Using Facebook Awareness Ads for Local SEO

Facebook ads are well known for having excellent targeting capabilities, and nowhere is this truer than with local awareness ads. These ads reach people near your business by allowing you to define a radius (as small as one mile) around your location. Facebook then displays the ad to just users who live in the area or who were there recently.

Like regular ads, you can include other targeting options to ensure that your ad only reaches users who are likely to become customers. Plus, you can either set a single image or multiple images in a carousel form.

Why Should You Use Local Awareness Ads?

You should already be running ads to expand your audience and increase visibility. You should also have a strategy in place for local search marketing. Facebook local awareness ads allow you to combine the two while providing you with a number of other benefits.

Ease of Use

Even if you’ve never used Facebook ads before, you’ll find local awareness ads easy to set up. Since they are designed for first-time users of Facebook ads, they require just a few steps to launch.

Great for Small Businesses

For small businesses, local awareness ads provide a better return on investment than regular ads and boosted posts due to their hyper-targeting.

Ideal for Multiple Locations

Similarly, Facebook awareness ads are effective for businesses with multiple locations. Facebook allows you to duplicate an ad and use it for different areas. You can customize the duplicates to better attract customers in these other locations.

Better Targeting

There are also benefits to using local awareness ads over targeting by city or zip code. Defining an audience by location may be unsuitable for small businesses in a large city and businesses that want to target tourists.

Unique CTAs

A final reason to use local awareness ads is to access the calls-to-action (CTAs) only available with this type of ad. You have the choice of four CTAs: “Learn More,” “Get Directions,” “Call Now,” and “Message.” This gives you appropriate options, whether you want someone unfamiliar with the area to visit your store or clients to book reservations. It also helps when customers want more information before they visit you.

If you choose “Learn More” as your CTA, you can set the ad to send users to a particular page on your website. However, even when you don’t choose this CTA, you can set the ad to send people to your site (rather than your Facebook page) when they click the image.

Ideas for Using Local Awareness Ads

These ads may be simple, but they have great potential for both advanced users and those new to Facebook ads. All of the following applications will lead to more traffic to your website and greater visibility.

1. Advertise a New Location

If you’ve just opened a new store, local awareness ads can notify the people who are most likely to visit. This is particularly useful if you have a separate website for the new location and you want to gain attention for the site.

2. Meet Sales Targets

In the case that just one of your stores is failing to meet its targets, a marketing campaign may do little to help that one location. A local awareness ad, however, allows you to direct resources just to the store that needs it the most and avoids spending more of your marketing budget on stores that are already doing well.

3. Improve Site Authority

By limiting the users you reach through your ads to a highly-targeted audience, you increase your click-through rate (CTR) without spending much. Still, CTR alone means nothing without results. One way you can use this strategy to your advantage is to create ads for top pieces of content. Increased views to this content will build authority for your site.

4. Invite Users to an Event

If your business ever holds events, you need to ensure that the right people hear about it. Targeting people who live too far from your business is a waste of resources, whereas local awareness ads enable you to reach those who are most likely to attend.

The great thing about Facebook events is that the contacts of attendees see that their friends are going. This creates even more buzz around your business.

5. Advertise During an Event

You can also take advantage of other events happening in your local area. Set your local awareness ad to run during a major event in a radius that encompasses the event. This is far cheaper than paying to run an ad at the event itself and it can be more effective due to additional targeting.

6. Notify Users of Special Offers

Scarcity is a favorite tactic of advertisers. Local awareness ads allow you to take full advantage of scarcity. Whenever you have a limited-time offer, such as a happy hour or end-of-the-day clearance, let customers know at the moment with your ads.

7. Turn Top Reviews into Ads

Reviews provide your brand with social proof. This is valuable when introducing your brand to new users, who will be unsure if they can trust you to follow through with your promise of quality. Running an ad featuring a positive review can help develop a sense that you are a reputable brand.

You’ll need a picture to accompany the review. Your best option is to use a photo of the reviewer (you’ll need to contact the reviewer for permission). This may very well encourage more reviews from users who would also like to be featured on your page—and more reviews is a great boost to your local SEO.

8. Run a Local Hashtag Campaign

Running a hashtag campaign in a specific location is ideal for creating more attention for your brand. For the campaign to be effective, though, you need to let as many people in the area know about it. Local awareness ads enable you to spread the word.

Conclusion

Local awareness ads can serve many purposes. They may be the first step in building visibility for your brand or they could remind previous customers of your business at the optimal time. Whatever the case, they’ll develop more attention for your brand, drive targeted traffic, and build authority—all of which are great for your local SEO strategy.

How do you use Facebook awareness ads to drive local traffic? Do you have any thoughts you’d add to this article? Let us know in the comments!