Facebook Ads Audience Targeting – Here’s (Literally) Everything You Can Do

May 9, 2018
Posted in Paid Social
09 May 2018
Paid Social 4 Comments
May 9, 2018 Chris Root

Facebook Ads Audience Targeting – Here’s (Literally) Everything You Can Do

With Facebook Ads targeting in the forefront of the news lately and some of the targeting options disappearing, we decided to put together a post listing all the different targeting options that you still have available.

Literally everything.

This probably isn’t the best post to curl up with a hot cup of tea in a cozy chair and read beginning to end. Bookmark this post and use it as a reference document so the next time you need to brainstorm targeting options on Facebook, you can pull it up and quickly search/browse your audience targeting ideas.

Enjoy!

Demographics

  1. Age (minimum 13, maximum setting is 65+)
  2. Gender
  3. Locations
    1. Targeting
      1. Everyone in a location
      2. People who live in a location
      3. People recently in a location
      4. People traveling in a location
    2. Geos
      1. Regions
      2. Countries
      3. States
      4. DMA Markets
      5. Cities
      6. Zip Codes
      7. Airports
      8. Specific Addresses
  4. Languages
  5. Education
    1. Education Level
      1. Associate degree
      2. College grad
      3. Doctorate degree
      4. High school grad
      5. In college
      6. In grad school
      7. In high school
      8. Master’s degree
      9. Professional degree
      10. Some college
      11. Some grad school
      12. Some high school
      13. Unspecified
    2. Field of Study
      1. You can target nearly any field of study
    3. Schools
      1. You can target nearly any school in the US
    4. Undergrad Years
      1. Manually select the years
  6. Financial
    1. Income
      1. $40,000 – $49,999
      2. $50,000 – $74,999
      3. $75,000 – $99,999
      4. $100,000 – $124,999
      5. $125,000 – $149,999
      6. $150,000 – $249,999
      7. $250,000 – $349,999
      8. $350,000 – $499,999
      9. Over $500,000
    2. Net Worth
      1. $100,000 – $249,999
      2. $250,000 – $499,999
      3. $500,000 – $749,999
      4. $750,000 – $999,999
      5. $1,000,000 – $1,999,999
      6. Over $2,000,000
      7. Liquid Assets
        1. $1 – $25,000
        2. $25,000 – $49,999
        3. $50,000 – $99,999
        4. $100,000 – $249,999
        5. $250,000 – $499,999
        6. $500,000 – $999,999
        7. $1,000,000 – $1,999,999
        8. $2,000,000 – $2,999,999
        9. Over $3,000,000
  7. Home
    1. Home Ownership
      1. First time homebuyer
      2. Homeowners
      3. Renters
    2. Home Type
      1. Apartment
      2. Condo
      3. Multi-Family Home
      4. Single
    3. Home Value
      1. $50,000 – $99,999
      2. $100,000 – $199,999
      3. $200,000 – $299,999
      4. $300,000 – $499,999
      5. $500,000 – $699,999
      6. $700,000 – $999,999
      7. $1,000,000 – $1,999,999
      8. Over $2,000,000
    4. Household Composition
      1. Grandparents
      2. New parents
      3. Veterans in home
      4. Working women
      5. Young & hip
      6. Young adults in home
  8. Life Events
    1. Anniversary
      1. Anniversary within 30 days
      2. Anniversary within 31-60 Days
    2. Away from Family
    3. Away from Hometown
    4. Birthday
      1. Birthday Month (select any month to target people with birthdays that month)
      2. Upcoming Birthday (within one week)
    5. Friends Of
      1. Close Friends of Men with a Birthday in 0-7 days
      2. Close Friends of Men with a Birthday in 7-30 days
      3. Close Friends of Women with a Birthday in 0-7 days
      4. Close Friends of Women with a Birthday in 7-30 days
      5. Close friends of people with birthdays in a month
      6. Close friends of people with birthdays in a week
      7. Friends of Recently Moved
      8. Friends of newly engaged people
      9. Friends of newlyweds
    6. Long-distance relationship
    7. New job
    8. New relationship
    9. Newly engaged (1 year)
    10. Newly engaged (3 months)
    11. Newly-engaged (6 months)
    12. Newlywed (1 year)
    13. Newlywed (3 months)
    14. Newlywed (6 months)
    15. Recently moved
  9. Parents
    1. All Parents
      1. New parents (0-12 months)
      2. Parents (All)
      3. Parents with preschoolers (03-05 years)
      4. Parents with adult children (18-26 years)
      5. Parents with early school-age children (06-08 years)
      6. Parents with preteens (08-12 years)
      7. Parents with teenagers (13-18 years)
      8. Parents with toddlers (01-02 years)
    2. Moms
      1. Big-city moms
      2. Corporate moms
      3. Fit moms
      4. Green moms
      5. Moms of grade school kids
      6. Moms of high school kids
      7. Moms of preschool kids
      8. New Moms
      9. Soccer moms
      10. Stay-at-home moms
      11. Trendy moms
  10. Politics (US only)
    1. Likely to engage with political content (conservative)
    2. Likely to engage with political content (liberal)
    3. Likely to engage with political content (moderate)
    4. US politics (conservative)
    5. US politics (liberal)
    6. US politics (moderate)
    7. US politics (very conservative)
    8. US politics (very liberal)
  11. Relationship Status
    1. Civil Union
    2. Complicated
    3. Divorced
    4. Domestic Partnership
    5. Engaged
    6. In a relationship
    7. Married
    8. Open Relationship
    9. Separated
    10. Single
    11. Unspecified
    12. Widowed
  12. Work
    1. Employers
      1. You can manually search for employers
    2. Job Titles
      1. You can manually search for job titles
    3. Industries
      1. Administrative Services
      2. Architecture and Engineering
      3. Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Media
      4. Business and Finance
      5. Cleaning and Maintenance Services
      6. Community and Social Services
      7. Computation and Mathematics
      8. Construction and Extraction
      9. Education and Libraries
      10. Farming, Fishing and Forestry
      11. Food and Restaurants
      12. Government Employees (Global)
      13. Healthcare and Medical Services
      14. IT and Technical Services
      15. Installation and Repair Services
      16. Legal Services
      17. Life, Physical and Social Sciences
      18. Management
      19. Military (Global)
      20. Personal Care and Home Services
      21. Production
      22. Protective Services
      23. Sales
      24. Transportation and Moving
      25. Veterans (US)
    4. Office Type
      1. Small Business

