Facebook Advertising Strategies for Local Marketing

For some time it seemed that only those who had online businesses or digital products were found utilizing the internet for marketing purposes. It’s so very straight forward for virtual business owners to simply sit in front of their computer and integrate online marketing strategies to grow their business or sell their products.These days, there’s a bigger push for local businesses with physical locations to use the internet for internet marketing. Why, you may inquire? Without a doubt, because the times are changing and the vast majority of your market is virtually guaranteed online. Traditional advertising methods can still be used in your marketing combination in order to access even more of your target market but the internet should not be dismissed.Make Facebook Your Essential Business ToolExperts anticipated that the number of Facebook users would achieve the one billion milestone by August 2012. This is a tremendous worldwide number and your job is to find those in your target market amidst those one billion online users.First, create a fan page for your business. This is different from a personal profile and it’s very significant that you follow the Facebook Terms of Service. Some businesses have lost their Facebook profiles because they ignored this basic principle.As soon as your fan page is created, you have the option of adding a mailing list opt-in box to capture visitor email addresses. This adds them to your mailing list, which is a more direct way of building a relationship.You can even set up a special coupon code that the visitors receive after they “Like” your page. Everyone loves coupons and saving money therefore having a coupon will entice people to visit your physical location to redeem it.Optimize your fan page using your local keywords so your Facebook fan page will show up in the search engines. You can do this in the profile section.While you’re setting up your page and your special coupon codes, get in the practice of posting updates, asking questions, or offering tips for your visitors. Even though you may not have many visitors at the beginning, the key is to engage them in conversation. Get in the habit early on in this process and it will become second nature.Buying Facebook AdsCreating a fan page is a free and simplistic way to begin your local marketing efforts. The next step to maximizing Facebook is to buy a Facebook ad.Without doubt you have seen recently when visiting Facebook there are ads along the right side of your news feed. These ads are much targeted based on the keywords and other demographic information you used while setting up your ad.The object of using a Facebook ad is to find more members of your target audience. Facebook also allows you to create 4 different versions of your ad to test ad copy or to simply customize your ads for your different demographic groups.As soon as these Facebook users see your ad and are drawn in by the copy, they will land on your website landing page or your Facebook fan page. No matter what the final destination, the object is to have them subscribe to your newsletter or make a purchase.If you need help customizing your Facebook pages or writing compelling ads, consider hiring an internet marketing consultant. These experts can help you strategize the best way to use Facebook and often have graphic designers and writers on hand to design your pages and write your ads while you satisfy your current customers.