During last month’s “April showers of knowledge” recap we mentioned something about May flowers, didn’t we? And here they are! This colorful assortment of blog post summaries from the merry month of May has been arranged to meet your digital marketing needs. And of course, arrange the reading order as you prefer. Each summary has a link to take you to the full post.

Digital Flower Power Leads Up to June’s Big Event with May’s Recap

As you catch up with May’s blooming, info-packed posts, remember: the Rocks Digital Marketing Conference is right around the corner on June 29 & 30, 2018!

Is this Thing On? They’re Talking About Your Content…

Are you creating content? Then you need to read what Elijah Masek-Kelly shared with us. Leverage your expertise, get your content out into the world and promote it. Outreach strengthens reputation. Find out here how to improve your reach.

What Are Your Video Assets Worth?

10 tips for managing and making the most of your video assets are broken down by Matthew Dunn, so you can understand what you have to work with. Don’t get overwhelmed – you don’t have to master it all at once. Use these tips to get organized and the management will be much easier.

Cue the Music with the Facebook Sound Collection

When you shoot video, do you have a soundtrack in mind? But then you find out you can’t USE that music due to copyright issues? Anesha Collins introduces us to the Facebook Sound Collection, and clues us in on how best to use this great new resource.

An Open and Shut Case for Using Video

Have you gotten into using video content marketing yet? Visual content is an extraordinary way for you to get your content noticed. Moss Clement makes the case for why video content is important – and shares tips to help your video investments pay off.

Put Your Website Traffic in the Fast Lane

First tip, make sure you’re optimized for mobile. Give your website traffic the roadway it needs (mobile-friendly) and it will make the ride much easier. Makki Jaqwani maps out other tips for making the cruise an easy ride for your website traffic, and helps us navigate the potential potholes and roadblocks with ease.

Size Matters – But Not the Way You Think It Does

Bigger isn’t always better, especially when you’re talking SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Eric Johnson clues us in on why engagement is more important than the length of the content, and how short articles can still be front-page worthy.

Feeling Invisible in Facebook’s Feed?

As most everyone is aware, our friends at Facebook decided that they wanted to shift our newsfeeds to see less business-related content and more “meaningful interactions.” (I changed my “see first” list to ALL small businesses, out of spite). Manuela Gadancheva gives us some super tactics to get back some of the Facebook traffic you may have lost, and to stay visible using Facebook Groups.

Is Your TLD Top Banana?

In the history of The Internet, .COM, .NET and .ORG have been the primary Top Level Domains (TLDs) for websites. But there’s a lot more choices now, and Bill Hartzer walks us through gTLDs (Generic Top Level Domains) with a look at .CARS, and how we can leverage these new domains to our advantage.

BOOM! Online Launch Tips that Will Rock Your World

Veleisa Burrell gives four tips that are the absolute bomb for rolling out a launch! Three keys to a fantastic launch and one cautionary note. Hint: Surprise Launch does NOT mean “unplanned.” Drop it like Queen Bey, no Kanye mic drop moments allowed!

Fantastic Voyage

How do you make sure your potential clients have a great customer journey? Harley David Rubin shares tips on how to map out the best possible customer experience both online and offline. Have app, will travel!

Plant May’s Posts in Your Digital Mind

From pivoting to counter Facebook adjustments, moving to smooth out your customer journey, to the ever-increasing value of video and more, these posts are filled with helpful and actionable info. It was a joy to gather this blooming bouquet for you and your clients! Get to gardening – and as always, bookmark this convenient recap for easy reference – you will thank yourself.

Plus, we wind up June with the Rocks Digital Marketing Conference 2018. And, you know what they say… What happens at Rocks Digital… well, come find out for yourself!

Blooming w/ #DigitalMarketing Goodness – Pure Flower Power! by @LauraDarkstar #RocksDigital
Click To Tweet

Have a favorite pick in this bunch? Let’s hear your thoughts! And do click to let your circle have a look at this great info.

The post Blooming with Digital Marketing Goodness – This May Recap Is Our Version of Flower Power! appeared first on Rocks Digital.

