But that is easier said than done.

While Facebook ads are effective, many local business owners don’t know which objectives to choose for their ads. Choosing the wrong objective may lead to a low return on your investment and possibly a dreaded feeling that you’ve wasted money.

With that in mind, here’s my rundown of Facebook ad objectives to help you understand which objective makes the most sense for your business.

What are the Available Ad Objectives on Facebook?

When you create an ad for your business on Facebook, you can choose from 11 objectives divided into three categories: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion. Let’s review them.

1. Brand Awareness. These ads generally do not get a high click-through rate because their objective is to make people aware of your brand. They are best used as the first step in a campaign to attract new customers.
2. Reach. If you want to get your ad in front of as many people in your target audience as possible, this is the objective to choose. Here again, you may not get a ton of engagement, but you will be sure that your ad appears in your target audience’s feed.
3. Traffic. Traffic ads are designed to direct more traffic to the URL you choose, usually a link on your website. Facebook tracks only the number of people who click on your links, meaning that you’ll need to track conversions separately.
4. Engagement. On Facebook, engagement means likes, comments, and shares. If you want to get more people to engage with your content, this is the ad objective you should choose.
5. App Installs. This one’s self-explanatory. If you’ve got an app to sell or promote, chose App Installs as your objective.
6. Video Views. Have a video to promote? Choose the Video Views objective to get more people to watch your video. This objective is ideal for product demo and explainer videos.
7. Lead Generation. If you’ve got a great lead magnet to promote, the Lead Generation objective is ideal because it allows the people who see your ad to opt in and get your lead magnet without leaving Facebook.
8. Messages. Message ads are designed to get more people in your target audience to message your business on Facebook. They can be useful if you want to initiate conversations, answer questions, and nurture leads.
9. Conversions. If your goal is to get more people to take a specific action, such as adding an item to their cart, buying a product, or RSVPing to an event, this is the ad objective to choose on Facebook. It works best when targeted to people who are already familiar with your brand.
10. Catalog Sales. Another ad objective that may be effective when targeted to people who already know your brand is the Catalog Sales objective. You can use it to connect Facebook with your product catalog and display individual products to your audience.
11. Store Visits. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, this ad objective can help you entice more local customers to visit your store. To use it, you’ll need to make sure that your business location(s) are accurate in Business Manager. (Be mindful of this objective as recent changes to mobile operating systems like iOS 14 might negatively impact your results)

You should think first about which objective you want to achieve. Consider the options we’ve explained above. Then, choose the ad objective that will help you get there.

Which Facebook Ad Objective is Right for Your Business?

Now, let’s talk about which Facebook ad objectives make the most sense for local businesses. Some simply are not good choices if you’ve got a small audience to target.

Brand Awareness is a good objective, particularly if you feel like your competitors have more brand recognition than you do or if you haven’t been in business for long. Recency bias can get you started down the path of getting your audience aware of your business. It’s a good idea that the ad you create is a compelling representation of your brand, including your brand’s personality, voice, and ethics.

Unless you have a large audience, the Reach objective is probably not ideal. The goal for that objective is to reach as many people as possible. Most small, local businesses should steer clear of this objective.

Traffic can be a good objective for small businesses who want to get more people to visit their websites. However, you should make sure that you have a well-designed landing page before you spend any money on traffic. You need to give people a reason to stay on your website once they click the link. That reason should be very clear and we would recommend the objective is to capture a lead or opt-in. For instance, getting an email address or SMS Text numbering exchange for something of value.

Store Visits as an ad objective for local businesses was awesome. It’s arguably the most highly focused ad objective available. But, with recent changes to mobile operating systems and privacy concerns, leveraging this objective might need to be revisited as results may be skewed based on target users privacy preferences.

The key with this is to test and see how your ad costs and the results of your campaign area affected. The argument worth considering is the results may still be compelling as a customer who registers as an actual store visit may be more valuable to a business owner than say an ‘aware’ community.

If you decide to use the Store Visit objective make sure your location is and information is up-to-date. Its worth mentioning to target the ad to people who live within proximity to your store! Then test and expand your ad’s radius to see if it makes sense reaching people who aren’t necessarily within an easy traveling distance.

If you have an online store, then the Catalog Sales objective may be useful as well. It can help you show off your most popular products and get them in front of an audience. Again, targeting is going to be important. You should use this ad objective with an audience already familiar with your brand for the best results.

The Messages objective may be right for your company if you feel that you need one-on-one contact with customers to overcome their buying objections. However, you should only use this objective if you’re ready to monitor your messages and respond promptly when people write to you. A slow response time can undo any good you do with the ad itself. You may want to consider installing a chatbot in Facebook Messenger to send an immediate response.

Visiting your Facebook Ads Manager page will give you additional information and guidance as you create your ad. Remember, the ad objective you choose should be carefully selected to align with your business growth objectives for the best results.

Why? Facebook has more than 2 billion active monthly users.

Regardless of where your business is located or what you sell, the chances are excellent that a solid majority of your customers and potential customers have Facebook accounts.

