Facebook Develops “Local Awareness Ads” For SMBs

Considering the massive increase in smartphone usage in recent times, being able to target users based on their geographic location has become an extremely valuable tool for small and medium-sized businesses across a multitude of industries. Facebook is meeting this interest with its new local awareness ads, which are primarily focused on mobile users.

Facebook’s new local awareness ad category can appear on desktop devices, but the tool is clearly more focused on reaching mobile users. Business owners can use Facebook’s Ads Create tool and can select “local awareness” ads from the available list, with the flow then following previous ad unit creation. The ads can also feature “get directions” if this is chosen by the advertiser. Marketers can select the targeting radius for which users will see the ad, however, this will only work if the user hasn’t turned off location services for Facebook on their smartphone.

Small businesses will be able to utilize this new tool to reach customers who are in their local area but may not even know that the business exists yet. Perhaps they’ll be on Facebook as they’re walking down the street and will be thinking about where to eat lunch, and at just that perfect moment, an ad for a local restaurant will show up in their News Feed.

Facebook’s announcement describes the specifics of the company’s expectations for the usage of this new tool. “With local awareness ads, businesses can quickly and easily find new customers by showing ads to groups of people who are near that business’s neighborhood,” Facebook explains. “Local awareness ads are built to be more cost-effective than traditional advertising channels like newspapers while offering more precise targeting and greater reach. We think they’re the best way for local businesses to reach people near them, and the best way for people who use Facebook to discover more useful things in their area.”

In a recent Gannett G/O Digital study, it was found that Offer Ads beat other categories, such as Promoted Posts, by a significant margin when it comes to their effectiveness. The study involved 1,000 U.S. consumers, and also found that the majority of respondents visited local Facebook Pages and looked at reviews before making a purchase offline. Based on these findings, the Gannett study indicates that Local Awareness Ads should feature an offer that will be attractive to users to ensure a strong impact.

Some marketers have raised concerns about the value and targeting methods of ads on Facebook, and have questioned the effectiveness of these advertisements. However, the new Local Awareness Ads could provide a new avenue for marketers who want to zone in closely on users as they are geographically close to their business, and the expectation is that many more of the 30 million Local Page owners will start running ad campaigns on Facebook as a result.

“Local awareness ads will roll out to advertisers in the U.S. over the coming weeks, and globally in the coming months,” explains Facebook. “Give them a try and see what they can do for your business.”