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How to target a local business using Facebook ads

How to target a local business using Facebook ads

Wednesday June 20, 2018,

3 min Read

Photo Courtesy of Pexels.com

Photo Courtesy of Pexels.com

When we say “ad targeting,” the first thing we think of is targeting individual consumers. But ad targeting works for the B2B industry as well. Did you know you can target local businesses with Facebook ads? Well, you can, and now you know.

Before we get any further, let’s talk a bit more about what ad targeting is. Ad targeting is used to deliver ads to a specific audience you want to attract to your business. On the consumer level, targeted audiences may include teenagers, young men or women, music lovers, people who adore cats, beauty fanatics, anyone under the sun. You can also target local businesses. For example, if you sell pet grooming supplies, you would target local pet groomers or pet stores. That’s Facebook ad targeting in a nutshell.

There are two actions to complete in order to target a local business:

- Set your location

- Set your targeting

In this article, you will learn how to do both.

Set Your Location

To target a business located near your place of business, as opposed to ALL businesses across the country, you need to specify a radius around your business’s address. For example, if you’re a digital advertising agency that wants to target local businesses, you can set a radius of 10 miles to reach businesses falling within that distance. You can adjust the distance of your radius as it fits your needs.

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Next, to the right of where it says “Locations,” you’ll see a dropdown set to the default option “Everyone in this location.” Although you can change this option as you see fit, the “Everyone” option is best for reaching businesses because it doesn’t exclude business owners that commute or are traveling.

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If you’re worried that targeting “Everyone” will deliver your ads to individuals who aren’t local businesses, never fear. You can specify who qualifies as “Everyone” by using detailed targeting to specify the job title, industry, etc. of your target audience.

Set Your Targeting

Congratulations! You’ve tackled the “local” element of your target audience. Now it’s time to define your target audience.

The first step is to specify which industry you want to target. This step is completed in the “Detail Targeting” section. So for example, if your target industry is retail stores, you should indicate such in the Detail Targeting section.

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Now it’s time to specify your target audience. As a B2B player, your target audience will include business owners and CEOs. These are the people who make executive business decisions, such as whether or not to invest with you.

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You can take it a step further if you wish and specify an income bracket of the business owners you want to target. This step is useful if you’re trying to reach a local business of a certain size, as your definition of “Small business owners” may differ from that of Facebook’s.

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Facebook ads do more than sell things to consumers. When used effectively, they can build business relationships or establish new professional connections. All you need is the know-how, and this article just gave that to you.