Facebook advertising for your local business

As a local business owner, you understand the importance of getting the word about your services. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past couple of decades, you’ve probably heard that Facebook provides a service that allows you to advertise your business.

The problem most small business owners run into is that they aren’t totally familiar with the parameters that their ads need to meet and operate within. It can become a daunting task and considering their already often hectic schedules, Facebook advertising falls by the wayside. It’s a shame because this method of advertising can drive a lot of business and help it grow.

That’s why we’ve put together a simple set of instructions for busy business owners like you, so that you can take advantage of this awesome service, without wasting your precious time and money. Let’s have a look.

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What Types of Facebook Advertisements Should You Start With?

There are several kinds of advertisements that you can utilise to suit your goals. The best one to use depends on what you hope to accomplish. For example, you can write a text-based ad that has a button for readers to book an appointment. This takes them to a scheduler and lets them set a time to meet. If you want to simply increase awareness of your brand you could run an ad that is more suited to this.

We’re going to focus on lead generation forms because they allow you to filter out hotter or colder leads. Through this, you can sort out who is going to be the most likely to actually use your service - without having to build an outside landing (web) page.

We should also mention that Facebook has a great organisational tool called the campaign manager. This allows you to schedule ads you have built so that you don’t need to spend time on the platform every day. Just set it, and forget it - of course, you’ll want to know how to build an effective ad before you schedule it, which brings us to our next section.

How to Design Effective Ads Quickly

There are a lot of voices on any given person’s Facebook feed, all vying for their attention - so standing out is important. How do you make your ad cut through the noise? Well, eye-catching imagery is a tried and true method. When paired up with a headline that immediately sparks curiosity or speaks directly to your target audience, you have an effective cocktail for success. The key is understanding your audience, and not wasting a second of their time.

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Be Concise and Straight to the Point

Let’s talk about copywriting. This is a facet of writing that combines science and art - but you don’t need to be a scholar to effectively write good copy. What you do need, however, is to know your audience, know your service, and know how it fits into their lives. All services start with a problem, and speaking to this and then offering a solution is an effective way to start. It’s important to keep in mind that people generally don’t like being sold to, and won’t give you much time, so the most important thing is to keep it short.

Here is a commonly used copywriting formula that works. Once you learn this, you will notice it being used in all kinds of ads.

Problem

State the problem that your service solves for the customer. This is a great way to relate to them, tells them you understand them, and provides an opportunity to really speak to them directly.

Aggravation (Optional)

Sometimes, you really want to hammer on the problem, so you might choose to just dwell a little more on the problem - let them really feel it.

Solution

Now, you’re going to direct them to your service - the solution to their problem. This is commonly done in conjunction with a call to action. A call to action is where you tell them how to get ahold of you, book a consultation, call now - you get the picture. You have to tell them where to go.

Keeping this structure in mind will help you to trim the excess and keep your messaging short and sweet.

Balance Image & Copy

Just as you don’t need to be a literary major to write good copy, in this day and age, you don’t need to be a graphic designer to build an eye-catching ad. If you happen to be photoshop proficient, then all the power to you, but for the majority of us who are not, there is a great online tool called Canva which allows to build gorgeous ads from templates quickly, easily, and most importantly, effectively.

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Design Multiple Formats

We’ve gone this far - we may as well learn a small tidbit of technical information about how Facebook ads work. Certain advertising formats are given more attention when placed in certain spaces on Facebook. That means it can be very helpful to design the same advertisement in a few different formats - it’s just about making a couple of different versions of the same ad (e.g., one landscape, one square, one portrait), throwing them at the wall, and seeing what sticks.

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How to Customise Your Audiences

One of the great benefits of Facebook advertising is the ability to set your target demographics. If you’re running a home renovation service, you probably don’t need to advertise to teenagers as they generally don’t make these kinds of decisions. Well, Facebook allows you to choose who gets to see your ad. You can set this to geographic parameters - which we strongly recommend for local businesses for obvious reasons. You can also set the age and interests of your audience to narrow your net precisely and make the absolute most of your resources.

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How Much to Spend

It really is about throwing ads at the wall and seeing what sticks. The best way to do this is to initially set all of your campaigns to the minimum spend. Facebook gives you all kinds of data about how your ads perform - how many people saw the ad, versus how many people engaged with it, will give you a pretty clear picture about how it is performing. When you see that one of your ads is doing better than the others, you can then invest more into it, allowing you to spend wisely.

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Facebook advertising is a great tool for those who know how to use it - and it really isn’t too difficult to learn. We hope this article will help you get over the learning curve a little faster─ and generate more interest in your local business.

Happy hunting!  

Once you get your Facebook advertisement engine is up and running and your enquiries multiply, Fuzey makes it easier to manage all your customer enquiries and ensures you never let a lead fall through the cracks.

To learn more, check out our website or book a demo filling the form below!

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