Do you want to convert your local business? Are you looking for the most effective technology-driven way to promote your business sustainably and profitably? Here, we will introduce you to the mighty Facebook marketing, and you will learn step by step how to grow a local business using Facebook Ads.
However, it is essential to become familiar with some tricks and techniques before you can start making some real profits. Statistically speaking, by the end of 2018, Facebook reached 2.32 billion monthly active users; this means that there is plenty of money to be made if you successfully promote your local business.
Identify your target audience
This may be the most critical and challenging step to accomplish because if you fail to target the right audience, you will surely lose your investment. Facebook ads are compelling, you have the ability to target your potential customers by their exact geographical location, age group, gender, and product interests. Don’t worry, it’s quite easy to find the right audience using Facebook ads, you just need to provide some necessary information, and you are good to go.
Build your community
Whatever your selling and whoever your potential customers are, it’s vital to build an online social media presence. By creating a community on Facebook, you will give your customers a medium to interact with your services and brand. To build an online community, you need to start with the following:
- A Facebook page business to display your products and services
- A Facebook group to let people interact with your local business
An online community will get people talking about your business and sharing their experience and reviews, and this is when you will see the real boost in profits.
Use Facebook Ads for your Facebook page not your business website
I personally have tried to use Facebook Ads directly for my business websites, and I found out that this doesn’t work wonders, and when I tried using Facebook Ads to promote my Facebook page, I did much better. Isn’t that strange? But there are certainly reasons for this, and I think Facebook Ads do better with Facebook pages because of the following reasons:
- User experience remains the same when they click on the link
- More users are likely to stay and explore a Facebook page than a website
The other excellent reason to promote your Facebook page instead of your website is that you will get a complete insight of “likes” which will help you to make quick decisions about your ads campaign.
Start by targeting a small number of people
Start small and grow slowly; this is the best way to grow a local business with Facebook Ads. If you are advertising for the first time on Facebook, target the people you are sure about and place your bet on the most likely potential customers.
Once you have established a community and your Facebook page has shown significant growth, you can slowly start targeting and persuading a more extensive range of people. It is generally observed that the likes on your Facebook page directly affect your target audience, more likes and reviews will gain you a better authority and respect.
Provide constant engagement
Once you have successfully grown a Facebook community, you have to keep them constantly engaged. What if you fail to do so?
- You will most likely lose your Facebook page followers
- Your page reach will start decreasing with time
- Your business will lose its authority
These are only a few potential threats that might happen if you stop updating your Facebook page. Now the question is how much update does your page needs? I suggest you update daily but at least post three times in a week to keep people engaged.
A major social media agency based in London, Born Social, suggests leveraging Facebook Groups to bolster your content strategy and engaging with the public.
Show value: Offer your customers something free
Give free gifts to your Facebook community this will give them a reason to click, let it be a free eBook, discounts, exclusive coupons or anything you would like to give away. Giving away something to your customers will make them more likely to visit your business website or click on your ads. Here are a few reasons to start your giveaway strategy:
- Customers feel special; this will make your relationship with them stronger
- Giving away freebies will encourage your customers to explore your latest offers and products
- Your brand value and customer trust go up quickly
- More potential customers are attracted
There are plenty of other valuable things you can offer to your users, and the key is to try different products you can provide and evaluate what works best for you. Remember that every community requires loyalty if you want loyal customers, be loyal to your customers first.
Track and optimize Facebook ads
Now that you are successfully running your ads campaign on Facebook it’s crucial that you closely monitor the metrics of your ads. You need to keep track of your ad views, clicks, leads, and successful leads; all of these are very important to analyze so that you can immediately identify if there is a problem.
Another thing that is significantly important and will have a considerable impact on your overall experience with Facebook ads is the return on investment (ROI). Let me explain you the idea with an example:
Let’s say you are spending $1 on Facebook adds to get 10 sale leads (potential sales), out of these sale leads you make a single successful sale, and you gain a net profit of $2.
Here in this example, your net profit is higher than what you spent on advertisement, and this means that as long as your sale leads cost less than your net profit, your local business is growing well with Facebook ads.
I personally suggest starting the campaign with a small amount of let’s say $100 and over the period of 10 days, invest $10 each day, measure your Facebook ROI and see what needs to be changed.
There you have it, a quick guide to growing your local business with the help of Facebook ads. Leave a comment below any tips and tricks you may have for digital marketing campaigns.