In 2018, Facebook Advertising is still very popular alongside Google Ads the most popular and promising performance marketing channel. Facebook Advertising is a particularly promising way to reach potential customers for new products and services that are not actively searched for (googled).

But also for special and homogeneous groups of people such as niche product providers is Facebook advertising the obvious choice in the search for the most effective marketing channel.

That's why today I'm presenting 13 targeting ideas to help you reach your target group. Of course, there are many more targeting options than the 13 mentioned here. I just want to present a few special and unusual targeting ideas in this article. Maybe there's something for your next Facebook campaign!

Why is the target group definition so important?

However, before we look at the different targeting options, we should first explain why selecting the right target group is crucial for the success of your Facebook advertising campaign. The targeting options in the Facebook advertising universe can be compared to the keywords in Google Ads.

When placing Google Ads campaigns, we naturally only select Keywords that match the products or services we offer.

A car repair shop will certainly not run advertising campaigns containing keywords such as "tax consultant" or "dentist", but will choose keywords that reflect the product range.  such as "oil change" or "winter tire change".

The same now applies to the definition of the target group in the Facebook Ad Manager.

We only want to target people who show a potential interest in our product or service. The more relevant your ads are for Facebook users, the more more successful the advertising campaign will fail.

12 Facebook targeting ideas/options

1st birthday in xx - xx days / Close friends of people who have a birthday in a week

Do you sell products that are suitable as gifts? Then let me introduce you to some great targeting options, that will help you target relevant people. This also applies to the first targeting option:

→ Birthday in 31 - 60 days

→ Close friends of people who have a birthday in one month

→ Close friends of people who have a birthday in a week's time

→ Close friends of women who have a birthday in 0 - 7 days

→ Close friends of women who have a birthday in 7 - 30 days

→ Close friends of men who have a birthday in 0 - 7 days

→ Close friends of men who have a birthday in 7 - 30 days

Simply enter this at ad set level in the detailed targeting "Birthday" and you will find the targeting options mentioned.

This function is super interesting for companies where the birthday is an important sales factor.

2nd anniversary in x days

Let's stay on the subject of gift items and now look at another occasion for buying products or services. What we can do with the "birthday" theme, we can also use for other occasions.

z. e.g. anniversary:

→ Anniversary (in 61 - 90 days)

→ Anniversary in 30 days

Simply enter the term "anniversary" in the detailed targeting and the targeting option will be suggested to you. 

3. recently moved persons/friends of persons who have recently moved

Does your company want to target people who have recently moved house? These people can also be easily targeted via Facebook Ads!

We can address the following groups of people:

→ People who have recently moved

→ Friends of people who have recently moved

As I write this article, there are around 93,000 people across Germany who can be addressed using this targeting. 

This is certainly an interesting targeting option for furniture manufacturers and sellers, insurance providers or even security service providers with regard to burglary protection.

4. returned from a trip 

Would you like to contact people who have returned from a trip?

No problem! 

We can address the following groups of people directly on Facebook:

→ Persons who returned from a trip 1 week ago

→ Persons who returned from a trip 2 weeks ago

For whom could this targeting option be relevant?

→ Travel provider

→ Airlines & hotel companies

→ Platforms for air passenger rights

5. admins of Facebook advertising accounts

Would you like to target people who run a Facebook fan page? Simply search for "admins" in the detailed targeting and you will receive a whole range of interesting suggestions, such as

→ Facebook page administrators

→ Admins of company pages

→ Admins of a sports site

→ Admins of a page for food and restaurants

etc.

6. students from certain universities

Would your company like to address students from certain universities directly? No problem at all with Facebook ads! You can simply enter the name of the college/university in the detailed targeting and you will receive the corresponding targeting options, e.g:

With university targeting, we not only have the option of addressing students, but also people who have specified the respective university as their employer.

7. targeting according to level of education Master's degree & doctorate

Ads can also be actively displayed according to education level, so we can use Facebook's targeting options to directly address users who have a doctorate or master's degree, for example!

This targeting can also be further specialized to make it even more precise. For example, we can target people with a doctorate and/or master's degree who are currently working in management.

This enables companies to proactively approach potential employees. Because currently  17,000 people registered in the "doctorate" or "master's degree" targeting  and the professional sector "Management".

8. expats who now live in Germany

Does your company sell products to expats living in Germany? With Facebook ads, we can reach these people particularly easily. Not only are we able to target expats in general, we are able to differentiate based on their country of origin! Undoubtedly a brilliant targeting opportunity.

For example, the following expats can be addressed:

→ Expats (India)

→ Expats (Mexico)

→ Expats (Vietnam)

→ Expats (New Zealand)

etc.

9. parents with children aged x - xx

Thanks to the sophisticated and voluntary profile information provided by Facebook users, we advertisers have a very good database for addressing relevant target groups.

This also makes it possible to address parents of children in certain age groups.

We can classify parents as follows:

→ Parents with adult children (18-26 years)

→ Parents with children aged 8 to 12 years

→ Ageing with children of pre-school age 6 - 8 years

→ Parents with children of kindergarten age 3 - 5 years

→ Parents with toddlers 1 - 2 years old

etc. 

10. persons with a new job

The entry "New job" in detailed targeting  explicitly addresses people who have changed their job in their Facebook profile in the last 6 months.

Combinations with the occupational sector allow people to be addressed in even greater detail on the basis of their occupation.

11.  Primary e-mail domain / Internet browser used

Does your company offer software for certain email providers or only for certain Internet browsers (e.g. Google Chrome extensions)? Then you can also address people based on their primary email domain or the Internet browser they use!

12. newly engaged and newlyweds 

Would you like to target newly engaged or newlyweds with Facebook Ads? To do this, select the demographic characteristics in the detailed targeting or actively search for "newlyweds" and "newly engaged".

Of course, there are many other targeting options, such as based on the end device used or the operating system of the end device.

As these targeting options are relatively well known, I have not addressed them today.

I hope I was able to give you some ideas for targeting!