Last updated Apr 20th, 2021
Facebook geofencing allows you to target audiences in a specific area at any given time. The problem is, Facebook only allows you to get as specific as a 1-mile radius. We understand that certain types of campaigns require much narrower targeting and we’ve got the solution. In this article, we set out how you can use geofencing to target your audience with laser precision without all the added steps to narrow your target.
Facebook geofencing in a nutshell
Facebook geofencing marketing allows advertisers to target specific audiences by creating a virtual fence around a physical location. Audiences are connected to the virtual experience that is offered to the world’s physical location. Geofencing utilizes GPS or RFID to trigger ads when a device has entered the geofenced area.
With geofencing, you can target people who are attending a particular event.
How Facebook geofencing can be useful
The increasing popularity of mobile devices has given rise to geofencing advertising. There are plenty of effective ways businesses can start using geofencing to drive results.
If any of these scenarios apply to you, then geofencing could be the tool that puts your ads in front of the right customer:
- You want to target shoppers that are currently at a competitor’s location.
- You want to target people who are attending a particular event.
- You sell iPhone and MacBook covers and you’re thinking that targeting everyone who is visiting an Apple store is genius. If yes, geofencing is for you.
- You run a restaurant and currently have a good limited time offer. You’re chucking to yourself because you want to target everyone visiting a nearby restaurant with your irresistible offer. Well, this is for you too.
- You’re a yoga instructor who is new to the city. You want to reach out to everyone going to known busy gyms and let them know there’s lots of space at your new studio.
Whatever the situation maybe, you can precisely target people at a certain geographical location. This is the beauty of micro-proximity targeting!
Reach customers who are nearby with geofencing.
If you are targeting events or brick & mortar store promotions will rely heavily on the ability to micro-target locations. It’s okay to target one exact location but excluding the area nearby can be hard.
Limitations with Facebook Geofencing
Equipped with geofencing, you would think advertisers would be able to get targeting down to the “T”, but that is not quite the case.
Geolocation is limited to a 1-mile radius on Facebook. To get around this, users usually pin locations with minimum radiuses and then surround them with exclusion zones to narrow targeting down.
This cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution.
So, what’s happening in reality? You have to take 5 additional steps to include and exclude locations. On top of that, you are not even sure that you dropped the pin in the exact location. Let’s not think about the remaining 50 narrow locations you have to set up…
Facebook Geofencing can be tough
Facebook Geofencing Snipper Targeting Solution
You can use Hunch geofencing feature in a way that lets the user specify points and radiuses for targeting. Hunch automated geofencing allows the user to automatically select geo-targets down to a 100m radius. Yeah, 100m.
Unlike Facebook, Hunch automatically makes exclusions when you specify the radius of your location.
Benefits of this Hunch Geofencing feature:
- Allows micro-targeting down to 100m
- Geofencing can be combined with automated ads to setup multiple micro-targeting groups seamlessly
- Save time – Instead of manually adding exclusion zones in order to micro-target a location system calculates exclusion zones automatically.
Hunch location system calculates exclusion zones automatically
By implementing a geo calculation system, we allow users to select a point and specify the radius around that point which will be used for targeting. Everything else is done automatically, meaning you can stay within budget, spend less time on manual work and more time on consumer testing.
Conclusion
Geofencing is one of the best ways to make your ads relevant and reach the right audience. It’s easy to set up, although getting the most out of it requires a bit of creative thinking (that’s just because possibilities are endless). Facebook doesn’t make it easy to geofence with a narrow precision. Hunch allows you to take advantage of automated geofencing that is both precise and efficient.
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