Interests

  1. Business & Industry
    1. Advertising
    2. Agriculture
    3. Architecture
    4. Aviation
    5. Banking
      1. Investment Banking
      2. Online Banking
      3. Retail Banking
    6. Business
    7. Construction
    8. Design
      1. Fashion Design
      2. Graphic Design
      3. Interior Design
    9. Economics
    10. Engineering
    11. Entrepreneurship
    12. Health Care
    13. Higher Education
    14. Management
    15. Marketing
    16. Nursing
    17. Online
      1. Digital marketing
      2. Display advertising
      3. Email marketing
      4. Online advertising
      5. Search engine optimization
      6. Social media
      7. Social media marketing
      8. Web design
      9. Web development
      10. Web hosting
    18. Personal Finance
      1. Credit cards
      2. Insurance
      3. Investment
      4. Mortgage loans
    19. Real estate
    20. Retail
    21. Sales
    22. Science
    23. Small business
  2. Entertainment
    1. Games
      1. Action games
      2. Board games
      3. Browser games
      4. Card games
      5. Casino games
      6. First-person shooter games
      7. Gambling
      8. Massively multiplayer online games
      9. Massively multiplayer online role-playing games
      10. Online games
      11. Online poker
      12. Puzzle video games
      13. Racing games
      14. Role-playing games
      15. Shooter games
      16. Simulation games
      17. Sports games
      18. Strategy games
      19. Video games
      20. Word games
    2. Live Events
      1. Ballet
      2. Bars
      3. Concerts
      4. Dancehalls
      5. Music festivals
      6. Nightclubs
      7. Parties
      8. Plays
      9. Theatre
    3. Movies
      1. Action movies
      2. Animated movies
      3. Anime movies
      4. Bollywood movies
      5. Comedy movies
      6. Documentary movies
      7. Drama movies
      8. Fantasy movies
      9. Horror movies
      10. Musical theatre
      11. Science fiction movies
      12. Thriller movies
    4. Music
      1. Blues music
      2. Classical music
      3. Country music
      4. Dance music
      5. Electronic music
      6. Gospel music
      7. Heavy metal music
      8. Hip hop music
      9. Jazz music
      10. Music videos
      11. Pop music
      12. Rhythm and blues music
      13. Rock music
      14. Soul music
    5. Reading
      1. Books
      2. Comics
      3. E-books
      4. Fiction books
      5. Literature
      6. Magazines
      7. Manga
      8. Mystery fiction
      9. Newspapers
      10. Non-fiction books
      11. Romance novels
    6. TV
      1. TV comedies
      2. TV game shows
      3. TV reality shows
      4. TV talkshows
  3. Family & Relationships
    1. Dating
    2. Family
    3. Fatherhood
    4. Friendship
    5. Marriage
    6. Motherhood
    7. Parenting
    8. Weddings
  4. Fitness & Wellness
    1. Bodybuilding
    2. Meditation
    3. Physical exercise
    4. Physical fitness
    5. Running
    6. Weight training
    7. Yoga
  5. Food & Drink
    1. Alcoholic beverages
      1. Beer
      2. Distilled beverage
      3. Wine
    2. Beverages
      1. Coffee
      2. Energy drinks
      3. Juice
      4. Soft drinks
      5. Tea
    3. Cooking
      1. Baking
      2. Recipes
    4. Cuisine
      1. Chinese cuisine
      2. French cuisine
      3. German cuisine
      4. Greek cuisine
      5. Indian cuisine
      6. Italian cuisine
