Secrets To Instantly Optimize Geo Targeting Facebook Ads 2024

When defining target audiences for any Facebook ad campaign, Geo Targeting Facebook or location targeting is the initial step every advertiser encounters. However, not all know how to make use of its true power. In today’s post, In this post, we’ll dive deep into techniques and secrets of Facebook location targeting to optimize any ad campaign.

What Is Geo Targeting Facebook?

Geo Targeting Facebook is a tool that allows you to target people based on locations like country, state/regions, cities, postal codes, addresses, DMAs (which stands for ‘designated market areas’), congressional districts, etc. 

Benefits of geo targeting Facebook ads

• Improve ad relevance: According to a recent study, 90% of consumers prefer personalized ads. With Facebook geo targeting, you can tailor your ad to people in different locations, increase ad relevance and engagement. 
• Stand out of the competition: Even when you are providing the best products or services in your area, if you don’t advertise, people can’t know it. At the same time, other local stores may be competing with you for the same customers. Using location targeting ads may help you stand out of the crowd and lead you to success.
• Find high-value customers:, You can use geo targeting to focus on people in specific areas that are more likely to convert. For example, if you are selling high end products, you may target people living in a wealthy neighborhood rather than broad targeting Facebook audience.
• Draw traffic from a local event or landmark: Every city has its places of interest or annual events which may attract a lot of visitors. Facebook location targeting is extremely useful to draw people from a local event or landmark near your stores. 

How can businesses benefit from geo targeting Facebook?

Let’s look at some examples of scenarios when you can apply geo targeting Facebook to launch ads to the right audiences:

• When you need to show offers to people near your retail store.
• When you want to tailor your ad content to different locations.
• When you want to target people who shop at your competitors’ locations.
• When you want to attract people visiting a location or  attending an event.

Beginner’s Guide On Geo Targeting Facebook (3 Steps)

Note: Meta location targeting update in 2024: Previously, advertisers could separately target ‘people living in a specific location’, ‘recently in a specific location’, or ‘traveling in a specific location’. However, Facebook has removed these geographical behavioral options, and now the default is to target ‘people who live in or recently in a location’.

Important: Facebook frequently updates changes and updates its ad settings. Follow our blog to stay informed about the latest changes.  

Here are basic steps to use Facebook geotargeting.

Go to Audience in Ad Set level

Go to Ad Manager > Create ad > Go to Ad Set level > Audience.

Select locations for your ad

You can select locations in 3 ways:

• Enter locations

You can enter the name of a country, city, state, region, congressional district, ZIP code, etc in the search bar. This option helps you target people who live there or recently in there.

• Browse locations

Another way is to browse for suggested locations, including countries, regions, and saved locations.

• Choose a location radius

By using Facebook location targeting radius, you can target people within a radius, as well as surrounding cities whose centers fall within the radius. 

To change a location radius, you can drag and drop the radius slider from 1 mile to 50 miles in the dropdown menu of a listed area in the location box.

You can also use Drop Pin to drop a pin anywhere in the map with a default radius of 10 miles.

Note: You can’t change radius when using a ZIP code or choosing a state, region or country. The default radius in these cases is an entire area.

Complete and publish your ads

Next, complete other steps as usual and publish your ads.

Techniques To Use Geo Targeting Facebook Successfully

Leverage location radius targeting

Location radius targeting is very useful when you want to target people who are near a specific place, such as your physical retail store.

You should consider your types of products/services to choose a suitable radius. 

For example, if you are selling products with dropshipping services, you can target a location radius of 50 miles to reach more people.

If you are advertising for a gym or a hotel, you can narrow down the radius to 5-10 miles to increase conversion rates.

Exclude specific locations wisely

Some areas within the location you choose may be harder to create sales than others. To avoid wasting your ad budget, you can select Add exclusions in order not to run ads in these areas. 

Target locations in bulk

If you already have a list of locations you want to target, you can save your input time with bulk upload. Here’s how to use it.

• Click Add locations in bulk on the bottom left of the location box

• Select Location type, and paste the location list in the blank box.

• Click Match locations
• Review your location list. You can remove or edit locations.

• Click Add locations to finish.

Note: Location bulk upload in Facebook is limited to 25 countries, 250 cities and 50.000 ZIP codes

Combine targeting options

Location targeting is just the first step to target the right audience. Therefore, don’t forget to combine location with other Facebook ad targeting methods to reach most likely customers for your product/service.

Run A/B test and analyze KPIs

• Use A/B testing to compare different locations.
• After 3-5 days running ads, review key performance indicators (KPIs) like click through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and engagement metrics to identify which locations work best. 
• You can decide to scale ads for locations with good ad performance, or pause ads for locations with poor performance to optimize your campaign.

Use an agency ad account

Using a Facebook Agency Ad Account can help you optimize ad metrics like CTR. It also provides exclusive features to measure ad performance and make data-driven decisions more easily.

Now you’ve known all basic steps and techniques for Facebook geo targeting. Let’s move to the most important part to win geo targeting Facebook ads.

Top Secrets To Optimize Geo Targeting Facebook Ads

Here, I’ve compiled top secrets to optimize geo targeting Facebook ads. 

Understand the local market

To run effective geo targeting Facebook ads, you should get to know the local market. This may include understanding local culture, demographics, consumer tastes, and identifying competitors.

For example, a coffee shop in Washington might find customers interacting best with ads featuring busy professionals and tech workers. While a Texas-based coffee shop could better connect with ads highlighting relaxation and social connections. 

Add a local touch

When creating ad content, don’t forget to add a local touch to make your ad more relevant and familiar to local people. 

For example, this Hungry Howie’s ad targets customers in Tempe, Arizona. They include ‘Tempe’ in their Facebook page name and the ad copy, with a custom website and a local phone number to connect with local customers.

Make use of local events

As I have mentioned above, geo targeting Facebook ads can significantly boost your business by tapping into a local event. For example, if a music festival is taking place nearby your coffee shop, you can offer a discount to people within the radius around the festival grounds to drive sales.

Localize your CTAs

A localized call to action (CTA) will be more relevant and compelling. You can easily localize your CTA by adding the name of the location.

For example, instead of just saying ‘Sign up for free coffee’, Pret used a CTA saying ‘Drop by Waterloo Station Pret and sign up for free coffee’.

Conclusion

Mastering geo targeting Facebook ads is the cornerstone of successful campaigns in 2024. By applying the techniques and secrets outlined in this guide, you can unlock the true power of this familiar feature to reach your potential customers, drive higher engagement, and ultimately boost your ROI.