Facebook adverts now follow you to the shop with 'local awareness' posts
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Corner shops may be small but their presence is set to get a whole lot larger, thanks to a new feature being rolled out by Facebook.
'Local awareness' adverts will be shown to Facebook users who are in a firm's neighbourhood, in a bid to drum up new business.
The adverts are designed to be quick and easy for small businesses to create, as well as providing Facebook users with relevant adverts showcasing what they can find in their local area.
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'Local awareness' adverts will be shown to Facebook users who are in a firm's neighbourhood, in a bid to drum up new business. This image shows what an advert might look like - complete with buttons that allow viewers to get directions to visit the store, like it and leave a comment
'We think they're the best way for local businesses to reach people near them, and the best way for people who use Facebook to discover more useful things in their area,' the California-based social network said.
The tool promises to be more cost-effective and precise than traditional methods such as placing an advert in a local newspaper for small businesses.
Shop owners will be able to select the 'local awareness' option in the Ads Create tool to make their adverts.
When a user passes near that shop, their add will appear on the mobile site, or app.
They must then select the Page of the business they want to promote and enter its address as well as the radius around the shop that they want to advertise in.
A map will show shopkeepers the areas covered by the advert and Facebook's system will use the information to select an audience for the advert, including people who live nearby and those that have recently been nearby the shop in question. Business owners can also select the audience they target by age and gender (pictured)
A map will show shopkeepers the areas covered by the advert and Facebook's system will use the information to select an audience for the advert, including people who live nearby and those that have recently been nearby the shop in question.
Business owners will be able to choose the age and gender of the audience they wish to reach, as well as set a budget and the duration that they want the advert to run.
'Based on your settings, we'll show how many people you can expect to reach each day your ad runs, Facebook said.
Business owners will be able to select the imagery and text for their advert.
'Our conversations with advertisers have shown that when it comes to driving in-store sales, an ad's reach is far more important than the engagement it receives (things such as clicks, comments or likes). So we've designed local awareness ads to help businesses reach the most people possible in an area,' Facebook added.
The social network has come under fire for privacy settings before, but said that advertisers cannot target individuals in the new tool.
Business owners can choose the age and gender of the audience they wish to reach, as well as set a budget and the duration that they want the advert to run (pictured). They are shown how many people the advert is expected to reach, which is seen in the top right corner of this screenshot from Facebook
It pointed out that people have control over the recent location information they share on Facebook and will only see the adverts based on their recent location, if location services are enabled on their phone.
The local awareness adverts will roll out in the US over the 'coming weeks' and globally in the 'coming months'.
It appears as if the idea has been well-received by business owners, with comments on Facebook's post, reading: 'This is huge for local businesses' and 'I love this concept...it gives the small businesses a fighting chance to promote themselves on Facebook against the big corporations.'
However, it remains to be seen whether consumers will like seeing local adverts when the feature rolls out.
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