5 Ways to Promote Your Local Business Using Facebook Ads
Have a brick and mortar business but don’t want to miss out on the benefits of digital advertising? Are you interested in ways to promote your local business?
No problem.
This post is for the restaurants, dentists, chiropractors, home painters, hair salons, and local boutiques who want to run ads but aren’t always sure what to advertise.
Because once you know what to advertise, things can start to change for the better…
Local businesses can easily use Facebook ads to drive traffic (web and foot) to their business, get new customers, and stay front of mind in a crowded market (and there’s no sign of the potential slowing down anytime soon).
A local business might even have an advantage.
Unlike national or international companies who can target their audience in any location, a local business has an advantage in it can create hyper-specific targeting to find new and existing customers.
There are great ways to promote your local business and attract the perfect customers, because Facebook can target users based on a number of criteria that isn’t possible using traditional advertising (like radio, television, newspaper, or billboards).
The location targeting can get very specific.
Besides just selecting a country, state, or city, advertisers can even select a specific address and create a geo field. It looks like this:
Now, Facebook will only serve ads to users within a specific location. In this case, it’s a 15-mile radius around the business.
Think of it as a digital billboard positioned right where they’re paying attention the most. It pops up right onto your ideal customers’ screens while they’re sitting at home, scrolling their phone at work, or heading out of the movie theater across the street.
Beyond filtering for location, you can still set other criteria for who will see the ad and additional ways to promote your local business.
Narrow down by age, gender, language, interests, others they follow on Facebook, and more.
Now that we have our audience ready to go, it’s time to create some ads. Here is a list of 5 ways to promote your local business on Facebook that you can start using right away.
Ways to promote your local business:
- Likes Campaign
Lots of potential customers might see your ad, or see you in the neighborhood. But, they won’t always become customers right away (in fact, most won’t).
“Liking” a page is a way they can stay in touch without giving away any of their personal information and without making a purchase. It lets a customer feel out a business before making a buying decision.
How does that help you?
Typically, it’s much less expensive and much more effective to advertise to an existing audience than to convert a completely cold prospect. Asking for likes is an ongoing process. As people begin to interact more with your page, you’ll be able to monetize this audience and turn them into paying customers.
2. Video Views
Video is a great way to spread the message. Not only do users share video organically more often than text-only posts, but video is also a great way to build trust with potential customers.
There’s no need to feel intimidated. Simply set up a camera (or even a smartphone) and start talking! Videos can be short (even thirty seconds will do) and focus on just one topic.
[Side note: Digital Marketer offers a free comprehensive guide to video equipment that you can view and download here.]
Try offering relevant tips, giving a behind-the-scenes tour, speaking about a cause that your brand is passionate about, or telling customer stories.
3. Awareness Ads
Is there something about your business you wish the community knew? Maybe you’re open late on Fridays, or maybe all new customers get a complimentary bonus for coming in. Whatever it is, let the community know by getting the word out there in a Facebook ad.
This is a simple ad to do because it doesn’t require a lot of preparation. Just create text, choose an image, and link back to the homepage (or another page on your website if there is a better fit).
4. Events
If there’s a date or event coming up that is relevant to your business, it might be worth promoting.
Don’t have anything coming up? Look for events in the community and think how your business could fit in.
For example, a hair salon could run an updo special during prom season. Or a house painting company could offer a special before the summer BBQ season starts.
Get creative. There’s always something happening!
5. Holidays
Similar to events, holidays are great ways to get in front of an audience. Run a sale or simply wish your audience a happy holiday (and stay front of mind). Or, choose to make a more creative and relevant video to correspond with the day.
If you weren’t sure what to put in your ads before, you should have 5 ways to promote your local business to incorporate into your ad strategy now. But these are far from the only ideas. Look for an upcoming post with additional ways to promote your local business.
In the meantime, why not find out what the “7 biggest mistakes you’re making with your Facebook Ads are”, and how to fix them:
