21 Facebook ad targeting ideas (that you probably didn’t think of)

 

I’ve run thousands of Facebook ads before and I know that one of the toughest thing is to get the targeting right. Most people just choose interest, age and gender and call the job done. It’s not that easy.

Nowadays I’ve heard that many of my subscribers complain that their Facebook ads cost has been going through the roof and consider quiting advertising on the platform altogether.

You know what? A big part of why your ad cost being so high is because your targeting is way off and that’s bad for Facebook that’s why they have to charge you more to be worth it.

Do you know the secrets to my perfect relevance score and dirt cheap ad cost?

(Relavance score 10)

That’s right, I know how to pick the right targeting for my ads. That’s why I’ll be sharing 21 Facebook ad targeting ideas that you can start using for your ads right when you are done reading this blog post.

I know you are busy and I want you to go back to running and increasing profits for your business.

Let’s get started with the first idea right now.

Targeting idea #1: Target people by their generation

We all know that people in different generation act and think differently, largely due to how they were raised and what they went through growing up.

Millennials are getting a lot of shit for thinking that buying a diamond ring is a waste of money while older generations still believe that diamond ring is a symbol of love.

(source)

If you are running a business that caters to each generation specifically, you might find this targeting very useful.

The reason is because only age targeting might not be enough so you would need generation targeting as well to seal the targeting.

(Generation Targeting)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Fashion stores that cater to a certain age group
  • Gaming stores
  • Auction houses
  • Technology shops

Like I mentioned above, make sure to also use generation targeting with age group to maximize the effectiveness of it.

Targeting idea #2: Target people whose anniversary is coming

Facebook has a wealth of information for us, advertisers, that we can choose to target someone whose anniversary is coming.

Most girls are notorious for expecting something special on an anniversary, at least there should be a cake (we, guys, know that LOL) so there’s a good chance that your target audience might be looking for something right now as we speak.

All you need to do is to choose the right targeting to show your ad in front of the right person.

(Anniversary targeting)

I’ve suggested this to a guy who owns a bakery shop before and he came back to me and said that he got 3 orders in 1 day. Good for him, right?

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Gift shops
  • Bakery shops
  • Fine dining restaurants
  • Event organizers

As I said your target audience might be looking for what you have to offer right now, so don’t wait. Give it a shot for $10 and see how it works for you.

Targeting idea #3: People whose friend’s anniversary is coming

This is like the targeting we talked above in idea #2, but this time we target their friends because there might be a chance that their friends are also looking for something to surprise them on their anniversary, too.

Imagine if your ad pops right on their news feed while they are thinking “what I’ll get Jane for her anniversary/birthday/or whatever this year, I am clueless” and boom! Your ad shows up, what do you think will happen?

They’ll buy it right?

(Target their friends)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Bakery shops
  • Fine-dining restaurants
  • Celebration venues
  • Event organizers

Targeting idea #4: Target small business owners

There are bored small business owners on Facebook browsing to see some funny stuff for sure, but you have to use other targeting to make sure that it’s really the small business owners you are targeting.

The reason is because many people just add “self-employed” or “business owners” when they are just sitting around doing nothing.

(Targeting small business owners)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Banks
  • Insurance companies
  • Loan companies
  • Freelancers
  • Advertising companies

Targeting idea #5: Target people who just got a new job

This targeting is perfect for clothing stores, restaurants, bars or whatever that would help them celebrate their new job.

People who get a new job usually need a new attire to go with the dress code of the new work place so if you are in this kind of business, use this one.

(People with a new job)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Clothing stores
  • Bars
  • Restaurants
  • Photography studio

Targeting idea #6: Target people in a new relationship

Yep, targeting love birds who just update their relationship status on Facebook can be super lucrative if you offer them the right offer.

I’ve worked with a national floral shop and this targeting works like magic because people who are in love usually want to solidify their relationship somehow and buying a small gift for each other wouldn’t be something out of reach for sure.

Think about it for a second, Valentine’s is around the corner and someone in a relationship sees an ad like this.

(Proflowers)

What do you think going to happen? They’ll at least consider buying or bookmarking this at for sure.

Now on to targeting the love birds, you can see the targeting below, it’s under “behaviors”.