Most of us are quite aware of the latest Facebook News Feed update. To review, Facebook recently changed its News Feed algorithm with the sole attempt (according to them) to offer users more relevant information from their friends, family, and groups they’ve liked.

Mark Zuckerberg’s take on the change was: “You’ll see less public content like posts from businesses, brands, and media. And the public content you see more will be held to the same standard – it should encourage meaningful interactions between people.”

It seems that Facebook’s latest News Feed tweak won’t be the last aimed towards bringing more interesting topics to people’s timelines and fighting spammy posts.

Don’t Panic – Businesses Can Adapt to this Facebook News Feed Update

So what does this mean for your local business? Since the official announcement of the update, you have probably noticed а drop in your local business page’s organic reach and user engagement metrics, including impressions, page views, user reactions to your posts, comments, video views,and shares. This means that your followers’ news feeds show more photos and videos of a classmate’s newborn baby or a colleague’s summer travel adventure, and fewer updates from your business page.

But there’s no need for you to panic. Whether you’re managing a law firm, a restaurant with multiple locations, or a dental practice, the key to success is to adapt your social media marketing strategy in order to gain advantage from the update.

Тhe latest News Feed update won’t affect you if you keep the following tips in mind:

• Despite the decline in organic reach for business pages, authentic and high-quality content will show higher in News Feed
• Live videos and event updates will rise to the top
• Promoting your Facebook updates will help you grow your audience and re-engage with your current followers
• Interacting within Facebook Groups is what you need. Just look into your News Feed – you will see many posts from the most popular and active groups that you’re a member of, and fewer from the business pages that you follow

Again, Facebook Groups is the key to overcoming the negative effect from Facebook’s News Feed update.

5 Tested Tactics to Navigate the Facebook News Feed

Below we’ve listed five tips and tactics that will help you take advantage of Facebook Groups’ potential, spark a conversation around your brand, and nurture meaningful engagement with Facebook users.

1. Browse for Relevant Industry and Local Groups

Finding active Facebook Groups that are relevant to your industry, location and target audience will help you generate new connections with industry peers and potential customers.

Join industry-focused groups, where you can discuss with other experts the trends, studies, innovations, and events related to your field. For example, Trapped in an Op is a Facebook Group for dental hygienists who share their experiences and opinions on building a career in the dental hygiene niche.

If you’re a pediatrician with a practice in Dallas, Texas you can join local moms’ groups like the one in the example below, and discuss specific treatments, educate, or even inspire the given community.

Use groups to listen to your target audience. You can share your knowledge by replying on users’ requests for recommendations.

2. Create Your Own Facebook Group

As an admin or a moderator of a group you have the power to decide what topics will be drawn to the attention of the given community. Invite your current customers, partners, vendors, and other local businesses to join your community. Just be aware that managing a group requires a lot of commitment and hard work. You should keep your group active by regularly asking questions, sharing tips and informative articles. That way, you can always be at the forefront of group member news feeds, as well as being top-of-mind.

3. Take Advantage of Polls

Polls allow you to ask group members anything you want! Use this free Facebook feature to learn the needs and problems of group members, to better tailor your offerings and provide custom solutions.

4. Use Groups as a Testing Ground for New Ideas

You can get opinions on new products, services, brand logos, colors, or anything related to your business.

Groups are free tools to see user reactions and get feedback on your ideas. This will help you save time and energy, and avoid creating something your customers won’t like in the end.

5. Grow Your Email List with Irresistible Incentives

Groups can help you build an email list for your business.How? That’s easy – just offer freebies to people when they submit their contact information. Incentives may include free webinars, free procedures at your beauty salon, or gift vouchers for a hot drink at your coffee shop.

Create a special post with the offer and pin it to the top in order to make it more visible to new members.  

Get Active with Groups and Conquer the Facebook News Feed!

In the long run, this Facebook News Feed update will actually boost small business owners who generate content consistently relevant to their local area.

If you haven’t considered focusing on Facebook Groups as part of your social media marketing strategy, now’s the time to do so! Taking part in community groups can help you show your expertise in the field to prospects, who are seeking valuable information and looking for solutions to their problems. Moreover, by listening and responding to user comments, you will foster engagement and expand the social media presence of your business.

