Facebook Ads for Local Business: A Guide

Last Update: Jul 6, 2022 @ 11:26 am
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Have you ever asked yourself whether you have really done all your best to promote your brand or business?

If yes, then what stops you from increasing your sales? If no, why not try? 

Everyone might seem to be successful in their marketing campaigns except you, or the friend of the friend of your friend.

Facebook ads are a new way of increasing the online presence of your business, allowing you to tap on the platform’s over 2 billion active users per month (as of this writing). In contrast to Google Adwords (soon to be Google Ads on July 24), Facebook Ads focuses on letting ads reach broad sets of people categories instead of specific searchers. For example, in Facebook one may showcase an ad of a children’s toy to parents while in Google Adwords, only those searching specifically for a children’s toy will see the ad along with other search results.

Facebook-Ad-Examplesimage source: Sprout Social 

Adwords may seem to be a better choice due to a more specific targeting but consumer behavior always change. Besides, Facebook boasts of the millions of business pages that advertises on its platform.

Have no idea on running your first ever Facebook ad? Don’t worry, we’ve got your back. Here’s our ultimate Facebook ads guide for businesses of all types.

What Facebook Ads can do for you

Facebook ads provide a great way to promote your brand and reach people from virtually anywhere in the world. Facebook is “free and always will be” at least right in the moment, the reason why running ads is well-integrated in its business model. All you need is create the right ads and set your target audience, and Facebook will do the rest of the work for you.

1.) It lets you tap into its huge global userbase. With Facebook’s ever-growing monthly active users, you’ll surely be able to find your target audience. Young and old alike, whatever their interests are, reaching them is just a matter of few clicks.

shutterstock_414630034image source: Neil Patel
2.) Make people familiar with your brand. When people wants something, what do you think are their top choices? It’s more likely what they or their referring friends are familiar with. With Facebook ads, not only will you be able to reach so many people, you can also target a specific subset of about a third of the entire world’s population. Traditional ads may do, but Facebook allows you to be more creative by allowing you to experiment on your own.

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3.) Converting your audience to buyers. You can increase sales by enticing people to try your product or service, capitalizing with the familiarity you previously built. After building your credibility, it’s only a matter of time and continuous promotion before you get your returns. In case you don’t know, Facebook ranks number one among social networking site in terms of active users.

4-Proven-Ways-to-Boost-Your-Conversionsimage source: Search Engine Journal 

4.) Give people a reason to get in touch with you. With so many variations on what you can do with your ads, you’ll never run out of gimmicks for people of all ages. Marketing has now been so innovative that you can even educate people in the process and indirectly lead them to your products.

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5.) Save money on ad campaigns. The mechanism is simple: you can set your budget the way you want it. Facebook works in a different way versus Google and the like but is definitely more flexible. Just in case your ads don’t deliver due to competition on budget, audience, and creativity, you’ll be keeping your remaining credits for future use.

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How to run Facebook Ads for your business

This is not your typical Step-by-Step Guide to Facebook Ads for Local Businesses. If you want to miss the essentials right below that we have specially made for you, Facebook also made this super basic guide.

Content Creation

The very first thing you must ensure is that your fountain of ideas never cease to flow before it gets utilized and turned into actual results. Creative teams should be able to play with an idea in order to bring it to its best form.

1548803402-og-blog_contenttoolimage source: Socialbakers 

Aside from Scheduling, you can also backdate your post or set it as a story.

That’s just the beginning though, of a publicity material’s long journey.

Publishing (you can add step-by-step images from your own page for reality purposes but I do not recommend doing so because this article may not readily set itself apart from other similar articles, and also due to the fact that the ads manager and other page interfaces are self-explanatory and user friendly. I suggest that this be included in lieu of the original  – quotation marks excluded:

We have decided that it’s in your best interest to see for yourself the self-explanatory and user-friendly Facebook Ads Manager and other page interfaces. We made this statement in lieu of what you might have been expecting but trust us, you’ll save time reading, we saved time writing.”