(Target love birds)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Floral shops
  • Hotels & Resorts
  • Gift shops
  • Bakery shops
  • Event organizer
  • Airlines

Targeting idea #7: People who’ve created an event on Facebook

People who have created an event on Facebook do that in order to promote their event and most of the times, they don’t have help yet.

If your business is about helping people who struggle to promote their events or need help with their events in general, this targeting will be a game changer for your ad campaign.

You can find this targeting under “behavior” and then “digital activities” and scroll down to the bottom of the list and you will see this targeting option.

(Target event creators)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Event planners
  • Restaurants
  • Bars
  • Entertainment centers
  • Musicians
  • Photographers

Targeting idea #8: People who’ve just returned from a trip

People who have just returned from a trip almost always want to keep their memories somehow, some way especially if the trip was good and they didn’t get scammed or harassed or anything.

There’s a good chance that they’ve already been preparing for the next trip and they might want to go to a doctor to have a quick check up if they went somewhere exotic.

If your business is dealing with this sort of thing, you should give this targeting a shot.

You can find this targeting under “behavior” then click on “travel” and then you will see a drop down menu like the image below that shows you these targeting options.

(People who’ve just returned from a trip)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Clinics
  • Airlines
  • Travel Agencies
  • Traveling gear shops

Targeting idea #9: People who just had a child

A new baby born into a family is usually showered with love and affection and every good parent would want what’s best for their child that’s why this targeting can be very lucrative if you give them the right offer.

One business that works really well is hospitals or clinics because kids get sick very often and they need to see a doctor every few weeks or so.

Insurance companies can make big bucks from this as well.

If you click on ” All parents”, you will see a drop down menu with options for you to choose which age their child is, I forgot to do it with this one.

(Target parents)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Pediatrician clinics
  • Hospitals
  • Insurance companies
  • Schools
  • Kindergartens

Targeting idea #10: Target early adopters

If you want to test out your new idea or products, early adopters will be your perfect target because they would love to be the ones to get their hands on a shiny new gadget that you have just made.

You can find this under “behavior” and then scroll down half way of the drop down menu page and you will see the targeting option.

(Targeting early adopters)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Technology colleges
  • Technology shops
  • Cellphone shops
  • eCommerce stores

Targeting idea #11: Target people based on their FB ad spending

Whether the person pays a lot or little on FB ads, it shows that they have some sort of interest in the platform and they might be looking for help right now as we speak.

If you are offering some sort of services that will help them with Facebook advertising, you need to reach out to them now before they found your competitors.

You can find this targeting under “behavior”, just scroll down and  you will see these targeting options.

(Facebook ad spenders)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Facebook ad coaches
  • FB ad management service company
  • Companies who offer tools for FB advertising

Targeting idea #12: Target people based on their web browser

Web browsers that they use can be a good indicator of how tech savvy they are, for example, people who use Internet Explorer could be someone who ins’t tech savvy or someone who’s just got a new computer and lazy to install other web browsers.

You can show them an ad like this and they’d be impressed.

(Ad example)

You can find this targeting under “behaviors” and then click on “Internet Browser Used” and you will see a drop down menu of these targeting options.

(Targeting people based on their web browser)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Computer repair shops
  • Web extension developers
  • Freelancers

Targeting idea #13: Target people who are interested to come to your event

If you’ve organized an event before you’d know that when you promote the event, there would be many people who are “interested” in joining the event, but not even half of them actually show up.

With this targeting option, we can promote the event to them again as a reminder for them to show up, especially if it involves them making a payment to you. Remind them a couple of times would be good.

You can find this targeting by clicking on “connection” and then choose people who are interested in your event, and then select which event exactly.

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Event organizers
  • Trade show organizers

Targeting idea #14: Target people based on their email address

What kind of email address they use also indicates how tech savvy they are and they may have different behaviors and they might be triggered by different things.

If you have a good system to segment these audiences, you would make this a powerful targeting option.

You can find this targeting option under “behaviors” and then click on “Primary email domain” and you will see these targeting options in the drop down menu.

(Target based on their email address)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Email provider
  • Email marketing company
  • Digital marketers
  • Email-addons app creators

Targeting idea #15: People who are far away from home

Nowadays it’s getting quite rare to find someone living in their hometown for their whole life, most people go to seek career opportunities somewhere else and these people will need some help staying in touch or any services that help them stay connected to their family.

