Mastering Instagram Interests For Ads: The Complete List (2025)

If you are about to include Instagram advertising in your marketing plan, then understanding interest targeting is no longer an edge but a necessity. It’s a magic tool to reach highly potential audiences based on their preference and boost engagement. Our guide will provide up-to-date insights and practices to master Instagram interests for ads.

Why Instagram Interests For Ads Matter?

Instagram allows advertisers to target audiences for ads based on various interests. 

Its algorithm also analyzes and considers users’ interests based on their online activity such as liking, commenting, and searching, to deliver relevant ads and improve user experience. So if a user previously showed some interest in a topic or a brand, he/she will be more likely to see related ads. 

At the same time, users can manage their interests for ads on Instagram to see fewer ads on a topic or avoid being targeted based on an interest.

The Complete Instagram Ad Interests List (2025)

Interests are one of the targeting options you can use in the Audience section when creating ads, whether it is directly on Instagram or from Ads Manager. 

These are assumed interests based on users’ past behaviors, their engagement, apps they use, pages they like, etc. 

There are various general and specific interests, allowing advertisers to narrow down audiences efficiently. 

To select an interest-targeting option, you can browse the dropdown menu or type in some words and choose from the suggestions.

Below is the up-to-date Instagram ads interests list:

• Business and Industry
• Entertainment (leisure)
• Family and relationships
• Fitness and wellness (fitness)
• Food and drink (consumables)
• Hobbies and activities
• Shopping and fashion
• Sports and outdoors
• Technology (computers & electronics)

Business and Industry

• Advertising (marketing)
• Agriculture (industry)
• Architecture (architecture)
• Aviation (air travel)
• Banking (finance)
• Business (business & finance)
• Construction (industry)
• Design (design)
• Economics (economics)
• Engineering (science)
• Entrepreneurship (business & finance)
• Higher education (education)
• Management (business & finance)
• Marketing (business & finance)
• Online (computing)
• Personal finance (banking)
• Real estate (industry)
• Retail (industry)
• Sales (business & finance)
• Science (science)
• Small business (business & finance)

Entertainment (leisure)

• Games (leisure)
• Live events (entertainment)
• Movies (entertainment & media)
• Music (entertainment & media)
• Reading (communication)
• TV (movies & television)

Family and relationships

• Family
• Fatherhood
• Friendship
• Marriage
• Motherhood 
• Parenting
• Weddings

Fitness and wellness (fitness)

• Bodybuilding
• Physical exercise
• Physical fitness
• Running
• Weight training
• Yoga

Food and drink (consumables)

• Alcoholic beverages (food & drink)
• Beverages (food & drink)
• Cooking (food & drink)
• Cuisine (food & drink)
• Food (food & drink)
• Restaurants (dining)

Hobbies and activities

• Arts and music (art)
• Current events (politics)
• Home and garden
• Pets (animals)
• Politics and social issues (politics)
• Travel (travel & tourism)
• Vehicles (transportation)

Shopping and fashion

• Beauty (social concept)
• Clothing (apparel)
• Fashion accessories (accessories)
• Shopping (retail)
• Toys (toys)

Sports and outdoors

• Outdoor recreation (outdoor activities)
• Sports (sports)

Technology (computers & electronics)

• Computers (computers & electronics)
• Consumer electronics (computers & electronics)

I have compiled the full list of Instagram interests for ads from Ads Manager and put them in a Doc file for your easier searching. 

Download the complete Instagram ad interests list HERE.

Instagram Ads Interests Targeting Best Practices

Here are some practices to make the most of interest targeting for Instagram ads.

Combine different interest-targeting options 

By combining multiple interest targeting options, you can broaden or narrow down your audience segment to meet your needs. 

Let’s say you are creating Instagram ads for your coffee shop. After targeting users who love coffee, you can continue to browse to add another interest, such as tea, because your shop serves tea as well.

You can use Suggestions to see relevant interests such as coffeehouses, Starbucks, espresso, cappuccino, etc.

You can also click Define further to layer another interest on Instagram ads and target the overlap, those who have both interests at the same time.

Here is an example: If you sell high-end running shoes, you can target people who are interested in running, marathons, and luxury goods. This helps ensure that people who see your ads are prime for conversions.

Match your ad content with audiences

After defining your target audience segment, it’s now more about the creatives. 

Try your best to create highly relevant and quality ad content that resonates with your audiences. Talk about their pain points and help them solve their problems. 

Audiences will be more likely to engage with your ads if they find them relevant, resulting in higher ad performance and lower costs. 

Test different ad creatives

Carry out A/B tests on various ad creatives to see what works best for your product/service. It could be an unboxing or review video, a carousel, or simply a static image.  

Try to stop them from scrolling with proven caption hooks or video hooks. 

Don’t hesitate to add a bit of humor or surprise to your Instagram ads, most audiences love it.

And of course, use appealing visuals to make your ad stand out from the crowd. 

Use videos

This may vary based on your niche, but video ads usually get over 6 times more likes and comments than static photo ads. 

Vertical videos in about 1-minute length are the most effective. Learn to craft effective video ads to gain a competitive edge in the era of short videos. 

Partner with influencers

Consumers nowadays very much trust influencers over official information from brands. Think of partnering with some famous Instagrammer to increase the effectiveness of your ads.

How To View And Manage Your Instagram Interests For Ads?

Instagram allows users to manage their interests for ads on the platform. Specifically, you can choose to see less ad content related to certain topics that Instagram assumes you like. 

Here is how to view and manage your Instagram interests for ads:

• Open the Instagram app and click on your profile picture to access your Instagram profile page.
• Tap the hamburger icon to open Settings and Activity.
• Select Accounts Center > Ad preferences. Scroll down a bit to Ads topics. Click See All > View and manage topics.
• Here, you can view ad topics that Instagram thinks you like. Advertisers can use these topics to reach you. 
• If you want to see less of any ad topic, click on it and select See less. You will receive a notification saying that you’ll see less of these ads soon. 

Previous post: Are Instagram Ads Scams? 10 Telltale Signs To Spot Scammers + How To Dodge

Conclusion

Mastering Instagram interests for ads is the key to delivering highly relevant ads to the right audiences, enhancing user experience, and boosting campaign success. To make the most of interest-based targeting for Instagram ads, you should constantly experiment with available tools and different creatives to unlock the true power of this platform. Don’t forget to follow GDT Agency for more handy tips on conquering Instagram ads. Happy advertising!

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