      7. Japanese cuisine
      8. Korean cuisine
      9. Latin American cuisine
      10. Mexican cuisine
      11. Middle Eastern cuisine
      12. Spanish cuisine
      13. Thai cuisine
      14. Vietnamese cuisine
    5. Food
      1. Barbecue
      2. Chocolate
      3. Desserts
      4. Fast food
      5. Organic food
      6. Pizza
      7. Seafood
      8. Veganism
      9. Vegetarianism
    6. Restaurants
      1. Coffeehouses
      2. Diners
      3. Fast casual restaurants
      4. Fast food restaurants
  6. Hobbies & Activities
    1. Arts and Music
      1. Acting
      2. Crafts
      3. Dance
      4. Drawing
      5. Drums
      6. Fine art
      7. Guitar
      8. Painting
      9. Performing arts
      10. Photography
      11. Sculpture
      12. Singing
      13. Writing
    2. Current Events
    3. Home and garden
      1. Do it yourself (DIY)
      2. Furniture
      3. Gardening
      4. Home Appliances
      5. Home improvement
    4. Pets
      1. Birds
      2. Cats
      3. Dogs
      4. Fish
      5. Horses
      6. Pet food
      7. Rabbits
      8. Reptiles
    5. Politics and Social Issues
      1. Charity and causes
      2. Community issues
      3. Environmentalism
      4. Law
      5. Military
      6. Politics
      7. Religion
      8. Sustainability
      9. Veterans
      10. Volunteering
    6. Travel
      1. Adventure travel
      2. Air travel
      3. Beaches
      4. Car rentals
      5. Cruises
      6. Ecotourism
      7. Hotels
      8. Lakes
      9. Mountains
      10. Nature
      11. Theme parks
      12. Tourism
      13. Vacations
    7. Vehicles
      1. Automobiles
      2. Boats
      3. Electric vehicle
      4. Hybrids
      5. Minivans
      6. Motorcycles
      7. RVs
      8. SUVs
      9. Scooters
      10. Trucks
  7. Shopping & Fashion
    1. Beauty
      1. Beauty salons
      2. Cosmetics
      3. Fragrances
      4. Hair products
      5. Spas
      6. Tattoos
    2. Clothing
      1. Children’s clothing
      2. Men’s clothing
      3. Shoes
      4. Women’s clothing
    3. Fashion Accessories
      1. Children’s clothing
      2. Men’s clothing
      3. Shoes
      4. Women’s clothing
    4. Shopping
      1. Boutiques
      2. Coupons
      3. Discount stores
      4. Luxury goods
      5. Online shopping
      6. Shopping malls
    5. Toys
  8. Sports & Outdoors
    1. Outdoor Recreation
      1. Boating
      2. Camping
      3. Fishing
      4. Horseback riding
      5. Hunting
      6. Mountain biking
      7. Surfing
    2. Sports
      1. American football
      2. Association football (Soccer)
      3. Auto racing
      4. Baseball
      5. Basketball
      6. College football
      7. Golf
      8. Marathons
      9. Skiing
      10. Snowboarding
      11. Swimming
      12. Tennis
      13. Triathlons
      14. Volleyball
  9. Technology
    1. Computers
      1. Computer memory
      2. Computer monitors
      3. Computer processors
      4. Computer servers
      5. Desktop computers
      6. Free software
      7. Hard drives
      8. Network storage
      9. Software
      10. Tablet computers
    2. Consumer Electronics
      1. Audio equipment
      2. Camcorders
      3. Cameras
      4. E-book readers
      5. GPS devices
      6. Game consoles
      7. Mobile phones
      8. Portable media players
      9. Projectors
      10. Smartphones
      11. Televisions

