For local business owners and operators, juggling countless responsibilities often pushes effective Facebook advertising down the priority list. This is understandable, as navigating Facebook’s Business Manager, with its overwhelming options and unexpected complexities, can be daunting. However, a specific Facebook ad campaign type offers local businesses a simple way to target their local area. Known as the “store traffic” campaign objective (formerly “local awareness”), it attracts ideal customers, builds local brand awareness, and helps achieve sales targets.

This post will guide you on:

• Setting up Facebook ads using the “store traffic” objective.
• Creating ad variations to determine what resonates with local customers.
• Optimizing local Facebook ad campaigns through metrics and budget adjustments.

Setting Up Your Local Facebook Ads

Facebook advertising involves choosing an objective, setting up a campaign, selecting a budget optimization method, configuring the Ad Set, defining targeting parameters, and choosing placements. Let’s explore these steps for local ads.

1. Opt for the Store Traffic Objective

Facebook offers a wide range of advertising campaign objectives and options to cater to diverse businesses with varying goals. While strategic approaches exist to leverage different campaign types, local businesses aiming for heightened awareness should prioritize the “store traffic” objective.

Previously known as “local awareness,” the “store traffic” objective influences ad delivery and user experience across Facebook’s digital platforms. Its primary function is showcasing your local business to individuals within a specified radius of its physical location(s). This offers greater targeting and reach compared to traditional print advertising, along with increased flexibility in ad call-to-actions, which will be discussed later. Free guide » 7 Fundamental Facebook Advertising Tips that every advertiser should know.

2. Establish Your Local Ad Campaign

Initiate your Facebook local ad campaign by clicking the “+Create” button within your Facebook Ads Manager campaign tab. Choose the “store traffic” campaign objective from the list, as illustrated below, and provide a name for your campaign.

3. Determine Your Budget Optimization Type

The next step involves deciding whether to manage budget optimization at the campaign or ad set level. For simplicity, campaign-level budget optimization is recommended. This allows you to set a daily ad spend limit.

Alternatively, you can opt for a lifetime budget, specifying the desired duration for your ads to run.

4. Configure Your Ad Set

After setting your budget, move on to Ad Set configuration by clicking “next.” At this stage, you’ll select your business page and the physical “store” location:

If your store location doesn’t appear automatically or if you want to add multiple locations, click “Create a New Store Set.”

5. Define Your Local Targeting Parameters

With your brick-and-mortar business location(s) established, refine your targeting specifics. Scroll down to choose a start date (and optionally, an end date). You can also create an offer, which will prompt you to design it within the UI:

6. Establish Your Demographic Targeting

Facebook’s true power shines in demographic targeting. Refine your audience by age, gender, interests, and behaviors. For instance, a dance school targeting parents of young children can achieve this by searching and selecting relevant parameters:

While further narrowing down your audience is possible, it risks becoming too small. A small audience can hinder campaign efficiency and prevent reaching your desired budget due to the “daily unique reach” default delivery setting for store traffic campaigns. This limits ad delivery to individuals within your target audience once per day. Although some businesses can optimize delivery for “store visits,” Facebook currently limits this capability to a select group of advertisers.

7. Select Your Placements

It’s important to note that certain placements might be temporarily unavailable for store traffic objective ads due to COVID-19 restrictions, limiting them to the Facebook News Feed. This restriction’s current status may vary, potentially limiting ad delivery across other placements like the right column and instant articles. Opting for “automatic placements” should suffice in such cases.

Creating Your Local Facebook Ad Variations

After defining your targeting parameters, focus on creating your local ads. Aim for 3-4 ad variations, with a maximum of 5 per Ad Set. This aligns with how Facebook’s algorithm delivers, learns, and optimizes for performance. Begin by naming your ad and choosing your Facebook business page and Instagram business profile if applicable. You can either select the primary page or showcase local pages within the ads if you have multiple locations:

Next, choose an ad format: single image, video, carousel, or collection. If you need guidance, our detailed post on Facebook ad creative types and specs can be helpful. The carousel option for store traffic is particularly useful as it allows you to incorporate a map card highlighting your business location:

Store traffic ads stand out with their unique call-to-action options:

The ability to incorporate “call now”, “get directions”, and “send message” calls to action within a single campaign is distinctive to the store traffic objective. This allows you to experiment with different strategies, driving traffic to your website or connecting directly with potential customers through direct messaging or phone calls. Related: The 8 Best (Free!) Facebook Ads Courses for Each Learning Level.

Maximizing Your Facebook Local Ads

Setting up ads on Facebook is crucial for increasing awareness and driving foot traffic to your local business. However, digital paid advertising requires consistent monitoring, optimization, and testing. Let’s delve into key areas to focus on during ad campaigns for optimal budget utilization: Daily Spend: Given the geographic limitations of local targeting, ensure your campaign consistently spends the designated daily amount. If the campaign struggles to reach this limit, consider expanding your audience or adjusting the budget. Ad Fatigue: Monitor two primary metrics over time to assess whether your ads need refreshing: frequency and volume of link clicks. Access these Facebook ad metrics by clicking “columns” and selecting “performance and clicks.”

Frequency indicates how often an individual user has seen your ads over a specific period, while link clicks represent the number of users who clicked through. If you observe high frequency alongside declining link clicks after days or weeks of running your ads, it might be time to refresh your ad creative for that audience.

Building Local Awareness Through Facebook Ads

While paid advertising on Facebook can seem daunting for local businesses, familiarizing yourself with the platform reveals its user-friendliness. Consistent practice in running traffic-driving ads will inevitably improve your skills. Remember, the key to success on digital platforms often lies in experimenting with different ad copy and creative variations. As the expert on your business’s value, the odds of success are in your favor.