How #Facebook Groups Can Help You Stay Visible by @OptiLocal #RocksDigital
Click To Tweet

Did reach and user engagement for your business page shrink? Have any experience with, or plans for Facebook Groups? Share your thoughts in the comments. 

The post How Facebook Groups Can Help You Stay Visible appeared first on Rocks Digital.

The creation of the Facebook Sound Collection acknowledges that music is indeed one of the most important elements in any visual project. Its presence is heavy in movies, stage plays, commercials and more. Think about the last time you watched a movie scene, and how the music during a particular scene made you feel. Maybe it was during a horror film where the deep sound of mixed musical instruments kept you on the edge of your seat. Maybe it was a romantic movie filled with classical or operatic music selections that made the scene even more believable, and made you fall in love all over again; even if you’re single.

Cure the Copyright Blues with the Facebook Sound Collection

But what do you do when music copyright is an issue, or the use of music found on YouTube doesn’t work on a platform like Facebook? It’s no secret that Facebook has been pushing video content on its platform heavily, ever since the latest major platform updates announced back in January of 2018. Facebook has shared that live videos or videos that foster organic engagement within the community will take priority, but music is still a problem for content creators – if they don’t have a reliable resource to use. And this is where Facebook’s Sound Collection comes into the conversation.

Color-grading, lighting, location, and having a vision for a visual project goes a long way, but a seasoned videographer also knows that musicplays a huge role in how viewers connect with what they’re watching. What they hear matters just as much as what they see. Music can make or break a video production, which can result in decreased or no engagement from viewers.

Visuals have a way of swaying our emotions, but music has a way of making them real.

The new Facebook Sound Collection feature is a great way for video content creators to really connect with viewers and organically engage. With track selections ranging from eclectic, pop, classical, hip-hop and other popular genres, this new feature is a great way for content creators to easily add music to visual content that will be featured on Facebook.

Facebook Sound Collection is a tool to help those that are producing video content gain access to free music and sound effects that can be used in their videos promoted to or pushed on Facebook. This feature is still new, with roughly less than 1,000 music tracks and a bunch of sound-effect options. Facebook’s Sound Collection is also accessible via mobile application, which is a major plus for content creators on-the-go, or content creation updates that may occur at the last minute.

7 Tips to Use Facebook Sound Collection Most Effectively

• Spend some time thinking of content ideas before immediately jumping to what music to use.
• Use your website and Facebook Insight data to determine what your audience connects with best. For instance, some viewers connect with emotional content more than serious and thought-provoking content. And some viewers want to be educated, not entertained.
• Develop a Content Creation Strategy for your video content.
• Review your final content to better assist with selecting the right music to use.
• Locate Sound Collection under the Publishing Tool on your Facebook Business page.​
• Spend some time listening to the music that’s featured within the Facebook Sound Collection. Really pay attention to what will connect with your
• Match your visual content with the music available in Sound Collection, and follow the prompts to add this music to your visual content.

Video Content Marketing Will Only Continue to Grow

Analytical data also shows that videos are here to stay, and that video marketing will continue to take over in 2019. This is the perfect time to learn more about how music really allows viewers to connect with visual content, and a great place to start finding some of that music is the Facebook Sound Collection!

Your audience is looking at your visual content for a solution, and your visual projects can definitely serve in that capacity. Why not also make it more pleasant to see and hear?

Challenge yourself to use music to have an even greater emotional effect on your audience, or to increase engagement with an educational piece you’re delivering – with visual content you’ve developed– so your content connects and conversion increases.

What about YouTube?

While Facebook is working hard to be the go-to platform to showcase video content, and has thus far proven that quality video content works very well – for those that are planning their video marketing content strategically –  leaving the SEO-powerhouse platform YouTube is not recommended at all! In fact, it’s best to push both platforms accordingly, as your audience on YouTube may not be the same audience as on Facebook.

The Facebook Sound Collection Shows that Music Matters

I trust this introduction to the Facebook Sound Collection is a sound reminder (pun intended) about the power of music, and how it can truly help your marketing strategy. Review the tips above, and really take time to preview the tracks that are in the Sound Collection, as we know that music does matter – and a track can quickly determine whether your content gets a play or a pause.

