Facebook recently improved its advertising tools for local businesses, a decision stemming off the company’s 45 percent increase in advertising sales over the past year. Now they have plans to gain an even larger share of local business marketing budgets.
The social networking leader has released two new ad products that are tailor-made for local business marketing. These tools are designed to give businesses a detailed understanding of local foot traffic as well as help multi-location organizations target ads to specific store areas.
The first of the new tools is a tab in the Page Insights section allowing local businesses to identify the groups of people nearby. The data gained from Facebook mobile user demographics can show local business marketers when their neighborhood is most active.
The company revealed that retailers can also view the number of anonymous users within various distances: 150 feet, 450 feet and 1,500 feet. This tool will also give you important demographics, such as age and gender, of residents and visitors in the vicinity.
A recent blog post from Facebook said advertisers can see the percentage of people who have seen the ad in their location, showing businesses how their ads are reaching potential customers. This unique tool helps businesses achieve their local marketing goals by reaching a greater number of people near them.
The second local advertising tool helps businesses target local traffic by creating location-specific ads. This will allow multi-site businesses to target their ads to specific store locations.
If potential customers are near any of your business locations, they will see the branch name, address and phone number, as well as a button that allows them to receive directions. This feature is great because it takes away the necessity of opening a mobile map app.
Matt Idema, VP of Facebook product marketing, said these products will help businesses track foot traffic near their stores and understand how ad campaigns affect those groups. Taking advantage of these two new tools will give local businesses an edge by giving them a better picture of the people who are within walking distance of their stores.
For more information on the new local advertising options with Facebook, or about incorporating social advertising into your marketing mix, please call Qiigo at (404) 496-6841.
