First introduced in 2015! Facebook Places was and is an ambitious project launched by Facebook! a constant proof of Meta’s desire to always experiment and grow towards self-improvement and the achievement of new targets and objectives.

Unfortunately! however! I am sorry to say that in this case! the challenge launched by the platform has not been fully understood! at least not so far.

The signs of Facebook’s desire to focus firmly on Places were all there: in the United States! restaurants that have reviews on Bon Appetit! Conde Nast Traveler! Eater! New York Magazine! San Francisco Chronicle – for example – see the same reviews reported also on their Facebook Places page! if it exists; furthermore! the “ugly” Bing maps are being replaced by the more accurate ones on “Here”.

In short! “there is constant work” on Facebook Places that suggests this desire to be a point of reference for local businesses! the potential of which has perhaps not yet been fully understood.

For this reason today I want to talk to you about Facebook Places.

First things first: What is Facebook Places?

This is a location page with the name of a local business (restaurant! florist! etc.) and all the related information customers need: address! business category! hours! descriptions (one long and one short)! web references and of course reviews .

You can open it (or make it your own bc data brazil if it already exists – I recommend you do a search first) by clicking here: facebook.com/places

The observations and searches you make on Facebook Places (that’s how it sounds in Italian) are different from user to user! based on the user’s interests! likes and their standard location ! a bit like what happens when you do any search on Google.

In short! people believe it and they are right to do so ! because the majority of these are real (even if there are services external to Facebook that allow you to purchase reviews – a practice not recommended!): this is why it makes a lot of sense – if you have a local business – to encourage reviews and check-ins on Facebook ! so as to enliven the “Places” page and promote it – show it – naturally circulate its name.

Is that all there is to Facebook Places? Absolutely not…

There used to be Facebook Bluetooth Beacons

Connecting the online experience with the actual frequentation of a place ! offline therefore! was and is fundamental: in this regard! Facebook provided free Beacons to be applied in one’s own activity.

In short: Beacons are devices that can be applied to a wall or wherever you want in a physical area of ​​your interest! which allow you to the future of digital communication automatically notify users with Bluetooth turned on who pass by that place via smartphone! with pre-set messages! promotions ! etc…

Want to advertise your location on Facebook? Facebook Local Awareness

It is possible to advertise your location! although the Facebook Ads platform made available for places still has limited functionality! allowing profiling only by gender and age and inserting calls to action such as “call now” or “get directions”.

There is the possibility of showing the paid ba leads ad with a very detailed geographical precision : not only a specific city but also! for example! showing the ad up to 1 km radius  around a specific address or limiting the message to some ZIP codes . The same functionality is possible “in a negative way”! therefore excluding specific areas or ZIP codes.

In terms of targeting! the possibility of showing the advert to residents or visitors or even tourists is very interesting : Facebook recognises these categories of users thanks to the classic geographical location of the user (in the case of tourists: those who usually live at least 300 km away from the place where they are at that moment).