As always, think about how you can connect even more with your audience. Focus on what they need from you, plan your strategy, and then use your visual content to give them what they need. Now add music to this content via Facebook Sound Collection, and see how you connect with your audience even more!

Spice Up Your #Videos with Free #Facebook Sound Collection #Music by @aneshacollins #RocksDigital
Click To Tweet

What are your thoughts about using the Facebook Sound Collection? Do “sound off” and share in the comments!

The post Spice Up Your Videos with Free Music Courtesy of Facebook Sound Collection appeared first on Rocks Digital.

Have you been working on your brand’s Facebook page? Facebook is often considered the “original” social media network and, even though some similar technologies were produced prior to the its launch, this particular social platform has become the most widely used of its kind today. According to Zephoria, Facebook now has more than 2.13 billion users who sign into their Facebook account once or more each month. The social media giant continues to experience a 14% increase in their user accounts each year. There’s also more than 1.15 billion people who sign into their Facebook account daily from a mobile device.

Frustrated by Facebook? Not So Fast – You Really Can Improve Your Brand’s Facebook Page!

While Facebook offers the average user a great way to stay in touch with colleagues, friends and family, this platform also offers numerous benefits to businesses that would like to reach their target markets. The platform has launched several tools that make it easy for businesses to create their own profile on Facebook, and to promote their business to potential leads and customers across the entire Facebook network.

Build Your Brand’s Facebook Page with Tips from Start to Finish

Getting started seems to be a little confusing for some business owners; thus we have decided to provide a complete overview of tips that will help you create a winning Facebook page for your brand, and ultimately reach your target audience through an effective social media marketing strategy on this platform.

Setting Up the Perfect Facebook Business Page to Represent a Brand

It all starts with the set-up of your page on Facebook. While it’s important to plan and strategize how you would like to configure your business page on this network, it is essential that you do not overcomplicate things. There are some vital pointers that should be noted before you set out to hit that “Create a Page” button on Facebook, so let’s start with these first:

• Avoid the creation of a separate Facebook profile specifically geared toward your brand. This can be confusing, as your target audience would have to send your business a “Friend Request” if they wish to follow you on Facebook or communicate with you. Stick to the tools that Facebook offers your brand – a professional business page.
• There is no need to create a professional profile for yourself that is separate from your personal Facebook profile. This will not only put you in the red with Facebook, since it’s against their terms of use, but it will also make things more confusing.

Once you’re ready to create your business page, all you need to do is log into your Facebook profile and click on the “Create a Page” link. Here, you are presented with a list of page type options – it is important to choose the correct page type that represents your business.

• Do not configure your page as a “website” when you have a local address.
• At the same time, do not claim to be a local business if your entire company is based on the internet!
• You also need to give your Facebook Business Page a professional name that will be representing your brand – be sure to use your brand’s name, as using a name like “weight loss supplements” or other describing names will not allow people to recognize your brand name.

Optimizing the Facebook Page to Build the Brand

After your page has been successfully created, it’s time to set it up so that it will represent your brand in a professional way. ThriveHive explains that some of the most important elements that should be included on the Facebook Page of every business include:

• A cover photo that represents what the brand offers its customers. The cover photo should be a high-resolution image, and you need to ensure you use the right dimensions for the photo. The ideal dimensions for a Facebook cover photo are 828 pixels by 315 pixels.
• A profile photo should also be uploaded as soon as the page has been created. The profile photo should be simple and not seem too busy. It should also clearly represent your brand – when someone looks at the profile photo, they should be able to recognize your brand from it. A good option is to use your brand’s logo.
• You also need to ensure you configure the “CTA” button that Facebook offers every page. This call-to-action button can be configured to point to your brand’s website, to allow the user to fill out a contact form, or to point them to your location on a map. There are other options as well – choose the one that best suits the method you’d like people to use when they communicate with your brand.
• The about section of a brand’s page is very important. This section should not contain an essay that explains every aspect of the brand, but rather a summary to provide a quick, yet useful overview of what the brand can do for the consumer.
• Be sure to link your Facebook page to your brand’s website, as well as to link to other social profiles on Twitter, Instagram, and other social networks. This will help to drive more traffic to your brand’s profiles on other social platforms as well.

