Facebook remains one of the most powerful platforms for businesses to reach potential customers and grow their brand. Since its inception, Facebook’s advertising tools have evolved to offer incredibly detailed targeting options, allowing advertisers to narrow down their audience based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and more.

However, with great power comes great responsibility. Recently, Facebook has faced criticism and legal challenges over discriminatory ad targeting — the ability to exclude certain ethnic or identity groups from seeing ads, especially in sensitive categories like jobs, housing, and credit. This has prompted Facebook to commit to important changes.

In this comprehensive guide, we will cover:

• How to use Facebook marketing effectively
• Key strategies for audience targeting
• The ethical considerations of Facebook ad targeting, including recent legal updates
• A comparative look at Facebook’s targeting before and after the changes
• A summary table to clarify the key points

Why Use Facebook Marketing for Your Business?

Facebook’s advertising platform offers businesses, from small startups to global enterprises, an unmatched ability to reach their target audiences with precision. Some of the benefits include:

• Massive user base: Over 2.9 billion monthly active users worldwide (as of 2025), meaning there’s almost always a potential customer waiting.
• Detailed targeting: You can reach users by age, gender, location, interests, behaviors, connections, and even life events.
• Flexible ad formats: Image ads, video ads, carousel ads, stories, lead forms, and more.
• Cost control: Facebook allows flexible budgeting, from just a few dollars per day to millions.

Step-by-Step Facebook Marketing for Business

1. Define Your Goal

Start with clear objectives: brand awareness, lead generation, conversions, or engagement. Facebook’s Ads Manager lets you choose goals like:

• Awareness (brand, reach)
• Consideration (traffic, engagement, app installs, video views)
• Conversion (sales, store visits)

2. Build Your Audience

Leverage Facebook’s targeting tools to define who will see your ads. This includes:

• Core Audiences: Based on demographics, location, interests, and behaviors.
• Custom Audiences: Upload your own customer lists or retarget website visitors.
• Lookalike Audiences: Find new users similar to your best customers.

3. Choose Ad Placement

Decide where your ads appear: Facebook news feed, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network, or Stories.

4. Set Budget & Schedule

Control your spending by setting daily or lifetime budgets, and schedule when your ads run.

5. Design the Ad

Create eye-catching visuals, compelling copy, and strong calls-to-action (CTAs). Test different formats for best results.

6. Monitor & Optimize

Track performance metrics like click-through rates (CTR), conversions, and cost per result. Adjust targeting, creative, or bidding strategies accordingly.

Ethical Considerations & Recent Legal Developments

While Facebook’s granular targeting has been a boon for advertisers, it has also raised serious ethical questions, especially regarding discriminatory practices.

The Problem: Discriminatory Ad Targeting

Facebook’s platform previously allowed advertisers to exclude specific ethnic groups, genders, or other identity groups from seeing ads related to housing, employment, credit, and more. This practice can perpetuate systemic discrimination by limiting opportunities for marginalized groups.

Washington State Attorney General Investigation

In 2023, the Washington State Attorney General’s office conducted an investigation and was able to place 20 fake ads excluding ethnic groups from job, housing, insurance, lending, restaurant, and nightclub ads. This demonstrated unlawful discrimination via Facebook’s ad tools.

Facebook’s Response and New Policy Commitments

Following legal pressure, Facebook agreed to:

• Remove tools that allow advertisers to exclude certain ethnic and identity groups within 90 days.
• Implement stricter controls on sensitive ad categories (jobs, housing, credit).
• Increase transparency and auditing of ad targeting.

Comparative Analysis: Facebook Ad Targeting Before and After Changes

Feature/Aspect	Before Facebook Changes	After Facebook Changes
Ability to Exclude Groups	Allowed advertisers to exclude based on ethnicity, gender, age in sensitive categories	Exclusion options for sensitive categories removed or severely limited
Sensitive Categories	Jobs, housing, credit ads allowed detailed exclusion	Stricter oversight; limited targeting to prevent discrimination
Transparency	Limited reporting on ad targeting discrimination	Enhanced transparency and auditing by Facebook
Advertiser Control	High, including potential for discriminatory targeting	Reduced control in sensitive categories; more safeguards
Legal Risk	Increasing lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny	Compliance with legal agreements; risk mitigated
Impact on Marginalized Groups	Potential exclusion and unfair denial of opportunities	Improved fairness and inclusion in ad reach

What This Means for Advertisers

Advertisers must now:

• Review targeting strategies to ensure compliance with Facebook’s new policies.
• Avoid exclusionary practices, especially in sensitive ad categories.
• Focus on inclusive marketing that reaches diverse audiences fairly.
• Stay updated on platform policies and local laws regarding advertising.

Best Practices for Ethical Facebook Marketing

• Use inclusive language and visuals in your ads.
• Target based on interests and behaviors rather than exclusion of groups.
• Leverage Custom Audiences and Lookalikes responsibly.
• Audit your campaigns regularly to check for unintended bias.
• Stay informed about Facebook’s policy changes and legal landscape.

Conclusion

Facebook marketing remains a vital tool for businesses aiming to connect with their audience efficiently. However, the platform’s evolution reflects the importance of balancing business objectives with ethical responsibilities.

Recent changes to Facebook’s ad targeting policies underscore the need for marketers to adopt inclusive, fair practices and ensure their ads do not perpetuate discrimination.

By understanding how to navigate Facebook’s advertising tools and respecting these new boundaries, businesses can achieve impactful results while promoting equality and fairness in digital marketing.

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