In this article you will learn how to prepare a good ground for an effective Facebook ads campaign, which will increase the local awareness of your company, increase traffic in the premises, and thus also sales.

Start from the basics – customize your fanpage

Acting locally, it is worth running your company page on Facebook in an active way – show news, organize competitions, show how running your business looks “from the inside”. Thanks to this, you will develop local publicity and local fans – but remember that the content you create is valuable and engaging! The organic reach is quite “eaten” by the algorithm, which is why you can support your actions with Facebook ads broadcast on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger but also in applications and websites (Audience Network) – All these places are platforms where your recipient spends everyday time! Don’t be overlooked.

If you run a restaurant, don’t forget to add the “Menu” tab to your fanpage’s tabs. It often happens that people engaged on Facebook get upset that they can’t find anywhere a list of dishes offered by the place.

Right target

Once you get to the advertising manager (you can create an advertising account by going here), the first element when creating an ad will be choosing the campaign goal, which will inform the advertising system what we expect from it.

Here are some advertising goals for your local business:

– Activity under the post – will increase the activity under the published content. Facebook will reach people who are willing to click on the ad, link, CTA button, like the post, comment or share it. Thanks to such an advertising campaign, you will encourage local recipients to interact with your brand.

– Activity under the event – If your company conducts training, tasting on a given day, introduces a new product (e.g. a new dish in the menu), performs any actions – it is worth creating an event on Facebook in which recipients will be able to express their willingness to participate thanks to the “interested” buttons or “I will take part.”

– Messenger conversations – Directing recipients from a post straight to starting a conversation on Messenger can be a great solution for placing orders or signing up, e.g. for a visit to your premises.

– Range – Advertising similar to a billboard at a busy intersection – does not require any interaction from the user, but it is memorable and increases product or brand awareness. Thanks to reach advertising, we reach a wide audience relatively cheaply and increase brand recognition.

– Viewing movie – Your pizzeria recorded an advertising spot? Are you a photographer or a beautician and have you created a slide show of your services? Do you provide drone services and want to show your films? Thanks to the advertisement with the aim of displaying the film, you will reach people who are eager to see your spot, and you will be accounted for with Facebook for 2 seconds or complete viewing of the material.

There are several advertising goals that may work for local businesses. I put the above-mentioned goals on the basis of my subjective assessment.

The right audience

Once you’ve chosen the purpose of the ad, it’s time to specify who you want to reach with your Facebook ad. In the case of local companies, it is worth using the following groups:

– Target audiences based on demographics – interests, behaviors, age, sex, location.

– Audiences who interacted with your social media profiles, e.g., visited your fanpage or recently liked posts.

– Audiences who visited your website – thanks to the pixel installed on your website, you will create a remarketing list to which you will be able to direct advertising.

Thanks to such a precise and varied selection of your audience, you will reach people. who have not heard of your business yet and are potential customers, as well as to those who already know your brand – have visited your website or fanpage or instagram profile.

Narrow down all these groups for a specific location – think what is the maximum radius within which your clients arrive?

The right message – graphics and texts matter!

When you deal with the techniques, i.e. choosing an advertising goal and a group of recipients, you will still have to set what the recipient will see. Do not ignore the advertising creative, because it is your only contact point with the recipient. Even the best-chosen group will not react to the hopeless fast.

Remember that the text in the ad should not be too long. It’s best if you fit in three lines (check it on the preview of the ad, which will be displayed on the phone in Facebook news). Why in three? Earlier, as advertisers, we had more room for display and longer texts were displayed. With August 2019, Facebook limits the text length and image formats that will be appropriate for ads.

Simple, interesting, eye-catching text and graphics used is the key to effective advertising (Text on the advertisement can constitute max. 20% of the area).

You can also add a header in the form of a short password and a call to action button to each ad (they will be found under the post graphics). Focus separately on each of these elements and create a coherent whole. In the ad preview, check how the creative looks and consider whether it will encourage your potential recipient to refrain from scrolling and clicking on the banner you created. At Paraphrase-Online.com, we successfully run activities for local companies. An ad may not always end in a visible and counted conversion, as is the case with online stores. Actions that build brand awareness, encourage interaction with a post, or start a conversation in Messenger are indirect steps to offline conversions in your company.

At Paraphrase-Online.com, we successfully run activities for local companies. An ad may not always end in a visible and counted conversion, as is the case with online stores. Actions that build brand awareness, encourage interaction with a post, or start a conversation in Messenger are indirect steps to offline conversions in your company.