Note: in addition to the interest categories above, there are ‘precise’ interests that you target as well. These include pages and more niche interests such as brand names, celebrities, activities, etc. There is no concrete list of these because they are always changing. The best way to explore them is to create a draft ad set and simply type in the interests you’re looking to target.

Behaviors

  1. Anniversary
    1. Anniversary (within 61-90 days)
  2. Digital Activities
    1. Canvas Gaming
    2. Console gamers
    3. Facebook Page admins
    4. Facebook Payments users (30 days)
    5. Facebook Payments users (90 days)
    6. Facebook Payments users (higher than average spend)
    7. Facebook access: older devices and OS
    8. Internet Browser Used
      1. Facebook access (browser): Chrome
      2. Facebook access (browser): Firefox
      3. Facebook access (browser): Internet Explorer
      4. Facebook access (browser): Microsoft Edge
      5. Facebook access (browser): Opera
      6. Facebook access (browser): Safari
    9. Operating System Used
      1. Facebook access (OS): Mac OS X
      2. Facebook access (OS): Mac Sierra
      3. Facebook access (OS): Windows 7
      4. Facebook access (OS): Windows 8
      5. Facebook access (OS): Windows Vista
      6. Facebook access (OS): Windows XP
    10. Primary Email Domain
      1. AOL email users
      2. Apple email users
      3. Gmail users
      4. Hotmail users
      5. com email users
      6. Yahoo email users
    11. Small Business Owners
    12. Technology Early Adopters
  3. Expats
  4. Multicultural Affinity
    1. African American (US)
    2. Asian American (US)
    3. Hispanic (US – All)
    4. Hispanic (US – Bilingual)
    5. Hispanic (US – English dominant)
    6. Hispanic (US – Spanish dominant)

Device & OS Targeting

  1. Device Types
    1. All Devices
    2. Mobile Only
    3. Desktop Only
  2. Specific Mobile Devices
    1. iOS Devices Only
      1. iPads
      2. iPods
      3. iPhones
      4. OS Versions
    2. Android Devices Only
      1. Android Tablets
      2. Android Smartphones
      3. OS Versions
    3. Feature Phones Only

