Jack’s Meat Market and Deli is about five minutes from my little in-town office. I have been there on occasion.
Now they have a new addition – breakfast. And they are letting me know about it on my feed. This is an example of Facebook’s ad targeting feature, which many small businesses are not yet using. But they should be.
I may just stop by Jack’s for breakfast one of these mornings.
The concept
The idea of targeted Facebook ads is to reach very specific groups of people who are more likely to become customers of your business.
For local businesses, this is especially important, because their target markets are local as well. If for example a new deli opens, how does that owner use social media to get business that will clearly be local rather than spending money to blanket national audiences that will never become customers?
What that deli owner can do is take a look at business locations that surround them and target those businesses with a less expensive, localized Facebook campaign.
They can use the “ad create tool” to post specific messages to specific people – by location, by demographics, by interests, and by behaviors.
There is also an advanced targeting feature. Your interest, however, is targeting business locations that surround you, so that employees there will know who you are, what you offer, and where you are.
Before you begin
Start by creating posts that are relevant to your local community.
To do this, take the following steps:
- Use a tool to access content that other local businesses are creating. (Buzzsumo is one possible tool)
- Use local news and events for content ideas
- Begin to follow other local businesses on Facebook – like and share their posts and add a comment or two so you gain the attention of their followers
- Create blogs and Facebook posts on topics that are of interest to locals
You should begin to get “on the radar” of locals and local businesses. At least then they will know you exist.
Getting started with Facebook ads
Access the Ad Create feature and begin to work through the steps.
As you can see, you will be defining your campaign objective first, using one of three criteria. A local business owner would probably choose “Reach people near your business” or “Get people to visit your stores”.
Once you have designated your objective, you will be prompted to set up your location. If you click on the “Learn More” link, you will receive complete and easy instructions for setting your location.
You will then be asked to create your…
COMMENTS