Finally, your once-an-idea thing will finally get seen by the world of social media. Just head over to your page and place everything in the magical box before hitting that publish button. You can also schedule your posts or save it as a draft for the meantime.

Monitoring

Real-time-Monitoring-Help-Call-CentersImage from Ameyo

Your idea is not supposed to be left on its own, it needs a little bit of support, and some guidance. Keep track of key performance indicators by heading to the Insights and Publishing Tools tab of your page, although you will get some notifications from Facebook every now and then during the duration of your ad campaign.

Republishing

fb-republishing-contentImage from Ahrefs

Comeback is real. The stats on your ad will gradually decline over the course of your set schedule and for this reason, it would be best not to edit them, but make new ones with a refurbished content and a new image. The more you should do so if your previous ad is a flop. Whichever is the case, you should keep in mind that updating is a necessity, especially if continuous presence is a must.

Getting help

facebook-advertising-1030x510image source: ANANDA PR

If you ever happen to encounter some problems along the way, you can always check the resources page for your page management needs, containing all relevant details such as how to optimize your campaign and creating the best ads. Better yet, be social and feel free to ask the community.

Making Facebook Ads work perfectly

Beyond every successful ad campaign is a team of advanced thinkers. They trust their instincts but they also keep things in check with guides embedded in their minds. Adjusting according to every situation or outcome is their forte, and they apply what they have found successful from their simple but carefully-monitored experiments. Not every campaign may work as intended but more likely than not, they do deliver good results.

Here are some Facebook Ad hacks for Your business:

Facebook_Ads_cost_Getty_1210806740image source: Shopify

Sometimes, less is more.
Less text, more visuals. Even Facebook may remind you that your ads contain way too much text before you get it published. Images with less than 20 percent text tend to get more engagements. See the detailed guideline here.

facebook-post-ideasimage source: Post Planner 

Don’t forget to use topnotch, visually stunning photos, which you can use to show before and after shots, your product in action, or simply something familiar but close to the heart of your audience. If your post is a link, your headline and landing page needs a little bit of crafting.

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Keep things moving (literally). Videos are now generally the preferred content for consumption and promotion. It could range from a short 1 second to a maximum of 4 hours. More information can be included in a video ad while still maintaining palatability to the general public, though it may not surpass the satisfaction generated by memes. The 20% text rule still applies for the video thumbnails. Check the rules here.

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Build, build, build your followers. Widen your audience, because they are the next important thing in your business. It would really pay if you could take your content creation to the next level to make your followers happy and increase the chances of your posts being shared. You can even utilize contact information provided by previous customers or clients in order to get in touch with them. Newsletters are a common thing now which can be coupled with must-grab offers, so check some of the best here.

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Collaborate with other businesses. Building alliances through partnerships allow you to laterally expand your reach. Launching promos or offers with the help of other businesses help both of you to be promoted to a greater number of audience. If people would be able to associate your product with another equally good brand, chances are both your sales would increase. You could also share with one another your best practices.

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Let celebrities endorse you. This is a time-tested trick for the seasoned business owner. The idea is that the popularity of an actor or actress will be able to carry the name of your brand. The power of association is at work, and there’s nothing better than people trusting your brand for the credibility of your endorser, since you wouldn’t have gotten them in the first place if not for your trustworthiness. Stars can be the face of your brand but they can also directly promote your ads by sharing them on their personal accounts. This is a perfect example.

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Be aware of time. Surely you have noticed when posts receive more engagements at certain times of the day, or have experienced it yourself, only to end up being frustrated, doubting your skills, or simply being curious. Several factors affect this such as the time of the day and the screentime of people. The best way to know is to observe, but you can have a better idea by reading this.

