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:

1. 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:

If you’ve worked with Facebook advertising for any amount of time, you’ll come to know that there is one thing that is always certain: change is inevitable.

Changes come quickly and without warning.

It’s been a couple months since Facebook announced a major change to the algorithm that controls what users see in their feed.

An important component of that announcement was that users would see more posts from family and friends and fewer posts from businesses and brands.

Now that we have a few months of hindsight (and valuable data) to look back on, it’s a good time to reflect on those changes and look forward to what that means for businesses who utilize Facebook advertising.

Before we get started, I want to make something clear. Although some marketers have panicked, I still believe we’re in the Golden Era of Facebook advertising.

That is, there are still abundant opportunities to profit.

Although I believe it is the Golden Era, it is not the Wild West. Facebook advertising is young but it has evolved. In turn, the way advertisers interact with their prospects and customers must also evolve.

However, if you keep these 3 principles in mind, you’ll continue to thrive, despite these or any future algorithmic changes.

Facebook’s Goal Hasn’t Changed

Zuckerberg has been clear on his priorities from the beginning: to give the user a positive experience.

The changes to the newsfeed are consistent with that goal. He’d like to provide the user with more posts from friends and family that they’re likely to engage with and enjoy, and less mindless scrolling through the newsfeed.

What does that mean for businesses?

If you’ve consistently been adding value and have become a brand that your audience enjoys interacting with, your strategy should remain the same.

For brands who only push sales-driven content, they need to make a big change. If the content isn’t enjoyable, it simply won’t be shown.

Again, this isn’t anything new, it’s just more apparent after the early 2018 changes.

Facebook is About Community

“Community is the new brand.” - Ryan Deiss

The type of advertising that many of us have grown up hearing and seeing is much different than the type of advertising that is effective on social media.

Above all else, Facebook is a community. Brands who understand how to build a community are getting great results above those who push only conversion driven content.

Understandably, some business owners are not natural community builders and leaders, or they simply don’t have the time. That’s ok. If you’d like to build community, just ask for help.

Reach out to a super-fan and create a community manager role. If they’re already active on social media and speaking about your brand, it may be a natural fit.

Consider this a long-term strategy. A brand who is just starting to build community may not see results immediately. However, building a community will have long-term positive benefits for just about every business.

There’s Still Room To Stand Out

Facebook advertising is still evolving and this means there is still room to stand out.

New businesses begin advertising on Facebook every day, but many only push content that is sales-driven.

If you provide helpful content instead, you will stand out in the newsfeed among other advertisers.

As an example, in December of 2017, most users of Facebook advertising saw an increase in costs because there was a lot of competition for sales.

Our clients didn’t experience that spike. The reason is that we continued to provide value in a world where everyone else was selling.

Not only did costs remain low, but these clients were now poised for successful launches in early 2018 because they had very warm audiences to sell to.

The key is understanding how to monetize likes, comments, views, Facebook fans, and website visitors.

Final Thoughts

Compared to other advertising media, Facebook is still young. There will be more changes, but there’s no reason to panic.

Continue to remember what Facebook’s top priority is (user experience), and work with them on that priority by building community and adding value. If you continue to do that, your brand will remain strong through these and all future changes.

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: