Best Advertising Platforms for Local Businesses: Get Found by Nearby Customers
Small businesses need online platforms to thrive in 2024.
There will be 270 million American consumers shopping online this year. If you’re a business owner, you should understand just how competitive even local marketplaces are to appeal to these consumers.
Finding the right platforms to advertise your brand is one of the key elements of marketing success. There are plenty of platforms to help you launch your marketing campaigns, but which ones will really help you hit home with your target demographic?
In today’s post, we’ll help you find the best advertising platform and local advertising strategies to help you get ahead of your competitors. Keep reading and you’ll be able to promote your business locally with the very best local marketing tools.
It may not be the hip thing that all the kids are using. That said, Facebook remains the largest and most consequential social media platform. This also makes it the most effective advertising platform.
There are now over 3 billion Facebook users in the world and you’re entitled to advertise your brand to all of them. Of course, that doesn’t make for a very good targeted campaign. Fortunately, paid ads are extremely effective on Facebook, allowing you to carefully craft a targeted marketing campaign, and then measure its performance over time so you can adjust it for optimal results.
Instagram is more suited for younger demographics – more than half of global IG users are under the age of 34. While it doesn’t allow as much customization with paid ad campaigns as Facebook, it does come with some obvious benefits.
Being a visual platform, Instagram is great for brand building. With a strong advertising campaign with plenty of pictures and videos, you’ll be able to attract a wide range of followers. Once you’ve got their attention, you can start showcasing your content and turning loyal followers into real customers, and then real customers into loyal brand enthusiasts.
It’s also the home of countless influencers, which can be a highly effective marketing tactic if you work with the right types of influencers. Doing so can bring far more attention to your brand than you’d garner on your own.
TikTok
If your target demographic is under the age of 30, you may benefit from using TikTok. This is a video-sharing platform with over a billion active monthly users. To make the most of TikTok, you’ll need to keep your marketing videos short and sweet, or else users will scroll right past you.
You can optimize TikTok for your marketing needs by creating a TikTok Ad account and paying to promote your business. What’s great about this feature is that it helps you optimize your advertisements. Before you upload your video, it’ll prompt you to choose an objective for your video, such as views, reach, conversions, and lead generation.
As with Instagram, you must let your creativity lead the way on TikTok. The more interesting and targeted your output is, the easier it’ll be to attract local consumers.
LinkedIn is an incredible platform for building connections with both B2B and B2C customers. It’s more known as a platform for professionals to connect but also allows you to set up a profile for your business.
Advertising your business on LinkedIn will put you in front of an audience primed to buy into your brand, unlike other platforms more geared toward social interaction. The savvy platform allows you to zero in on your target customer by location, industry, and occupation. You’ll be able to post sponsored content/messages, use lead generation tools, and create other dynamic ads on LinkedIn.
You can also join groups that provide unique local networking opportunities when you want to take a more organic approach to local advertising.
X/Twitter
X/Twitter has become a slightly more niche platform for local advertising. Where other platforms give you a lot of room to play around with your ads, X is mostly text-based. That said, those who use it tend to use it a lot, so it can be an exceptional tool for audience engagement.
If you find an audience on X, you’ll be able to communicate with them regularly. Whether you’re announcing a new product or launching a re-brand, you can get instant feedback from customers and engage in discourse that creates brand loyalty.
Google is arguably the most important platform for organically building a local audience with SEO. Its algorithms play a major role in how visible your business/brand is to local customers.
Various factors play into your local SEO ranking, many of which involve your small business website. That said, it’s important to complete your Google My Business profile with accurate information, garner backlinks to your site, and encourage online reviews from happy customers. All of this makes your business more prominent so that when someone searches for services you provide, your business will show up on the SERP.
Your Business Website
You need a great website to attract local customers. In terms of SEO, nothing is more important than your blog and on-page content. To boost your ranking, remain focused on local content that demonstrates the importance of your product/service. On-page content should involve plenty of keyword research and should be posted regularly to establish your authority in your niche.
Your site must load fast, appear uncluttered, and it must be easy to navigate. Use alt tags for any images on your site and make your website mobile-friendly, as over 60% of web traffic now comes from mobile devices.
Choose the Best Advertising Platform for Your Business
Digital advertising for a local business can be tricky. With so many small businesses out there, you have to dedicate a lot of time and resources to your marketing efforts if you’re to stand out from the competition. Choosing the best advertising platform to maximize your local ads is crucial.
These are just a few advertising ideas for a small business. If you really want to take your ads and branding to new heights, consider hiring a digital marketing expert.
At Betta Advertising, we offer expert solutions for SEO, social media marketing, and web design. We’ll help you identify the best local marketing tools and create campaigns that convert. Contact us today to learn more.