The issue that keeps coming up is that many of the local businesses that have Facebook pages aren’t making the most of them. And that is a tragedy. Your Facebook Page can be a substantial marketing tool for your business!

Fortunately, there are some easy fixes you can make to turn your Facebook page into a powerhouse. Here’s what you need to know.

Choose a Recognizable Profile Picture

Your profile pic and your cover banner are the first things most people will see when they visit your page or see your content. That means it’s got to be clear and easy to recognize.

The most obvious option is to use either your company logo or your picture for your profile. The former makes sense if you have a business with a recognizable logo or one where people don’t automatically associate you with your business.

Use a photograph if you’re a freelancer or the kind of business owner who’s front and center of every transaction.

Either way, make sure your profile pic is the right size. You can find the details in Facebook’s guide, here.

Add a Compelling Cover Photo

Your cover photo takes up more space on your Facebook Business Page than anything else. For that reason, it’s got to be compelling and professional.

A lot of local businesses use an image of their storefront or the interior of their business as a cover photo. Others use a group photo of their staff – something that makes sense for a service-oriented business.

Make sure to use the proper dimensions for your photographs. Facebook changes the dimensions frequently – you can double check here.

Tip: A better idea is to have a compelling design that leverages a call to action such as ‘Click Here’ to encourage others to click on the page’s cover to get more information or to give something away.

What happens next when someone clicks on the cover banner is a light box or modal opens up on the screen with a side bar. It is here where a business can provide compelling text and link to a website to encourage others to opt-in to get something of value.

Unfortunately this is a missed opportunity to leverage Facebook to funnel all of that traffic back to your business for the purpose of building a list or selling your products or services!

Minimize Admin Access to Your Page

You’re busy and it might be tempting to give an employee access to your Facebook page, so they can post content while you handle other aspects of your business. There’s nothing wrong with that – until there is.

If you decide to delegate social media responsibilities to employees, make sure that you:

• Provide proper training about the type of content to be posted, your social media strategy, and the “voice” you want to use in your posts
• Make the parameters of their responsibilities clear
• Lay out the process for dealing with negative comments and complaints
• Limit access to one or two trusted employees at most

You can change your Page Access settings by clicking Settings > Page Roles.

Add a Call to Action Button

You know that your social media posts and emails all need a call to action at the end that tells people what to do next. The same is true of your Facebook Business Page.

In recent years, Facebook has added Call to Action Buttons for Business Pages. The button appears on the right side of your Facebook Business Page just underneath your cover photo. Some of the options available include:

• Call Now
• Book Now
• Learn More
• Watch Video
• Sign Up

Choose the CTA button that is most suited to your Facebook marketing goals. You can add it by clicking the “Add Button” button on your Facebook Business Page. If you already have a CTA button and want to change it, you can do it by hovering over the button until the “Edit Button” option appears. Click it and you’ll be able to select a new button for your page.

Don’t Neglect Your “About” Section

The “About” section of your Facebook Business Page is vital to your page’s success. People will click “About” to learn more about your business. If you don’t provide them with the information they need, they may decide not to follow you.

You should make sure to at least include your full business name, address, telephone number, hours, and the URL of your website. You should also consider optimizing the section that’s most likely to sell people on your business. For example, you might:

• Provide a detailed company history
• Explain your key product’s genesis and uses
• Share your mission statement and company values

It’s also a good idea to add some company milestones to your profile, including your founding date, the launch of a new location or product, and key anniversaries.

Check Your Metrics

One of the most common Facebook marketing mistakes is failing to use the free tools that you get when you sign up for a Facebook Business Page. You might not know it, but Facebook Insights provides a ton of useful information about the people who follow your page and what they want to see.

The best way to use Facebook Insights is to track your engagement. I recommend focusing on:

• The times of day most people see your posts
• The kinds of content that get the most engagement

For example, you might look at Facebook Insights and discover that more people read your posts between 9 AM and noon on weekdays than at any other time. You might also discover that your video content is leaving other content types in the dust.

Using that information, you can then create a content strategy that will allow you to get the maximum organic reach for your content.

Promote Your Content

Speaking of content, are you publishing content consistently?
Your potential and existing customers want to consume your content! When was the last time you posted something?

How often are you posting? Once a month? Once every 4 months?

Recency bias has a big part in how much your audience engages with your Page. Posting infrequently just isn’t going to cut it. You have to have a content marketing strategy which incorporates consistent and ongoing publishing that helps you connect with your audience!

It is also worth mentioning that increasingly, Facebook has tweaked its algorithm to prioritize personal content and minimize the reach of businesses. They say it’s because it’s what users want, but it’s also a way for them to maximize their ad revenue.

Either way, the only way to be sure that your content is seen by your followers is to promote it. I don’t recommend doing that with everything you post. But, if you’re sharing something important – like an event or a new product launch – it makes sense to drop a bit of money and promote your content.

Facebook marketing is like anything else – you get out of it what you put into it. Your Facebook Business Page is where it all starts. Use the tips here to get the most from your page and turn your Facebook marketing into the powerhouse it should be.