Connections

  1. Facebook Pages
    1. People who like your Page
    2. Friends of people who like your Page
    3. Exclude people who like your Page
  2. Apps
    1. People who used your app
    2. Friends of people who used your app
    3. Exclude people who used your app
  3. Events
    1. People who responded to your event
    2. Exclude people who already responded to your event

Custom Audiences

  1. Custom Audiences
    1. Customer File – upload your customer file (names, emails, phone numbers, etc) to match those people on Facebook and target them with ads. The fields you can include are:
      1. Email
      2. Phone Number
      3. Mobile Advertiser ID
      4. First Name
      5. Last Name
      6. ZIP/Postal Code
      7. City
      8. State/Province
      9. Country
      10. Date of Birth
      11. Year of Birth
      12. Gender
      13. Age
      14. Facebook App User ID
      15. Facebook Page User ID
    2. Customer File with LTV – upload your customer file with customer purchase history in order to create a lookalike (more info below) geared toward your best customers.
    3. Website Custom Audiences – serve ads to people who visit your website. You can filter by:
      1. All Visitors
      2. People who visited specific URLs
      3. Visitors by time spent on site
      4. Visitors who completed specific actions via your Facebook Pixel (purchase, lead, add to cart, etc)
    4. App Activity – serve ads to people based on actions they take in your app. You can filter by:
      1. Anyone who opened the app
      2. Most active users
      3. Users by purchase amount
      4. Users by segment
    5. Offline Activity – serve ads to people who visited your store, called you, or engaged with you through other offline channels
    6. Engagement – serve ads to people who engaged with your content on Facebook or Instagram
      1. Video
        1. People who watched at least # seconds of your video
        2. People who watched at least # percent of your video
      2. Lead Form
        1. Anyone who opened this form
        2. People who opened but didn’t submit form
        3. People who opened and submitted form
      3. Fullscreen Experience
      4. Facebook Page
        1. Everyone who engaged with your Page
        2. Anyone who visited your Page
        3. People who engaged with any post or ad
        4. People who clicked any call-to-action button
        5. People who sent a message to your Page
        6. People who saved your Page or any post
      5. Instagram Business Profile
        1. Everyone who engaged with your business
        2. Anyone who visited your business profile
        3. People who engaged with any post or ad
        4. People who sent a message to your business profile
        5. People who saved any post or ad
      6. Event
        1. People who responded Going or Interested
        2. People who have responded Going
        3. People who have responded Interested
        4. People who have visited the Event Page
        5. People who have engaged
  2. Lookalike Audiences – take any one of the above custom audiences and create a lookalike audience to serve ads to people who are similar to the people in your source list.
    1. Tip: We recommend using a source list of between 10,000 – 30,000 people for the best quality lookalike audience.

Aaaaaaaand…

There you have it! Literally every single targeting option you have on Facebook.

Need help deciding who you should target with your ads? Ask us about our Facebook Ads Campaign Management services.

Any questions? Leave us a Comment below!

Comments (4)

  1. MICHAEL L STEINER

    I see a LOT of claims that you can literally get very specific on FB targeting. But, when I start typing in the detailed target box I keep getting a message stating nothing found. Why is this? I am looking for people who are interested in eco friendly products. But even if I just type in a single word such as “cups” nothing comes up. What am I doing wrong?

    • Chris Root

      Hi Michael – good question. The detailed targeting is roughly split into two types – Broad Interests (think dogs, cats, running, traveling, etc) and Precise Interests (specific pages on Facebook). While Facebook doesn’t give the exact threshold, in order for a page to show up as a Precise Interest it needs to have a large number of Likes. In your case, rather than trying to target people interested in cups, I recommend thinking about what else your target audience would like on Facebook. Perhaps other companies who create eco-friendly products like Patagonia or maybe even people interested in composting or other eco-friendly activities. Hope this help!

  2. Maddy

    Do you have an updated version of this for 2019 or any idea where to find one? Been searching all over.

    • Chris Root

      Hi Maddy – thanks for reaching out, our updated version is in the works and this page will be updated with the new info soon!

Comments are closed.