Facebook-Posting-Tips-01image source: Sprout Social

Schedule your posts. Ever got tired of having to wait for the exact time of the day only to share your new menu, product, or service to your followers? Have you ever had to stay up late or wake up too early in the morning only to have your recently done publicity material posted? Try scheduling your posts. Not only will you have more time for other important things that demand your attention, but you can also make sure that you will not be missing anything. As a bonus, you’ll better avoid procrastination.

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Keep on experimenting. Document everything. Being a scientist for good will enable you to upscale your efforts in running ads in the long run. Things keep on changing but at least, you get to know the why’s and how’s. If you have a website, you can also try using Facebook Pixel.

StrategizeandPlanImage from Rhymes & Reasons Designs

Strategize. Failing to plan is planning to fail, as they say. If you’re too preoccupied with other priorities that need immediate tending, allow someone to do it for you. Researching will help your local business stay afloat and ahead of the competition.

Tips on Choosing the best Facebook Ads Agency for Your Local Business

There’s nothing wrong in doing everything on your own but the problem is, you are missing the very expertise that you need to optimize your spending on ads. There are a lot of factors and scenarios that may happen along the way, and it’s best that you can count on someone who can do the troubleshooting for you.

So why not sit back, relax, and let a team do it for you? Here are some traits you should definitely consider in finding the right advertising agency for your business.

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Creative. This is the reason why you would be hiring one in the first place. A real ad agency knows how to achieve a specific task by capitalizing on all available resources and circumstances, whether on their fingertips or not. People greatly appreciate creatively-crafted advertisements and may thus remember a brand or product more. Being creative may not require years of experience but it’s definitely a plus. Even experienced advertising agencies also have their internal battle for creativity.

ajjhdsImage from Inc. Magazine

Innovative. This is what differentiates one ad agency from another, and lifts it up in competition. Being innovative fuels the firm to keep it going and thriving. There is a never-ending change of people’s tastes or preferences. Problem-solving skill is definitely a must, because new ways of communicating with your target audience must be formulated. What works with nothing… is definitely outdated!

alsjshdImage from Wolter Kluwer

Up-to-date. Upgrading of an agency’s creative and innovating skills is worth investing, because they need to be knowledgeable on all aspects of advertising from conceptualization to execution. Only those who truly know the ropes will be able to fully optimize their marketing campaigns. Today’s generation is so fast-paced and quick in following trends. Fresh ideas do matter, especially because it must be made sure that you don’t waste your budget.

data-integrityImage from NeverBounce

Reliable. The ability to execute every detail as planned is essential. You should try asking prospective ad agencies about the projects they previously handled – successful or not. Well, it’s a good thing to know how they went from their humble beginnings to being what they are today. Being reliable means being able to cater service to clients right when they need it. A good agency must be able to come up with the right advertising solutions for your business and help build your brand.

web-trustworthiness-careerImages from The Seattle Times

Trustworthy. This might not be your best bet but surely it is vital to the success of your marketing campaigns. You need someone who will be able to keep your trade secrets (if there’s any) and gives value for money. Trying to find the right ad agency through word of mouth from your friends or those in the industry is worth a shot. Still, it is only you who can decide for yourself. Check your gut feeling. Here’s what Forbes has to say about being trustworthy.

Now that you are aware of the secret ingredients of a good Facebook Ad campaign for businesses, why not start your own? More and more people are joining Facebook and it’s more relevant than ever to build your brand on the platform.

Not confident enough doing things on your own? Why not try finding a reliable Facebook Ads agency right now? (insert link to your dedicated web page) It’s not that hard to keep surprising your would-be customers, even with a limited budget. Remember, you could spend all the funds you have on advertising but still get no results, but money well spent on carefully-crafted campaigns could translate to higher sales and even exceed your expectations.

ESTRAT 360 Marketing Company
ESTRAT 360 Marketing Company
ESTRAT 360 Marketing Company is one of the Philippines' international award-winning and communications and integrated digital marketing company. For more information about ESTRAT, check our story and our team here. You can also send your inquiry via inquire[at]ESTRAT360.com
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