Saturday, March 31, 2012

Facebook Ads--The Downside

So I've been advertising on Facebook, targeting my advertising to just my town. Facebook lets you target ads to specific zip codes, so limiting it to just one zip code is an effective way to reach the best customers.

Except it's not.

Currently people in town are seeing my ads (I know because a couple people mentioned it at church) but they're not becoming customers.

On Wednesday I found out from two different sources that my ads are not restricted to just my zip code--meaning that I'm paying for advertising as far away as Twin Falls (2.5 hours away). People on the north side of Idaho Falls are also seeing (and clicking on) the ad (about 30 minutes away). That's not even close to my zip code.

So either Facebook is intentionally spreading my ad further than I've ordered, or their zip code targeting sucks.

Since I pay for advertising based on clicks, I'm changing it so that it promotes the fact that I'm a local attorney, and not that I give out free consultations. My ads might get fewer views, but at least I won't be paying for advertising in Twin Falls.

4 comments:

Tim said...

Or limit the free consultations to locals only...

Jenni said...

I'm wondering if some people don't have their zip code in their fb profile, so fb looks for other clues (ie, place of employment, common interests/friends, schools) and then tries to guess?

I agree though, make the free consultations local only.

Tim said...

They're supposed to figure it out from where the internet connection is. Obviously, it needs some work.

Brentwell said...

I haven't seen anyone accurately pin point location with IP. Not accurate down to zip code or city. Keep in mind most people's IP address they visit with is temporary or shared with several of the ISP's customers. I am not at all surprised that Facebook is not 100% with zip code identification.

I'm trying to pinpoint Twitter users. I'm confident to city level only 20% of the time.