Tips to Make Managing Your Page a Painless Task

Setting up your brand’s Facebook Business Page is an essential step to succeeding on this particular social media platform, but it is only the first step that should be taken when you wish to reach your target audience, improve your brand awareness, and drive more traffic and potential leads to your brand’s website. The next step is to properly manage your Facebook page. There are numerous ways in which you need to manage your page – and by failing in any area, you could be compromising the effectiveness of your social media marketing campaign.

Here’s a few tips to help make the management of your Facebook Business Page more efficient, effective, and a less-painful task:

• Frequently publish posts to your timeline – try to find a consistent posting schedule, such as once or twice per day. This will allow your followers to become aware of when they can expect new posts from you.
• Only post high-quality content, and never publish personal posts on your Facebook Business Page. When posting to your business page, also ensure you are posting as your brand and not as your personal profile, as that could create a less professional impression about your brand.
• Try to post a variety of content types. Include text, infographics, videos, photos and links. The combination of content types will ensure your page stays interesting.
• Always ensure you manage your page’s roles effectively. Only provide access to your brand’s page to individuals who have been instructed to work on the page – and ensure you only grant those individuals the permissions they need to do their jobs. Any person who gains access to your brand’s page should also be trained in social media management, and they should know what to post, when to post, and how to post.
• When your page has been active for a while, you should take a look at the statistics and reporting tools provided by Facebook, known as Facebook Insights. The information provided by these tools is very helpful in determining what type of content performs better than others. This will help you know which type of content you should post more of, and which ones you may consider avoiding in the future.
• Once you have a few posts published on your page’s timeline, you should consider choosing one particular post to be pinned to the top of your timeline. This post will always be seen first by anyone that visits your page, so be sure it’s a post that holds value for the visitor.
• Avoid continuously posting links to your website – this will make your page seem like spam. Instead, deliver posts with value for the visitor and the audience that is already following your brand. Share tips and tricks, tutorials, news broadcasts, downloads, and any other relevant information that they will find useful.
• To increase your page views, page likes, post likes and post shares, consider using Facebook Ads. This is one of the most affordable advertising platforms on the internet, and many businesses have had a lot of success by utilizing the built-in ads platform on Facebook. It’s really easy to get started with Facebook Ads, and you don’t need to invest thousands of dollars before you can get your first ad to go live. 

As Facebook continues to grow, more and more businesses are starting to create a presence for themselves on this social media platform. Facebook is now a part of most social media marketing campaigns executed by businesses – both large and small – and has many opportunities and tools that make reaching your desired target audience not only easy, but also affordable.

Manage Your Brand’s Facebook Page for Best Results

For those new to social media management on Facebook, it may seem a little daunting to get started, but once you learn about what makes a good Facebook business page and how you can manage your page for the best results, things turn out to be exciting. In this post, we provided a guide to creating the perfect page to represent your brand on this huge social media network, and we offered some useful tips that will make managing your brand’s presence on Facebook easy, convenient, and hassle-free.

Managing Your Brand’s #Facebook Page for Better Results by @McGrathStevan #RocksDigital
Click To Tweet

How is that working for the brands you represent? Do share your thoughts and experiences in the comments!

The post Managing Your Brand’s Facebook Page for Better Results appeared first on Rocks Digital.

Facebook Live can be a powerful way to grow your community and get more reach. But it can be somewhat intimidating to broadcast your very own livestream. You will probably worry that you don’t know what to say, or feel frustrated and unsure of just what topics to cover.

Feel the Fear, and Facebook Live Anyway!

When trying something for the first time, a little apprehension is quite understandable, and that surely goes for “going live.” But you really don’t need to fear, because in this post you’ll find a few accessible ideas to get you started!

7 “Dive Right In” Approaches to Using Facebook Live

Idea #1 – Tell a Story or Share an Experience

Personal stories are a fantastic way to start your livestream. Try sharing a story about a customer service experience you had, talk about your favorite mentor who inspired you to start your own business, or explain how you came to be in your current field of expertise.

