food and will pay premium prices for authentic offerings. Almost no Lebanese businesses run diaspora-targeted Meta campaigns, making this a wide open opportunity.

Campaign Objective: The Most Important Decision

Most Lebanese businesses run Meta Ads with the 'Reach' or 'Engagement' objective — optimising for impressions and likes. These objectives fill your analytics with numbers that look good (thousands of people reached, hundreds of likes) while producing few actual customers. Meta's algorithm optimises toward whatever you tell it to optimise for. If you tell it to optimise for reach, it reaches people. It does not then turn those people into customers.

For businesses that want leads or sales, the campaign objective must match that intent: 'Leads' objective for lead generation (opens a native Meta form, reducing friction), 'Sales' objective for ecommerce (requires a configured Pixel tracking purchases), or 'Traffic' with a retargeting follow-up for businesses building awareness before closing.