Some time ago, a reader left a comment on our blog requesting advice on targeting within their industry. I work in acquisition marketing, and I’m always up for a challenge and finding innovative ways to use Facebook Ads. After responding to the commenter, I was inspired to write my next blog post about unique targeting strategies for various industries.
To start, I reached out to the one-and-only Conor Bond. I challenged him to give me 11 industry and target audience pairings to brainstorm unconventional and effective targeting tactics that could navigate Facebook’s recent platform updates. Armed with these pairings, I settled into my favorite bean bag and delved into the depths of the audience manager tool. Before we dive in, let’s quickly review the current landscape of Facebook advertising:
- Potential reach: Recent studies reveal that Facebook boasts a staggering 2.32 billion monthly active users. This presents a huge opportunity for advertisers to reach a vast audience, but also a significant risk of reaching the wrong people.
- Advertising: In the second quarter of 2017, Facebook’s advertising revenue reached $9.16 billion, reflecting a substantial 47% surge year-over-year.
- Targeting: Although Facebook has adjusted its targeting features over the past year, it still offers numerous ways for advertisers to connect with their desired audience. There are three main audience categories within these targeting options:
- Custom audiences
- Lookalike audiences
- Core audiences Since I can’t directly access your analytics accounts or CRM data, this post focuses on recommendations for using core audiences. However, I strongly encourage all Facebook advertisers to take advantage of custom and lookalike audiences in their campaigns. Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s explore some fresh Facebook targeting approaches for these 11 industries aiming to reach these 11 specific demographics.
1. Automotive industry: Targeting individuals actively seeking new vehicles
A recent study from Autotrader indicates that car buyers dedicate 59% of their purchase journey to online research. This suggests they are more likely to interact with pages offering content that facilitates this research process. To capitalize on this behavior, consider using interest targeting focused on company pages within this realm. Here are a few examples: Interests → search for
- Kelley Blue Book
- Autotrader
- CarMax
- Car Gurus Conveniently, Facebook’s core targeting options include an entire section dedicated to vehicles within the interest category.
- Hobbies & activities → vehicles
Depending on the specific type of vehicle you’re promoting, incorporate one of these choices to tailor your message to users expressing an interest in that category.
2. Education: Reaching individuals aspiring to earn a master’s degree
Anyone familiar with Facebook’s origins knows the platform initially catered to college students. While the platform and its users have evolved, it remains rooted in connecting people within their academic, professional, and personal circles.
Due to this initial focus on collegiate networks, academic information continues to be a prominent feature in user profiles. Using this information, Facebook empowers advertisers with education-level targeting. This serves as an excellent foundation for any higher education institution aiming to reach potential master’s degree candidates. Demographics → education → education level
- College grad
- Associate degree
- In college Demographics → education → school years
- Undergrad years However, a closer look reveals that Facebook estimates a potential reach exceeding 69 million users in the US alone who hold a college degree.
Once again, this represents a massive potential audience. Advertisers shouldn’t rely solely on this broad targeting approach, especially when striving for budget efficiency. To optimize your audience relevance, layer in additional targeting parameters. Let’s get more specific and imagine we’re a business school seeking prospective MBA students: Demographics → work → industries
- Business & finance
- Sales
- Management Demographics → education → field of study
- Business management
- Business administrator
- Business consultant Interests → pages that support GMAT preparation
- GMAT+
- Graduate management admission test
- The official GMAT exam
3. Travel and hospitality: Connecting with individuals eager for a vacation
As I delved further into this challenge, I realized that there are numerous ways to approach targeting for travel and hospitality businesses. This allows advertisers in this sector to customize their approach based on their specific offers and experiment with new audiences to improve ad relevance and campaign performance.
Begin by incorporating broad interest selections, such as: Interests → hobbies & activities → travel
- Vacations
- Tourism
- Air travel Interests → pages that offer travel-related content
- Trip Advisor
- Kayak.com
- Booking.com Interests → airline pages
- Jet Blue
- Delta airlines
- United airlines Behavior → travel
- Frequent travelers
- Frequent international travelers
- Returned from travel 1 week ago
- Returned from travel 2 weeks ago This broad approach provides a solid starting point. Next, consider additional factors that influence travel decisions or interest in travel. Think about life events that might suggest a user is preparing for a trip soon: Demographics → life events
- Newly engaged (1 year)
- Newly engaged (3 months)
- Newly engaged (6 months)
- Newly wed Remember, it’s crucial to ensure your prospects’ expectations align with your promotion. We want to avoid another Fyre Festival situation…
4. Dating and personal services: Focusing on people open to romantic connections
This one presents a challenge since an estimated 36+ million Facebook users in the US identify their relationship status as “single.”
However, this information isn’t always accurate, and even when it is, “single” doesn’t automatically translate to “seeking a relationship.” Instead, consider additional indicators that a user might be interested in romantic connections: Demographics → relationship status:
- Single Interests → family and relationships:
- Dating Interests → pages related to dating:
- Bumble
- Hinge
- Christian Mingle Beyond individual characteristics, consider the influence of a user’s friends on their behavior within this industry. Few things inspire swiping right like an influx of “save the date” announcements from friends.
