While out for a run along the Charles River recently, a Pandora advertisement for a local primary care clinic caught my attention. Strangely, I had been searching for a new physician earlier that day. Spooky, right?

It might seem that way, but this kind of eerie coincidence could be the new standard. Online marketing is becoming increasingly customized as businesses gain access to larger volumes of user data and more sophisticated targeting tools. Although some consumers may find this level of personalization off-putting, many are drawn to it because companies are, for the most part, presenting products and services that genuinely pique their interest. Facebook leads the pack in offering targeting options that help businesses zero in on their ideal customers and showcase the most relevant offerings. With a staggering 1.49 billion active monthly users, it’s crucial for marketers to refine their targeting on the platform. Fortunately, Facebook allows for layered targeting, ensuring that ad budgets aren’t wasted on individuals who aren’t potential customers. Here are 11 incredibly specific Facebook audiences you can target. Be warned: the granularity increases with each example. (For a comprehensive view of Facebook’s extensive ad targeting capabilities, take a look at our comprehensive infographic.)

Facebook audience #1

• Women who speak French and English
• Aged 31 to 56
• Residing within a 10-mile radius of Boston, MA While this initial setting isn’t particularly granular, it’s impressive how precisely you can target your audience from the get-go when creating a new Facebook audience. You can specify age ranges, languages spoken, and even pinpoint a location on a map to define highly accurate geographical targets.

Facebook audience #2

• Women who speak French and English
• Aged 31 to 56
• Residing within a 10-mile radius of Boston, MA
• Employed in either home-based or small office settings within the retail production sector Instead of limiting my Facebook audience to specific job titles (which is possible – you can target individuals as specific as Obama or the Prime Minister of France), I chose to focus on two relevant industries and office types under the demographics tab:

Facebook audience #3

• Women who speak French and English
• Aged 31 to 56
• Residing within a 10-mile radius of Boston, MA
• Employed in either home-based or small office settings within the retail production sector
• Identified as “fit moms” and “green moms” with grade-school-aged children. Yes, you read that right - you can target “green moms.” But what does this entail exactly? According to Facebook, it refers to “individuals whose online activities strongly suggest they are environmentally conscious mothers.” The extensive list of mom personas available to advertisers is quite intriguing:

Facebook audience #4

• Women who speak French and English
• Aged 31 to 56
• Residing within a 10-mile radius of Boston, MA
• Employed in either home-based or small office settings within the retail production sector
• Identified as “fit moms” and “green moms” with grade-school-aged children
• With friends celebrating anniversaries within 30 days or upcoming birthdays.

The Life Events targeting option is my personal favorite within Facebook. It provides the ideal platform for this type of marketing. In my own experience, I’ve noticed that my friends tend to share significant life events on Facebook, from engagements and graduations to welcoming a new baby.

It’s evident that Facebook has access to this data, and marketers can now leverage it to promote products and services during these relevant milestones. For instance, a bridal boutique can target recently engaged women, while an online home décor retailer can focus on new homeowners. As this example illustrates, businesses can even target individuals whose friends are experiencing major life events (making them potential gift buyers). The possibilities are remarkable! (On a side note, Google AdWords now provides life events targeting as well!)

Facebook audience #5

• Women who speak French and English
• Aged 31 to 56
• Residing within a 10-mile radius of Boston, MA
• Employed in either home-based or small office settings within the retail production sector
• Identified as “fit moms” and “green moms” with grade-school-aged children
• With friends celebrating anniversaries within 30 days or upcoming birthdays
• Holding college degrees from Northeastern University, Simmons College, Fairfield University, or Emmanuel College. Not only can you target specific degrees and educational levels (such as “currently in graduate school” or “some college”), but you can also search for and select particular colleges attended:

Facebook audience #6

• Women who speak French and English
• Aged 31 to 56
• Residing within a 10-mile radius of Boston, MA
• Employed in either home-based or small office settings within the retail production sector
• Identified as “fit moms” and “green moms” with grade-school-aged children
• With friends celebrating anniversaries within 30 days or upcoming birthdays
• Holding college degrees from Northeastern University, Simmons College, Fairfield University, or Emmanuel College
• Actively engaged in US politics, identifying as either liberal or very liberal, and self-proclaimed Democrats. Political affiliations should not be overlooked! Depending on what you’re selling, this is another layer you can leverage to target a more liberal or conservative Facebook audience. For example, if you’re promoting educational content about medical marijuana, you might want to concentrate on a liberal or Democratic demographic on Facebook.

Facebook audience #7

• Women who speak French and English
• Aged 31 to 56
• Residing within a 10-mile radius of Boston, MA
• Employed in either home-based or small office settings within the retail production sector
• Identified as “fit moms” and “green moms” with grade-school-aged children
• With friends celebrating anniversaries within 30 days or upcoming birthdays
• Holding college degrees from Northeastern University, Simmons College, Fairfield University, or Emmanuel College
• Actively engaged in US politics, identifying as either liberal or very liberal, and self-proclaimed Democrats
• Living in condos or apartments constructed after 2011, with a square footage between 2,000 and 2,999 square feet. The level of detail you can achieve with home type targeting is also quite impressive. Options include home value, property size, single versus multi-family dwelling, square footage, and even the year of construction.

