How to Use Facebook Ads for Local Businesses

This is a complete guide for using Facebook ads for local businesses. We’ll help you identify your audience and how to appeal to them, make your pitch, choose the best type of ad, and follow up on a social media marketing campaign with… an even better one! Let’s go.

1. Know Who Your Audience Is (and Isn’t, But Could Be)

Remember what we said about those people who don’t yet know that they need what you’re selling? These are the most important people to reach on social media. Capturing this audience represents a huge step up for your business compared to just focusing on core customers who would’ve found you anyway.

Of course, those core customers are still important. Ignore them, and they might go to a competitor. While the bulk of your advertising should be about attracting new business and persuading more people that you’ve got something they need, you should put out messaging that shows you’re the #1 choice for people who are already interested.

For the purposes of this guide, we’ll stick with the massage parlor concept. As mentioned, you can expect attention from people who know that they like massages. These are wellness-minded folks, and your messaging should focus on what they know they’re looking for from a massage parlor.

A relaxing time. Zen vibes. Scented candles. Trained professionals and in-depth descriptions of the type of massage you offer (you should always appeal to connoisseurs). You can use this as your business’s core identity – when people find your Facebook page, this is what they’ll see. They’ll know they’re in for a good time.

Then you use Facebook ads to attract an audience who wouldn’t usually stumble upon your Facebook page. You target ads at common problems experienced by people who do physical jobs. We’re not just talking about farmers and construction workers – shop floor staff are on their feet all day. Their backs ache. You literally have “pain points” to aim for in your messaging. This is how you hook in a wider audience without needing to alter your business’s core identity.

Keep your main brand message as something that shows you’re an expert in your field. People who are already interested tend to be better-informed about what they’re looking for, so you should be ready to show you know your stuff. Then you can use social media marketing to hint to wider audiences that you might have something they never knew they needed.

2. Identify What Sparks Interest

Let’s focus on those pain points. Your next task is to use Facebook ads to show people:

1. That they need something
2. That you have a solution

For the first part, you must consider who you’re targeting. Facebook ads are extremely good at letting you select a niche demographic to appeal to. Sticking with the massage parlor example, say you want to target shop workers and service staff – these are typically young people living in urban areas with just enough disposable income to afford your services. Your ad needs to “hear” their complaints before they voice them.

The ad needs to focus on:

• What’s causing their pain (i.e., their job)
• Its possible consequences (long-term pain, bad sleep, etc.)
• The solution (an affordable, high-quality massage)

This is a lot to squeeze into a Facebook ad. You know that phrase, “a picture is worth a thousand words”? If you don’t have enough space to outline why someone needs your services, many Facebook ad types include images. You can tell half the story just with a well-chosen picture. A video can be even more effective (see below).

3. Summarize How Your Business Addresses a Need

Let’s focus on the hook. This is the most important part of your Facebook ad – you can make people aware that they have a need, but unless they’re coming to you to fix it, your advert hasn’t achieved anything for your business.

As mentioned, your messaging in targeted ads shouldn’t necessarily be the same as your core identity. For example, if your massage parlor targets people doing physical work, the message should be less about the ambiance at the parlor and more geared towards effective treatments. You could focus messaging on how the types of massage you offer are designed to be effective rather than “tickling” – you should be describing re-alignment and working out knots. These are the issues your target audience knows they have: that’s why they’ll come to you, not because they’re especially into nice vibes and aromatherapy.

Your CTA should urge potential leads to come and get their problems fixed. CTAs must be direct and urgent, not “give us a try” or “stop by sometime.” The customer’s need is described as the “problem” because it is a problem for the customer not to have this addressed. Now that they realize it’s a problem, your efforts should be directed toward bringing them to you for the solution.

4. Choose Your Ad Type

The next step is selecting the ad type you want to use. You could use:

• A simple, direct message with an image
• A video ad
• A link to a blog post

The first type is the lowest cost and often the most effective. It requires minimal engagement from the customer except to book an appointment. The problem with these short ads is that you have to squeeze a lot into a small space. Use this type if you’re confident that you can identify a problem, make yourself relatable to the target audience, and quickly offer a solution.

Videos take slightly more effort but can be a great way to engage with an audience. Video ads typically auto-play with no sound, so your focus needs to be on showing rather than telling. The first few seconds of the video need to show the target that this video is about them, making them more likely to watch the rest.

Blogs require more investment and can be good as part of a long-term strategy, but people are less likely to engage with lengthy text posts than videos if they know nothing about your business. However, outside of social media marketing, blogs are a good way to pull people in from related areas even if they’re not searching for your niche (e.g., a blog post on “Ways to Deal With Back Pain” would interest people who weren’t instinctively searching for a massage parlor).

5. Create an Ad

Now you’ve identified your target demographic and planned your approach, it’s time to send the ad live. There’s not much to add about this stage other than that you should rein in your expectations. Your lovingly crafted ad may take a while to make an impact. It might not make much of an impact at all. All social media marketing strategies require you to prepare for disappointment.

This is partly why Facebook ads are so good – they’re cheap. You barely spend any of your marketing budget, so if the campaign doesn’t go as well as you’d hoped, it’s not a huge loss.

6. Monitor the Analytics

Facebook allows you to track the analytics of your ad campaign. You can see how many people viewed your ad, how many clicked through, and more useful statistics.

During this phase, you should also actively promote your business and engage wherever possible. An ad campaign is a perfect time to ensure people are talking about you – make sure regular customers are leaving reviews and mentioning you. People who see your ad after hearing someone talk about you are more likely to look twice.

7. Adapt and Improve

Armed with analytics, it’s time to go back to the drawing board and start planning your next campaign. What went well? Where did the ad miss its mark? Did you notice that you were attracting a slightly different target audience than the one you expected? Be ready to learn from your ad campaign – it will inform your future social media marketing strategies.