Here’s how to target based on this demographic: Demographics → life events → friends of:
- Friends of newly engaged people
- Friends of newlyweds
5. Arts and entertainment: Engaging with those who enjoy live performances
As mentioned earlier, audience layering is a strategy all advertisers should utilize to enhance ad relevance. By refining broad targeting selections, you can identify niche segments within your target audience who demonstrate stronger interest or higher likelihood of engaging with your current promotion. For this industry, let’s examine two examples of how adjusting your strategy based on the specific promotion can yield significant results. Firstly, imagine you’re an advertiser aiming to sell tickets to a Cardi B concert. Here’s how you could target your ideal audience based on interests: Interest → entertainment → live events Interest → Cardi B Interests → entertainment → music
- Hip hop music Additionally, employ radius location targeting around the venue to reach individuals who might be swayed by proximity or those searching for last-minute tickets.
Now, let’s say you’re promoting the live tour of Wicked: Interest → entertainment → live Events Interest → entertainment → musical Theatre Interest → Wicked the Musical Again, utilize radius location targeting around the venue. You never know who’s looking for a spontaneous trip to Oz.
6. Finance and insurance: Reaching individuals in need of retirement financial planning
Those in the finance and insurance industry know that the target audience for retirement planning is diverse. It’s impossible to narrow it down solely by age or profession because most adults in various jobs could be interested in planning for retirement.
And no, not just dreaming of beach days or starting each morning with a refreshing swim. Here’s how to reach individuals who are likely contemplating their financial future: Demographics → parents → all parents
- Parents (all)
- Parents with adult children (18-26 years) Interests → business & industry → personal finance
- Investment Interests
- Retirement planning
- Retirement savings account Interests → financial planning company pages
- Vanguard
- ADP
- Fidelity
- AARP
7. Home and garden: Targeting homeowners
If you operate in the home and garden sector, homeowners are your target demographic.
I quickly discovered that there’s a wide array of options to identify potential homeowners, including a dedicated “home & garden” section. Here’s a recommended starting point: Interests → hobbies & activities → home & garden
- Home improvement
- Do it yourself (DIY)
- Home appliances Demographics → recently moved Interests → business & industry → design
- Interior design Interests → pages related to home renovation shows, such as:
- Fixer Upper
- Property Brothers
- Flip or Flop
8. Retail: Reaching online shoe shoppers
Let’s be honest, who isn’t always searching for their next pair of shoes? Especially our very own in-house analyst, Patrick Henry. I’ve never met someone more passionate about footwear!
Here’s how to leverage behavior and interest targeting to reach someone looking to purchase new shoes: Behaviors → purchase behavior
- Engaged shoppers Interests → shopping & fashion → clothing
- Shoes Interests → shopping & fashion → shopping
- Online shopping Interests → other pages selling shoes
- DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse
- Zappos
- ShoeDazzle
9. Real estate: Identifying individuals interested in selling their homes
The Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO) estimates there are approximately 2 million active real estate licensees in the United States real estate professionals. This makes it a highly competitive field for advertisers aiming to connect with those seeking real estate services. Consider starting with life events that might indicate a potential home sale: Demographics → life events
- Newly engaged
- Newlyweds
- Recently moved Interests → personal finance
- Mortgage loans
- Investment Interests → pages offering real estate services and advice
- RE/MAX For even more Facebook advertising strategies in real estate, check out these 7 killer tips.
10. Fitness: Targeting individuals interested in personal training
Whether you’re promoting workout clothes, fitness classes, or gym memberships, fitness marketing is a competitive space.
To effectively target individuals interested in personal training, narrow down your audience based on fitness interests that closely align with personalized training sessions, such as high-intensity classes and premium fitness apparel. Here’s how: Interests → fitness and wellness:
- Physical exercise
- Physical fitness
- Running Interests → pages related to fitness & wellness
- Healthy living magazine
- MyFitnessPal Interests → pages for well-known gyms:
- Planet Fitness
- Orange Theory
- Gold’s Gym Interests → pages related to fitness apparel:
- Fabletics
- Lululemon Athletica
- Athleta
11. B2B: Connecting with businesses seeking new payroll software
This one presented a unique challenge. As a B2B Facebook advertiser myself, I understand the limitations of solely relying on Facebook’s detailed targeting features for an ad set. However, you can combine demographic and interest-based targeting to narrow your focus and reach potential prospects. Demographics → job titles
- Payroll manager
- Payroll administrator
- Human resource director
- Human resource specialist Interests → pages offering content related to payroll services
- QuickBooks
- Gusto
- Paylocity Corporation Trust me, establishing these parameters based on job titles and interests significantly increases your chances of connecting with your target audience.
Wrapping up
There you have it - my detailed targeting recommendations for 11 different industries. Hopefully, this post has sparked some new ideas for your next campaign. If not, maybe weather-based targeting is more your style! While we’re on the subject of Facebook targeting, make sure to check out our free Facebook ads grader. You’ll receive a custom performance report packed with actionable insights to immediately enhance your Facebook advertising strategy!