How to Create a Local Facebook Ad

Putting your local business in front of neighbors who are ready to buy is easier than you might think, and Facebook Ads is a great way to do it. You don't need a huge budget or a marketing degree to get started. This guide will walk you through exactly how to create a local Facebook ad campaign step-by-step, helping you drive foot traffic, generate leads, and grow your community presence.

Why Facebook Ads are Perfect for Local Businesses

Before jumping into Ads Manager, it helps to know why this is such a powerful tool for businesses like yours. Unlike a flyer that gets dropped on every doorstep, Facebook allows you to be incredibly precise about who sees your ad.

Hyper-Targeted Reach: You can show your ads to people within a specific radius of your storefront - down to a single mile. This means you’re spending money to reach potential customers, not people who live too far away to visit.
Cost-Effective Marketing: You control the budget completely. You can start with as little as $5 a day and still reach hundreds of local residents. It’s one of the most affordable ways to get targeted exposure.
Drives Real Foot Traffic: Ads can directly encourage an in-person visit with features like "Get Directions" buttons and promotions for in-store shoppers.
Builds Community Connection: Seeing a familiar local brand on their social feed helps build recognition and trust. You can run ads that feel less like corporate advertising and more like a note from a neighbor.

Your Pre-Launch Checklist

Having a few things ready before you begin will make the entire process smoother. Here’s a quick checklist to run through:

A Facebook Business Page: You can’t run ads from a personal profile. If you don’t have one yet, setting up a free Business Page for your shop, restaurant, or service is your first step.
An Ad Account: Your Facebook Business Page comes with access to Meta Ads Manager, which is where all the setup happens. Familiarize yourself with how to get there.
A Clear Goal: What do you want people to do after seeing your ad? Visit your store? Call for a quote? Sign up for a workshop? Know this upfront, as it will determine your campaign settings.
An Offer or Message: A compelling ad needs a good hook. Common examples for local businesses include new customer discounts, invitations to an open house, or highlighting a unique product.
Images or Video: You'll need some eye-catching creative for your ad. Authentic photos or a short video of your business, products, or team usually outperform generic stock photos.

How to Create Your Local Facebook Ad: A Step-by-Step Guide

Once you’ve got your checklist sorted, it’s time to build the campaign inside Meta Ads Manager. Follow these steps carefully to ensure you’re set up for success.

Step 1: Choose the Right Campaign Objective

The first screen you'll see asks for your campaign objective. This is where you tell Facebook what you want to achieve. For local businesses, a few options are most relevant:

Awareness (using Reach): Choose this if your goal is just to get your name in front of as many people as possible within your local area. It's great for newly opened businesses or announcing a big change.
Traffic: If you want people to visit your website to see a menu, browse a service list, or book online, this is the right choice.
Sales: Specifically, the "Store traffic" objective in this category is designed to encourage people to visit your physical location. It’s the most direct objective for driving foot traffic and is optimized to show your ad to people who are physically near your business and likely to stop by.
Engagement: Use this if you want more people to like, comment on, and share your post or RSVP to a Facebook Event. This is perfect for promoting a local workshop, a sale, or a community market.
Leads: A great option for service-based businesses (like contractors, dentists, or consultants) who want people to fill out a form to request an appointment or a callback.

For your first campaign, Store traffic or Engagement are often the best starting points.

Step 2: Set Your Budget and Schedule

Next, you’ll define how much you want to spend and for how long. You have two primary options:

Daily Budget: You set a maximum amount you want to spend per day. Facebook will work to get you the best results possible within that daily limit. This is flexible and easy to adjust.
Lifetime Budget: You set a total amount for the entire campaign duration. Facebook will pace the spending over that time, potentially spending more on days when it sees better opportunities.

A good starting point for a small local business is a daily budget of $5 to $15. You can always increase it later if you're getting good results. You can also set a schedule, such as only running your ads during your business hours, which is a smart move for campaigns with a "Call Now" button.

Step 3: Pinpoint Your Local Audience

This is the most important part of setting up a local ad. At the "Ad Set" level, scroll down to the "Audience" section. Here’s how to make it work for you:

Location Targeting

This is your bread and butter. In the Locations field, instead of typing a city, click "Drop Pin" and place the pin directly on your business address. From there, you can set a radius around your business. You can go as narrow as a 1-mile radius.

Example: A coffee shop in downtown Denver can drop a pin on its address and target everyone within a 2-mile radius to reach nearby office workers and residents.

Make sure you select "People living in or recently in this location" to capture both residents and commuters or tourists who are nearby.

Demographic & Interest Layers

Once your location is set, you can get even more specific. Think about your ideal customer.

Age & Gender: Refine the age range and gender to match your typical clientele.
Detailed Targeting (Interests): This is incredibly powerful. Under "Detailed Targeting," you can add interests, behaviors, or demographics. Think about what your customers like. A local bookstore could target people interested in "Reading," "Fiction books," and "Book clubs." A hardware store could target people with interests like "Home improvement" and "DIY."

Step 4: Select Your Placements

"Placements" are simply where your ad will appear across Meta's apps (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network). Here are a couple of options:

Advantage+ Placements (Automatic): This is the default and recommended option for beginners. Facebook’s algorithm will automatically show your ad in the placements where it’s most likely to perform well.
Manual Placements: If you have more experience, you can select specific placements. For most local businesses, the most effective placements are often the Facebook Feed, Instagram Feed, and Instagram Stories. You can deselect others to focus your budget there.

For your first campaign, sticking with Advantage+ placements is a safe and effective choice.

Step 5: Design a Compelling Ad Creative

This is where you bring your ad to life at the "Ad" level. Remember to keep it engaging and authentic.

Your Media: Image or Video

Single Image: Use a high-quality photo of your storefront, your product, or your happy team. Avoid generic stock photos if possible - local customers respond to authenticity.
Video: A short video tour of your store, a tutorial using your product, or a testimonial from a local customer can be extremely effective. Even a simple-shot-on-your-phone video can work wonders.

Your Text & Headline

Primary Text: This is the main copy of your ad. Keep it concise. Address your local community directly (e.g., "Hey, neighbors!"). Clearly state your offer and what makes your business special.
Headline: Make it short, punchy, and highlight your core offer. "20% Off Your First Visit" or "Freshly Baked Bread Daily" are great examples.

Your Call-to-Action (CTA)

The CTA button is crucial. It tells people exactly what to do next. Choose a button that aligns with your campaign goal:

Learn More for linking to your website.
Get Directions for store traffic ads.
Call Now if you want people to call you directly.
Sign Up for lead generation or class registration.

Step 6: Review and Publish

Before you hit the big green "Publish" button, take a moment to review everything. Check your budget, audience targeting, and make sure there are no typos in your ad copy. Once you publish, your ad will go into a short review process with Meta. Typically, it’s approved within a few hours, and then it will start running!

Final Thoughts

Creating a local Facebook ad is an incredibly accessible way for small businesses to reach relevant customers in their own neighborhood. By choosing the right objective, carefully defining your geographic radius, and using authentic creative, you can create powerful campaigns that drive real-world results without breaking the bank.

Of course, launching the ad is just the beginning, figuring out which campaigns actually drive sales and foot traffic is the next step. Manually pulling reports from Ads Manager and trying to connect that data to your sales can get complicated fast. That's why we've designed Graphed . You can connect your Facebook Ads and payment platforms like Shopify or Stripe, and simply ask in plain English, "which Facebook campaign had the best ROI last month?" to get an instant answer and see the full-funnel view of your performance in a clear dashboard, updated in real-time.