How to Use Facebook to Promote Your Local business

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A social media presence garners trust and visibility for every local business. That’s why having a profile on Facebook will get you more customers and grow your business.

Their intuitive advertisement options and their Facebook Groups are many advantages of having a profile. This article explores how to use Facebook to promote your local business. 

8 Easy Tips to Promote Your Local Business on Facebook

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1. Create a Facebook Business Page

Having an official Facebook business page is step one in creating a social media presence and promoting your brand. Unlike a personal page, a business page is more professional. Plus, it comes with page analytics that is useful in understanding your demographic and content. 

Take a look at this screenshot of how these insights look on the platform. 

A Facebook page can also act as a website if you haven’t invested in making one. For example, your Facebook page can contain all the content you would have published on your website. Remember to include name, address, phone number information, business hours, sales adverts, etc. 

Facebook pages are indexed by search engines, which is why it must be up-to-date so that your business will rank in organic searches through your FB page. 

So, step one - sign up on Facebook and follow the easy steps to get your business an FB page. 

Read: Tips to Get Facebook Recommendations for Local Businesses

2. Post Content Regularly

An active FB page that publishes content gives people the idea that your company and social media presence thrive. Unfortunately, most of these posts won't organically show up on your follower's timelines unless you run paid promotions.

However, it is still a great way to publish company updates, videos, and informational content on the page that adds value to your target demographic. 

For example, if clients are searching for your product information and you've posted an article about it on your FB page. It will show up in their FB search results. 

Plus, crawlers index all web pages, including Facebook pages. Therefore, any content you share on your page that fulfills a user's search query will appear in SERPs.

So, the main focus is to have a posting schedule that promotes:

• Company updates,
• Sale promos,
• Videos,
• Marketing campaigns, etc. 

3. Join Local FB Groups

When promoting your local business, it's important to go directly to your customers. That means joining local FB groups that fit your demographic and your niche. 

However, use a personal FB account when you join a group. That's because you want to organically and authentically promote your brand and not push your brand's content on group members. 

So, say you're a children's book store in downtown Little Rock. You'll benefit from joining local community FB groups where your target demographic are active. For example, you can join local Little Rock school groups, mommy and toddler FB groups, etc. 

Doing a quick FB search will bring up many groups you can join. 

Here’s what the results look like:

Once you've joined a group, start to promote your brand by:

• Organically interacting with the members' posts.
• Replying to comments on your posts.
• Post helpful articles and sale promotions that add value to the group.

4. Network On Professional FB Groups

You might think LinkedIn is an ideal place to network. However, FB groups that target professionals are also an excellent way to promote your brand and share information. Establishing your company in local business and industry groups will increase your brand's awareness and identity among your peers. 

Say you're a real estate agent in Dallas, and you're interested in meeting other agents or agencies. 

Simply conduct an FB search for Dallas Real Estate' and click on the 'Groups' tab to see a list of groups you can join. Take a look at this group that helps people connect with others to learn, affiliate, promote, buy or sell their product.

Networking in these groups will help you promote your business and keep you up-to-date on the latest happenings in your area.

To get the most out of these groups, you must stay active on them. Depending on your time constraints, dedicate 5-10 minutes (or more) each week or daily to network and grow your business.

5. Boost a Post

Another quick and effective way to promote your local business is to pay to promote your posts. You may have noticed a 'Boost Post' button on each of your posts. Clicking this button will turn your post into an ad. Take a look at this below example:

Facebook is excellent at narrowing down your client base. You can select from the different buyer personas and demographic segments that Facebook offers, and your ad will show up on their timelines. 

For example, say you're a beauty brand in Austin and promote a face cream. First, create a post, adding pictures, product information, and links to buy the product. Once published, click on the 'Boost Post' button. 

Facebook will then walk you through each step from budget to campaign length and target audience. 

The Key Thing Is To Make Sure To Boost A Post That:

• Will entice people to take the action you want, 
• Targets a wide local audience.

6. Make Local Awareness Ads

There are many levels to Facebook advertising, and Local Awareness ads are one. Essentially, these ads are optimized to 'reach' as many people locally as possible. At the same time, boosted posts encourage 'engagement' to people who are likely to click on the ad. 

There is a slight nuance between the two. However, these ads also give you the option to add call-to-actions such as 'call now' or 'get directions.' Therefore, making it very easy for local interested clients to take the desired action. 

Say you're a newly launched pet store with multiple locations. Creating Local Awareness ads for each location will target a demographic in each of those areas. Therefore, each location gets promoted to relevant people who are encouraged to click on your ad. 

Creating Local Awareness Ads Helps:

• Target demographics and the interests of potential customers,
• Promote it to clients within a 10-mile radius around your business location. 

7. Create Your Group

Facebook is a great platform to nurture and foster a community. Creating a group is essential for local businesses and professionals who rely on feedback and engagement with their clients.

A FB group is a space where users can interact with your brand. Thus, making is a great way to promote your business. It’s easy to create a group. Goto Groups and Create Group, then fill in the required details. 

Here’s how it looks:

Say you're a life coach in New York. Having a FB group gives your clients a platform to discuss your teachings, post their success and give feedback. Additionally, it's a great place to promote new courses because it targets repeat and interested clients. 

So, Having Your Own FB Group:

• Encourages a sense of community which helps with brand awareness and reputation. 
• Gives you control over what is posted and what content is being discussed. 

Therefore, you can control the narrative around your business. 

8. Publish more Video Content

Like other social media platforms, Facebook loves to promote video content organically. Users as well are enticed by videos more than text or picture posts. Therefore, you must create more video content for your FB page to promote your brand. 

With users spending several hours on Facebook Watch, your videos have a chance to get much exposure. 

For example, if you're a local cafe in Austin. Then you can create videos about your best-selling coffee drinks. Or you can do an FB live, showcasing the week's specials or upcoming events at the cafe. 

You can promote videos, so it reaches a local audience. Plus, whenever you do an FB live, it sends out a notification to your followers. Therefore, garnering more attention to your brand. 

Creating more video and live content will bring more awareness to your brand and its various locations. 

Read: Tips for Making Video Marketing Work for Your Local Business

Key Takeaways

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• Set up your FB Business page and update it with the correct name, address, and phone number (NAP) information. 
• Create a content posting schedule so that your page appears active. 
• Find FB groups that target your local demographic. 
• Interact with user posts and reply to comments on FB groups to boost engagement. 
• Curate more video content that entices your target demographic. 
• Schedule more FB lives that promote your business, company events, or products/services. 
• Run 'Location Awareness' ads to get more potential clients in your location.