The Step-By-Step Guide to Facebook Ads for Small Businesses

We see questions every day from small business owners in the home improvement sector wondering how to drive more leads. One of the best and easiest ways to start is by using facebook ads. Did you know that even in 2022 Facebook has nearly 2 billion daily users? It’s highly likely that your ideal target audience is among those users. In addition, Facebook ads are incredibly easy to create and customize. You can reach audiences based on their age, location, language, hobbies, interests and more..not to mention that it’s really budget friendly (you can spend $10 or $1,000,000 - totally up to you). For more info on using Facebook, be sure to check out our free podcast here. 

Getting started with Facebook Ads

Before you promote a Facebook ad for your small service business, you should make sure you know what call to action you want someone to perform when clicking on your ad. The best method is to create a form on your website that you drive traffic to. This form will help you qualify your leads and capture their information for future speed-to-lead or sales follow-up campaigns. You can also direct them to a phone number or any other action. Once you know what you want your leads to do when they click your ad, you’re ready to select the right audience.

Local Targeting using Facebook Ads

Local targeting, also known as geotargeting, creates a big impact by targeting specific geographic areas, neighborhoods, gated communities, ZIP codes, and more. In 2022, the most effective way to take advantage of Facebook ads is by using local targeting. Why?

• Hyper-relevant messaging. People see thousands of messages a day in their feed. Relevant messaging will help get them to stop scrolling. 
• People can drive by and see your work. When targeting local areas, people can visit your job sites and see firsthand that you’re legitimate, clean, and safe. This builds credibility for your brand. 
• Community. People love to do what their neighbors do. Social proof is key in a connected world. 
• Efficient use of budget. Targeting is a digital yard sign - a surgical, calculated way to reach the audience you want. 

When geotargeting, you want to get as local as possible. This means you’re not targeting your entire city, but instead focusing on suburbs, county, neighborhood, or even specific subdivisions. Don’t let the large audience size of larger areas tempt you! You don’t want to get TOO small, however. The ideal minimum audience size is around 10,000 people. Make adjustments until you find the right balance of area size and potential reach. That may mean you expand an area radius from three miles to five miles, for example. You can also search specific zip codes. This is especially helpful after storms hit your area and you might be able to help with damage. Find out which areas of town were hit the hardest and target those with timely messages

Once you’ve figured out the call-to-action and local area, it’s time to create some killer ads! The good news is that you don’t need a professional designer to do this. To find out how to make Facebook ads that work, download our free ebook, “The Facebook Ads Guide for Home Improvement.”