Location is a driving force that brands must consider when establishing their presence and reaching their best audience. Geofencing campaigns on social media enhance not only a brand’s awareness but create a granular focus that can change results. By creating a virtual geographical fence around your audience, you’re reaching those who will benefit from your message and ultimately become a fan of your brand based on their location.
What is geofencing marketing?
As location-based marketing, geofencing allows brands to target an audience that’s found in a specified area. This type of targeting is different from a standardized strategy because it only focuses on geographical location instead of interests, gender, or age. Although these other elements might be factored in, a true geofencing campaign is strictly based on proximity to the focal point, such as a restaurant or event. It’s assumed that the people who are in the designated location would all benefit from being served the ad. Since it doesn’t lean heavily on interests, the ad must be intended for an audience with wider psychographics. Social media platforms gather intel about audiences through the user’s preferences and information they share on their profiles. For example, the majority of people enjoy eating pizza. A pizzeria would benefit from a geofencing campaign because most of the people in a delivery radius would want to know about special pizza offers, not only people who indicate on Facebook that they’re interested in pizza. Geofencing is a way to deliver your ads to people who don’t share a lot about themselves on social media, but your message could apply to them by proximity.
Is a geofencing campaign right for me?
If your ad message applies primarily to an audience based on their location, then yes, geofencing could be right for you. The brands that benefit the most from this type of hyper-local ad are brick and mortar establishments that appeal to a universal audience and events, such as a convention, conference, or festival. Your audience is already in one place, so your message applies to everyone in that grid. Let’s say you want to reach conference attendees through social media with information about your booth, consider using a geofencing ad to be sure you encompass everyone in or near the convention center. Then you won’t miss someone because of interests they may have not expressed on social media.
How do I create a geofencing campaign?
To get started, there are a few factors to keep in mind when determining a radius around the central focus. Be mindful of what your asking of your customers, whether it’s to walk, drive, or use public transportation. This will impact the distance of your fence. Select a radius around the primary location that includes the correct audience for your message. The process of setting up a geofencing campaign on social media is simple and streamlined. The challenge lies in the creativity of your media asset and messaging. It should clearly depict the close distance to your establishment or event in order for the audience to quickly connect the dots as to why the message relates to them. Incorporate verbiage and imagery that makes the ad unmistakably local.
Not all social media campaigns call for geofencing, but when your brand finds itself in that situation, it’s a sure-fire way to get your message in front of the right audience. A tailored ad campaign and strategic radius will produce the results you’re looking for from paid social media advertising.
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