Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention target advertisements to groups with strong ties in a social network. In one embodiment of the invention, a method for targeting advertising campaigns includes obtaining a set of advertising content, where the advertising content includes advertising keywords and brand data, identifying one or more target members within a set of members associated with an online social network, where the target members are associated with messages on the online social network having target member keywords associated with the advertising keywords, determining a set of member groups within a set of members associated with an online social network, where a member group includes at least one target member and at least one non-target member that is related to at least one of the at least one target member, and targeting a portion of the advertising content to each of the member groups.