Idea #2 – Review a Book, Chapter-by-Chapter

Pick a book and deliver one livestream per chapter. During your live broadcast, share a few thoughts on each chapter and how it’s impacting you. If you’re not sure what to say, look in the back of the book for a discussion guide or check the publisher’s website for an easy-to-use guide. Just be careful you’re not sharing their content as your own… remember to give credit where it’s due!

Idea #3 – Announce New Products or Services

Use Facebook Live to talk about or introduce your new product or service. Not only will your existing customers appreciate hearing the news, but you may also attract viewers who turn into customers after learning about your latest offering. Remember, it’s not about being salesy. Always deliver value in whatever content you share.

Idea #4 – Show Appreciation and Thank Someone

Take a moment to publicly thank someone. This could be someone you’re close to, like your brother or sister or your mom or dad. It could also be a friend or mentor who guided you through a difficult time, or a customer who shared a lightbulb moment because of their work with you.

Idea #5 – Deliver a Quick Tips Post

Outline three quick tips you could share with your audience that relate to a niche you serve. For example, if you’re in health & wellness, you could share 3 quick tips for eating clean. Or as a dating coach, tips on how to gently let down a person you don’t feel a romantic connection with.

Idea #6 – Interview Someone

You can use a tool like BeLive or BlueJeans to interview guests on your livestream. Pick interviewees who are comfortable on camera and that have valuable content to share with your viewers relating to a theme or key topic.

Idea #7 – Share a Tutorial

Think about a topic you get asked about frequently and use your Facebook Live to create a tutorial. For example, if you’re in the beauty niche and you get questions about how to create flawless eyebrows, turn that into a livestream. You could do a demonstration or explain your process step-by-step, and why you take each step.

Regardless of what you share on your Facebook Live video, be sure to pay attention to the comments. Keep in mind that viewer engagement will significantly boost your rankings on Facebook, leading to even more views and shares for your business page!

Leverage the Livestream with Facebook Live

Almost everyone understands the power of video, and your customers and customers-to-be increasingly rely on the information they glean from it. The livestream format is another key piece of your brand’s social media outreach, so dump those doubts about going live, and use these 7 ideas to help show just what your brand is all about!

Want to Go Live? Get Started with 7 Great Ideas for #Facebook Live by @TweetTanyaSmith #RocksDigital
Click To Tweet

Which “dive right in” idea seems best for your brand? Share your enthusiasm – or reservations – in the comments!

The post Want to Go Live? Get Started with 7 Great Ideas for Facebook Live appeared first on Rocks Digital.

Are you managing a Facebook page for a local business? Still considering whether to use Facebook advertising? Wondering how you can get more foot traffic to your storefront or generate more calls using Facebook?

Facebook Advertising – An Important Key to Local Reach

Advertising to the right audience and using the right set of tools is the key to reaching more potential customers and outshining the competition.

Essentials for Location-Based Facebook Advertising

The following 4 tips can help you better utilize the latest Facebook location-based advertising features and to adjust and fine-tune your message so you can appeal to your target audience.

1. Choose the right local marketing objective.

Facebook is a social network where people usually tend to hang out with friends, have fun, and get the latest news. However, with the right selection of Facebook advertising tools you can reach the right audience and make them aware of your brand and services. Facebook ads can give a nudge to potential customers to find out more about you, to make a buying decision, or to recommend your business to their friends and relatives who may also need your products or services.

Depending on your local marketing goals, you can opt from a large pool of Facebook ads to promote your business.

Begin your ad creation by choosing the objective of your Facebook campaign.

However, there are two ad types aiming to meet the needs of local businesses: Reach and Store Visits. If you have a single business location, use the first ad campaign type while defining your service area. It enables you to show your ad to people who are currently situated near the selected area, and not waste your money on Facebook users who are unlikely to be interested in your offer.

On the other hand, the Store Visits objective is only available to businesses with multiple locations that have enabled the Locations feature.

2. Experiment with your targeting.

Facebook’s advertising allows you to combine multiple targeting approaches. You can target potential customers by location, demographics, interests, and behaviors. You can also reach people who have already interacted with your business on Facebook, your website, through offline channels, or other platforms.