Services like money transfer, visa extension, flower delivery and many more will be much needed.

You can find this targeting option under “life events” and then you will see this targeting option below “Anniversary”

(Far away from hometown)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Money transfer services
  • Visa consultation
  • International lawyers
  • Overseas restaurants

Targeting idea #16: Target their phone brands

I am the kind of person who always does deep targeting so I’d like to get as granular as possible so targeting people based on their phone brands could be immensely helpful.

People who use a certain brand might be motivated by people who use a different brand, i.e. iPhone users vs Windows phone users. If you know about their behaviors – you can figure out how to sell to them.

You can find this under “behavior” and then click on “All mobile devices by brand” and you will see the targeting options where you can choose to target phones from various brands.

(Phone brands)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Phone repair shops
  • Phone accessories shop
  • Phone shops

Targeting idea #17: Target people based on their OS

This targeting is perfect for repair shops because computers or devices with different OS have different issues and especially if you are a specialized shops – that’s a big plus.

And if you are a software company or reseller – you have to know the OS before you can sell anything to them.

You can find this targeting option under “operating system used” and Facebook will show OS that your target audience uses when accessing Facebook platform.

(Based on their OS)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Software companies
  • Computer repair shops
  • Software resellers
  • Computer accessories shop

Targeting idea #18: Target people based on their favorite sport

There are many sport lovers on Facebook and I can’t tell you how many times I have seen sport fans post their picture wearing their favorite team’s Jersey and everything.

They love their teams with a passion and it’s an opportunity for us to sell them related to their sports team.

You can find this under “sports and outdoors” and click on “sports” and you will see a drop down menu options of the sports your target audience like.

Remember to use this targeting with other targeting options, otherwise it’d be too weak.

(Target based on their favorite sport team)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Sport wears stores
  • Sport coaches
  • Sport team merchandise stores

Targeting idea #19: Target travelers

Remember that this targeting option should be used in combination with other targeting options otherwise it would be too broad and you’ll be targeting the wrong people.

If you have a business where you help people who like to travel with their traveling itineraries, this targeting option would make a big difference for your ad campaign.

You can find this under “hobbies and activities” and then click on “travel” and you will see options where you can choose what type of travelers you want to target.

(Target travelers)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Travel agencies
  • Visa consultation services
  • Airlines

Targeting idea #20: Target people who’ve used your app before

If you are running an app company and you’ve just launched a new one that you want people to give it a shot. The best people to target in this case would be your existing users.

The reason that it works is because people who are already using your service are already familiar with you on a certain level and selling to people who already trust you isn’t hard.

You can find this targeting by hovering over “connection’ and then click on “apps” and you will see the targeting option where you can choose to target people who’ve already used your app.

(People who’ve already used your app)

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • App development companies
  • Application stores
  • Freelance developers
  • App developers

Targeting idea #21: Target people with combined interests

I’ve talked about Facebook interest targeting before and I have to tell you that it sucks if you don’t know how to do it properly.

Because most of the times, Facebook targeting is way too broad, for example, if someone browses around on their feed and then find a picture of a zebra drawing a picture, then gives it a “like” on the photo.

Guess what? Facebook considers that person likes seeing zebras even though that’s the first zebra the dude has ever seen in his entire life.

In short, Facebook targeting is a bit too broad if you don’t know how to combine them together.

(Combine interests)

Combining Facebook interest targeting is a way to narrow down the audience to a much targeted one.

It’s a way to tell Facebook the following conditions;

  • My target audience must like x
  • He also must like xx, too
  • And he must also be interested in xyz

It’s to make your targeting much more specific and targeted and it’s very powerful.

Suitable businesses for this; 

  • Every business under the sun (seriously)

It’s your turn now

You don’t have to worry about not knowing everything about Facebook ad targeting because after you’ve done reading this blog post, you will already have a perfect targeting option idea to turn your ad around.

I recommend you to give the suitable targeting option for your business a $10 – $20 try and see if it works for you. Most of the times it does.

Should you have a question, feel free to discuss with me in the comment section below.

Good luck for today!