Facebook audience #8

• Women who speak French and English
• Aged 31 to 56
• Residing within a 10-mile radius of Boston, MA
• Employed in either home-based or small office settings within the retail production sector
• Identified as “fit moms” and “green moms” with grade-school-aged children
• With friends celebrating anniversaries within 30 days or upcoming birthdays
• Holding college degrees from Northeastern University, Simmons College, Fairfield University, or Emmanuel College
• Actively engaged in US politics, identifying as either liberal or very liberal, and self-proclaimed Democrats
• Living in condos or apartments constructed after 2011, with a square footage between 2,000 and 2,999 square feet
• Who enjoy attending ballet performances, theatrical productions, and movie musicals. Facebook users are constantly interacting with content that interests them, viewing, clicking on, and liking pages, products, and other online elements. This makes it relatively easy for Facebook to discern their hobbies and interests. Whether through a user’s activity on Facebook itself, their browsing behavior on other websites, offline loyalty programs, or data gathered by third-party providers like Facebook partners Acxiom, Datalogix, and Epsilon, Facebook has accumulated a wealth of information about your interests. Marketers can now capitalize on this by targeting customers who are more likely to be interested in their offerings based on these pre-existing affinities:

Facebook audience #9

• Women who speak French and English
• Aged 31 to 56
• Residing within a 10-mile radius of Boston, MA
• Employed in either home-based or small office settings within the retail production sector
• Identified as “fit moms” and “green moms” with grade-school-aged children
• With friends celebrating anniversaries within 30 days or upcoming birthdays
• Holding college degrees from Northeastern University, Simmons College, Fairfield University, or Emmanuel College
• Actively engaged in US politics, identifying as either liberal or very liberal, and self-proclaimed Democrats
• Living in condos or apartments constructed after 2011, with a square footage between 2,000 and 2,999 square feet
• Who enjoy attending ballet performances, theatrical productions, and movie musicals
• Who frequently travel internationally, are planning trips to Spain, and have used a travel app in the past month. Behavioral targeting offers another category with numerous layers of behavioral characteristics to choose from. Within travel alone, you can target specific traveler types, such as those embarking on “casino vacations” or identified as “frequent flyers.” You can target individuals planning trips to particular destinations, those who have recently returned from trips, or those who have used travel apps recently. The degree of specificity is astounding:

Facebook audience #10

• Women who speak French and English
• Aged 31 to 56
• Residing within a 10-mile radius of Boston, MA
• Employed in either home-based or small office settings within the retail production sector
• Identified as “fit moms” and “green moms” with grade-school-aged children
• With friends celebrating anniversaries within 30 days or upcoming birthdays
• Holding college degrees from Northeastern University, Simmons College, Fairfield University, or Emmanuel College
• Actively engaged in US politics, identifying as either liberal or very liberal, and self-proclaimed Democrats
• Living in condos or apartments constructed after 2011, with a square footage between 2,000 and 2,999 square feet
• Who enjoy attending ballet performances, theatrical productions, and movie musicals
• Who frequently travel internationally, are planning trips to Spain, and have used a travel app in the past month
• Categorized as “foodies” and “green living” consumers who tend to spend more than the average online shopper at high-end retail websites. According to MineWhat, 81% of shoppers conduct online research before finalizing a purchase. Whether you’re browsing online or in physical stores, there’s a good chance Facebook has insights into your purchasing habits. By simply using the internet, you’ve provided them with this information, so it’s no surprise that targeting based on purchase behavior is another tool Facebook offers advertisers. From buyer profiles to specific categories like home and garden, pet products, and subscription services, the options are extensive:

Facebook audience #11

• Women who speak French and English
• Aged 31 to 56
• Residing within a 10-mile radius of Boston, MA
• Employed in either home-based or small office settings within the retail production sector
• Identified as “fit moms” and “green moms” with grade-school-aged children
• With friends celebrating anniversaries within 30 days or upcoming birthdays
• Holding college degrees from Northeastern University, Simmons College, Fairfield University, or Emmanuel College
• Actively engaged in US politics, identifying as either liberal or very liberal, and self-proclaimed Democrats
• Living in condos or apartments constructed after 2011, with a square footage between 2,000 and 2,999 square feet
• Who enjoy attending ballet performances, theatrical productions, and movie musicals
• Who frequently travel internationally, are planning trips to Spain, and have used a travel app in the past month
• Categorized as “foodies” and “green living” consumers who tend to spend more than the average online shopper at high-end retail websites
• Connected to individuals who have used your app. Finally, you have the option to target individuals based on connections, such as those made through Facebook pages, apps, or events. You can also use these connections for exclusionary targeting. For instance, you can “exclude individuals who like your page” or “exclude individuals who use your app.”

To recap, let’s take a look at the sidebar and review the Facebook audience we’ve constructed:

Oh dear! As you may have guessed, this Facebook audience is far too restrictive to be effective, even with 1.49 billion users at our disposal…

The key takeaway here is to utilize these targeting features and layer them strategically, but avoid becoming so specific that you significantly limit your reach.