How to Target Affluent Facebook Users

Facebook as an advertising platform can be difficult for some marketers to wrap their heads around. If there is no literal “interest” in Facebook’s targeting interface some marketers will wipe their hands of the platform and declare, “My customers aren’t on Facebook” and go back to AdWords and AdCenter. #facepalm.

One group of people marketers would love to get their ads in front of are the affluent. There is no way to target strictly job titles, incomes, or property values on Facebook unless you think outside the box.

First, think about what Facebook asks the users to disclose:

• Where you live
• Education
• Workplace
• Religion
• Political Views
• People Who Inspire You
• Favorite Games
• Sports you Play
• Sports Teams
• Athletes
• Activities/Hobbies
• Interests
• Music
• Books
• Movies
• Television
• Languages

Identifying what your affluent target market would reveal about themselves when prompted by these questions is the secret sauce.

Money-Making Job Titles

There may not be an explicit place where Facebook asks for job titles, but it’s part of a user’s identity and users do disclose that information.

To target high income professionals, start by identifying the president, founder, owner, CEO, and the rest of the C-suite.

Don’t forget other job titles that often come with a hefty paycheck (e.g., attorneys, surgeons, veterinarians, and anesthesiologists).

Consider what job titles the product would attract and go from there; it’s not always necessary to start at the C-suite.

Where the Rich Reside

Perform quick research to find out where the upper-crust live and target their geo’s. Google and publications like Forbes that have created these lists are your friends. Forgo looking for wealthiest cities and opt for neighborhoods and suburbs — Facebook allows this granularity for the U.S.

The Spoils of the Spoiled

What’s the point of having money if you do nothing with it? Facebook has now made it mind-numbingly easy to target luxury goods with its new broad category targeting.

The insta-tool serves up 3.3 million people interested in luxury goods, but I wonder what’s included, don’t you? I checked out the high-end and haven’t-even-heard-of-these luxury brands for myself and found a lot less, but at least one knows what’s in the pot.

To narrow your target and get rid of the riff-raff who “Like” Bugattis but have probably never come close to smelling the leather interior, combine the geotargeting with these and you’ve got people who probably do sip bottles of Dom Perignon while wearing one of their many pairs of Louboutins.

These people also need to get around so check out the “owners clubs” in the Facebook Interest tool and disclose they own a Jaguar, BMW, Mercedes Benz, among others.

While looking for “owners” of vehicles, I stumbled upon horse owners on Facebook. Horses may seem down home country, but these hairy beasts are expensive to buy and even more expensive to board. If a user has a horse, they probably have some cash.

Success Breeds Success

It’s no secret that successful people read books written by other successful people. Couple the geotargeting with books such as: “From Good to Great,” “Who Moved My Cheese,” and “The World is Flat” among others. Knock yourself out searching Amazon for one of these gems and drop down to “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought” section.

The natural next step is to consider authors who wrote these books and other successful giants Facebook users might follow. Keep the geotargeting and add successful businessmen and women these users would include in Facebook’s “People Who Inspire You” (e.g., Warren Buffett, Steve “Woz” Wozniak, and the great Peter Drucker).

Then for kicks, let’s tie the geotargeting with the father of trickle-down economics. Reagan had money and made people a lot of dough:

Summer In the Hamptons I Presume?

Having money comes with lots of stress; check out where the upper-echelon goes to get away from it all. Couple your destination list with your affluent geo and you have folks who live in the best neighborhoods in the U.S. but “like” Ibiza, Saint Tropez and of course, The Hamptons.

There you have the people with money on Facebook. As a targeting instrument, Facebook is amazing for marketers who know how to use it and think outside the box. Cha-ching!