When it comes to advertising a business online, Facebook is one of the first platforms that comes to mind. According to an official Facebook report, 7 million businesses launched ad campaigns on Facebook in 2017.

In the first quarter of 2020, the social media platform helped 8 million advertisers promote their products and services by targeting any audience they wanted to reach.

But the Facebook special ad category has changed how you can target users for certain types of ads.

What’s So Special About Facebook Special Ad Category?

The Special ad category on Facebook is aimed at preventing advertising discrimination against target audiences in the areas of employment, credit, and housing.

In other words, if you plan to run employment, credit, or housing ads, you’ll need to pick the appropriate special ad category along with a campaign objective.

After you choose your Facebook special ad category and proceed to creating an audience for your ad campaign in Ads Manager, you’ll face the following limitations:

• Locations. ZIP code selection is unavailable. You must include areas within a 15-mile radius of any selected location.
• Age. This option is fixed to everyone 18 years and older.
• Gender. You’ll have to show your ads to users of all genders.
• Detailed targeting. Demographics and behaviors are unavailable. You can target people only based on their interests.

Keep in mind that audience sources such as Custom Audiences, Lookalike Audiences, and Saved Audiences have undergone some changes as well.

Facebook Custom Audiences must comply with Facebook’s policy on Discriminatory practices.

When your ad campaign falls within a special ad category, Facebook Lookalike Audiences will be called Facebook Special Ad Audiences. 

A Special Ad Audience on Facebook includes people who look like users from Custom Audiences. However, it excludes characteristics that may discriminate against users you target.

If you want to use Saved Audiences that you’ve already created for standard ad campaigns, Facebook will only apply settings that comply with special ad categories requirements.

The Major Facebook Ad Categories

Now that you know more about how Facebook prevents ad targeting discrimination against people who want to get a new job, apply for credit, and find a home, let’s describe all available Facebook special ad categories in detail.

Employment Special Ad Category

If you want to hire someone using Facebook, you can post a job free of charge directly from your Facebook Page. To create a job offer, click Job on the panel below your Page cover.

If you want to launch Facebook employment ads, you need to go to Ads Manager and choose the Employment special ad category.

It allows you to promote the following opportunities:

• Full-time job offers
• Part-time job offers
• Job aggregators
• Professional certification programs
• Internships
• Job board promotions

Credit Special Ad Category

If you want to show Facebook ads that will help people get access to credit, you need to choose Credit when creating your ad campaign in Ads Manager. 

Here’s what you can promote within the Credit special ad category:

• Offers by credit card brands
• Auto loans
• Personal loan services
• Business loan services
• Mortgage loan services
• Long-term financing services

Housing Special Ad Category 

The third Facebook special ad category is housing. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 97% of realtors use Facebook for business. Followed by LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter, Facebook is the most popular social media network among housing professionals.

With the Housing special ad category, you can promote:

• Home sale listings
• Home rental listings
• Homeowners’ insurance
• Mortgage insurance
• Mortgage loans
• Housing repair services
• Home equity services
• Home appraisal services

Note that Facebook housing ads created to inform real estate providers and their clients about their rights and responsibilities under fair housing laws don’t fall under this category.

If you’re going to use the Facebook special ad category for real estate, don’t forget to go through our housing ad guide where you can check out ten top-notch ad examples from real estate companies and agencies and learn six practical tips for optimizing your Facebook marketing.

Use AI to Create Ads for Your Special Ad Category on Facebook

When it comes to Facebook ads, housing, credit, and employment have a long history.

With the advent of Facebook special ad categories, we’ve entered a new era in the fight against unlawful treatment of people based on race, sex, and age and have realized more transparency in advertising.

Planning to run ads within a special category on Facebook? Keep in mind that you can take advantage of Softcube artificial intelligence to create high-quality (and very special) video ads for the cost of producing photo ads. Good luck!