No matter what type of business you own, getting traffic into your physical location is of utmost importance. It stands to reason that if no one in your local area knows you exist, you can’t get clients or customers to purchase your services or products.
In addition to using traditional advertising media, such as radio, newspaper and television, many local businesses find success with Facebook ads because they are exceptionally easy to target your prime audience.
When you setup your Facebook ads, you choose the demographics of who should see your ad, such as gender, age, and location. So if you are a chiropractor in Santa Fe, New Mexico, you can target people in a certain age group who live in Santa Fe and the surrounding areas.
Thanks to the genius minds at Facebook, only those people who fit your chosen demographic will see the ad, not all the hundreds of millions of users worldwide. It doesn’t make sense for others outside of your geographic location to see the ad because they are too far away to partake of your services.
Targeting your market in this manner is more precise than simply buying television or radio time during a certain time frame. Sure, the television and radio stations collect demographic data but there might be people included in those stats who don’t quite fit your demographic and who won’t pay attention to your commercial.
Once you’ve targeted your audience on Facebook, write clever ad copy that will entice the reader to click on your ad. If your purpose of placing this ad is to drive foot traffic into your business, a coupon or special deal usually does the trick since saving money is important to a lot of people.
If you offer free initial consultations to clients, use a Facebook ad to remind people about this offer and where your office is located. If you’re a restaurant giving away a free soda, have a printable coupon on your site so people can bring it in for redemption.
You can also publicize a community appearance or event using a Facebook ad. When people click on the ad link they can be directed to the event website where a discount admission ticket can be printed out. Smaller coupon deals are nice “bribes” as well, such as a free ice cream cone at the event.
Running a contest is another way to entice people to visit your business. Ask your visitors to name a mascot, guess how many candies are in a jar, or create a new tagline for your business. Advertise this contest on Facebook, leading visitors to the contest rules and prizes. Requiring them to enter in person will get them into your business where you can showcase your offerings and either sell them a product or get them on your mailing list.
Using Facebook ads is one of the easiest ways to reach an exact target market because you are in control of setting the demographics of who you want seeing your ad. Once you have attracted your audience, use Facebook not only to publicize your business but to engage your audience by asking questions and having conversations with them. Building relationships with your audience will definitely lead to more business in the future.
If this strategy sounds confusing or you simply don’t have time to implement all these little steps, consider hiring an internet marketing consultant. Finding someone locally will help considerably with choosing the localized keywords but this can also be done with a virtual consultant working many states away.
Don Johnson
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