Facebook allows extremely detailed location-based targeting. Your targeting can be as broad as a country or state, or as narrow as city, neighborhood or ZIP code. You can include one or multiple locations, as well as prevent your ads from appearing for people that fall into a specific location.

You can refine your target audience based on their spatial behavior – whether people are currently living near your business, or they are just visiting or passing by. This type of information is determined by the city mentioned in the Facebook user profile, and is also based on the device and connection information that Facebook collects.

However, to get the most out of your local Facebook ads, add more layers of audience information like age range, gender, hobbies, income, and behavior data. As with the location targeting, in the “Detailed Targeting” section you also have the option to include or exclude people.

When creating a niche audience for your ads, take these peculiarities into account:

• When you add criteria to the “Include people” or “Exclude people” fields, you will include or exclude users who meet at least one of the listed criteria.

Let’s say you are a realtor based in Oakland, California. Your target audience will consist of people who are likely to be new movers, who have updated their current city to Oakland in the past 6 months, or people who have recently married and are looking for a home with their partner.

• Use the “Narrow” options when you want people to meet all target requirements:

This time your ads will be shown to people who are newlyweds, have an estimated household income between $250K and $350K, and don’t own a home.

• Be careful with the interest targeting options because you may serve your ads to your competitors and suppliers. Incorporate behavior and demographic targeting to enjoy much better results.

If you own a barber shop in Denver, Colorado, your target audience will be men between 18–65 who invest in men’s grooming services and products. Don’t forget to exclude your competitors – barber stylists and hair designers.

3. Boost conversions with call-to-action buttons.

When making the ad creative, take some time to choose the right call-to-action (CTA) button to get people to engage with your business. Although Facebook doesn’t allow you to craft your own unique CTA, you can pick one from a wide range of predefined CTA buttons. Here’s a list of the most relevant buttons that will help potential clients instantly reach your local business:

• The “Book Now” button is best suited for hotels, holiday homes, restaurants, beauty salons, spas, automobile mechanics, local attractions, and vacation rentals
• The “Call Now” button is a good choice if you are a service provider, for example: a plumber, an electrician, a locksmith, a house cleaner, or an air conditioner expert. The button makes it convenient for potential customers to reach you directly from their mobile phones
• “Get Directions” is a perfect add-on to ads promoting local stores, law firms, dental or medical clinics, since these services require face-to-face contact in the business’ venue. The ad will automatically redirect customers to their navigation apps installed on their phones
• The “Save” button is a good fit for your brick-and-mortar business because it enables people to save your business address, so they can easily visit you when in need
• If you manage a local restaurant and have uploaded a menu on your page, you can add the “See Menu” button to your ads
• Use “Learn More” when you need to explain why customers should choose your products or services over competitors. For this type of CTA it’s crucial to ensure that you use original and engaging content on the landing pages associated with your ad

Test different approaches to your CTAs, because your target audience will respond differently to distinct stimuli.

4. Create special offers that can be redeemed offline.

Linking the online activities to actual sales results is of great importance to plan out your future marketing strategy. Your current Facebook followers and prospects are more likely to take action for a targeted offer.

Facebook Offer ads enable you to share discounts and coupon codes with your targeted audience and drive foot traffic to your physical store.

You can upload promo codes and barcodes, set an expiration date, and limit the number of people who can view your offer.

There are two ways to promote your offer:

• Set up an offer through your business page and then boost it by choosing your targeting audience and budget:

• In Ads Manager, select one of these three campaign objectives: Traffic, Conversions, or Store Visits, and then activate the Offer

Facebook Advertising – A Local Game-Changer

Ads are a vital part of Facebook’s News Feed, and uncovering the nitty-gritty of Facebook ad features will help you master the intricacies of your Facebook local business page management process.

Having a smartly predefined target audience, a clear message that is consistent with your ad and landing page, and an irresistible offer is a game changer for your local marketing efforts.

The sooner you implement the above tips, the better you’ll connect with your local audience!

Expand the Reach of a #Business: Make the Most of #Facebook Advertising by @OptiLocal #RocksDigital
Click To Tweet

How are you using Facebook advertising to promote your local business? Share your experience with us in the comments!

The post Expand the Reach of a Local Business: Make the Most of Facebook Advertising appeared first on Rocks Digital.