If you’re looking to run Facebook ads to promote your local business, it’s easy to get lost in all the terminology and algorithms. No worries—we’re here to help. Even if you don’t know the difference between PPC and Facebook pixel, by the end of this brief guide, you’ll be better placed to understand the principles of FB ad strategy.
Setup The Facebook Business Page Basics
You’ll need to take care of some basics first. Do you have a business page on Facebook? If not, you need one. With that in place, use Business Manager so you can set up an ad account and Facebook pixel.
How Much Are Your Customers Worth?
If you’re planning to create and promote offers, you should calculate your customers’ value to you both annually and long-term.
- Annual Customer Value = (Average Sale) x (Monthly Frequency) x 12 months
- LTV (Lifetime Value) = (Annual Customer Value x 5 years) x 2 referrals
With these simple metrics in place, you can better determine a budget-appropriate offer you can promote with your Facebook campaign. While many tactics can be applied across different verticals, this approach does not work well with boosted posts. Stick with organic traffic unless you’re 100% sure that the price of the boost will offer sufficient return to cover the cost.
The important lesson to bear in mind is that your entire marketing efforts come down to quid pro quo. By giving your customers something they perceive as valuable, they’ll give you permission to message them across other platforms. Make it worth their while and respect their time. In return, it could be the start of a fruitful business relationship.
Build Target Audiences
Underpinning all your digital marketing efforts is your ideal customer. The more you come to understand this customer, the more effectively you’ll be able to target your Facebook ad strategy.
How can you get feedback about your audience on Facebook, though?
Go to Business Manager > Menu > All Tools > Audience Insights in the Plan column.
Check to receive insights on everyone connected to your page rather than everyone on Facebook.
You’ll be provided with data about the demographics of all your followers from age and relationship status to job title and education level. This data gives you a reasonable starting point to work from.
You can import the file of your email list into your FB page, or you can create a custom, engagement-based audience. This process is easy to do within Business Manager:
Audiences > Create Audience > Custom Audience
You can then build out the audience of your choice. We’d recommend trying out an engagement-based audience on your first attempt.
You can use this information to begin targeting your FB ads to people who have already seen and interacted with your page. You can push them toward taking further action and drive them to your website.
If you have a local or service business, begin targeting customers within a distance of 15 to 20 miles. For e-comm stores, this is not relevant, and you can target any geographic area.
Use an Engagement Campaign Ad to Promote Your Business
The ultimate goal of an engagement ad is simple: to encourage as many people as possible to engage with that ad. That’s it.
At a glance, an engagement ad looks similar to a boosted post but with one serious advantage. Unlike when you choose to boost a post, with engagement ads, you’ll be free to run infinite split tests.
That way, you can keep tweaking the audience until you get it dialed right in. Running an engagement campaign from Ads Manager lets you keep everything constant except the custom audiences maximizing your insight and ultimately your bottom line.
Get this started by heading to Facebook Business Manager and clicking through to your ad account.
Ads Manager > Create > Engagement
Once you’re here, click Post Engagement then name your campaign.
At this stage, you can send the ad to one of your custom audiences or select an audience based on demographics in the dropdowns. Detailed targeting offers you some interesting ways to laser in on your audience.
Automatic Placement will pop your ad in the News Feed. Until you become more advanced, this is best left in its default setting.
Insert your lifetime budget for this ad then decide whether to run your ads continuously or scheduled.
The ultimate goal of an engagement ad is simple: to encourage as many people as possible to engage with that ad. That’s it.
At a glance, an engagement ad looks similar to a boosted post but with one serious advantage. Unlike when you choose to boost a post, with engagement ads, you’ll be free to run infinite split tests.
That way, you can keep tweaking the audience until you get it dialed right in. Running an engagement campaign from Ads Manager lets you keep everything constant except the custom audiences maximizing your insight and ultimately your bottom line.
Get this started by heading to Facebook Business Manager and clicking through to your ad account.
Ads Manager > Create > Engagement
Once you’re here, click Post Engagement then name your campaign.
At this stage, you can send the ad to one of your custom audiences or select an audience based on demographics in the dropdowns. Detailed targeting offers you some additional ways to laser in on your audiences, such as hobbies, marital status, and occupation.
Automatic Placement will pop your ad in the News Feed. Until you become more advanced, this is best left in its default setting.
Insert your lifetime budget for this ad then decide whether to run your ads continuously or scheduled.
If, for example, you’re only trying to drive sales to a physical outlet, it’s futile driving people to a premise that’s shut for the night. Make it personal.
Select the ad you want to use, hit Post, and there goes your first engagement ad campaign. Engagement ads also offer a nice touch of social proof, so don’t view them as an expensive luxury.
Run a Website Conversion Campaign
If you plan to run a website conversion campaign, make sure you’ve got Facebook pixel installed. The cost of this type of campaign will be higher since you’ll be sending people away from Facebook’s ecosystem.
Go to Ads Manager:
Select: Create a New Campaign > Select Conversions Objective
Name your campaign then select your Facebook pixel.
You can simplify things by using the same audience as you used for your engagement campaign. You can also tag in other potential customers if you choose.
Stick to a similar budget and schedule as you did with your engagement ad.
With both of the campaigns outlined here, you can then push customers into a sequenced and automated campaign once you’ve got them engaged.
What To Do Next
All you need to use Facebook ads to promote your local business effectively is the right message to the right people. Think about how your customers are hurting. Soothe that pain.
Make sure your offer is strong and don’t be afraid to spend out on Facebook ads. When you consider the LTV of new customers, you’re getting a pretty sound deal.