Consumers today increasingly want brand messages that are relevant to them and their geographical location. Studies have shown that local and personalized search has increased over the last 3-4 years, with more people using either the term ‘near me’ or their GPS location to look for products and services. Businesses can use this consumer trend and the power of social media to drive hyperlocal marketing.
According to Hootsuite’s ‘The Global State of Digital 2021′ reportOpens a new window , about 45% of internet users use social media to search for brand information. The number is higher with Gen Z consumers. This behavior shows the importance of social media in a buyer’s consideration. Simultaneously, it is increasingly becoming necessary for brands to connect with their consumers on a local level to improve their perception and trust.
Hyperlocal social media marketing can help you connect with potential customers better in a targeted geographical area. Here is how to do it.
Learn more: How Chatmeter’s New Mobile App Optimizes Local Customer Engagement and Reputation Management
1. Leverage Facebook’s Reach Ad Objective
Facebook Ads Manager provides businesses the ‘Reach Ad’ objective (earlier called local awareness ads) to reach more customers in a targeted geography. This is one of the several objectives available for businesses for running Facebook ad campaigns.
When you create a Facebook ad campaign, you will have to create a campaign objective compulsorily. You can choose the objective based on what your campaign’s goal is. For example, if you want to reach as many people as possible in your local audience, select the objective as ‘Reach’. If you want more traffic to your store, choose your campaign objective as ‘Store Traffic’ under ‘Conversions’.
Facebook Reach Objective
Source: FacebookOpens a new window
The Reach objective is specifically beneficial if you want to target a smaller audience and keep your cost per mille (CPM) low. Another advantage of the objective is that you can set a frequency cap at the ad set level to minimize the impact of ad fatigue. Since Facebook took over Instagram, you can use the same objective to target both Facebook and Instagram audiences. With this objective, you can also define the geographical region you want to target.
To set up the Reach objective, you should ideally have at least 1,000 people in your website custom audience. The higher your daily budget, the more frequently your ads will be shown. If you have a smaller audience, they will see your ads more often, and ad fatigue may set in. Hence, if you have less than 1,000 people, reduce your daily campaign budget accordingly. Since the Reach objective works best for a smaller audience, you can set aside a smaller budget than high-conversion objectives.
With Facebook’s Reach objective, you can reach hot, warm, and cold audiences. However, the objective is most effective when used to target hot audiences, who are more responsive as they would have already engaged with your business earlier. To target warm and cold audiences, consideration and conversion level objectives are more effective.
2. Connect With Local Hashtags
A great way to connect with local audiences is to use hashtags that are more popular in a particular location, specifically on platforms such as Instagram. Local hashtags make your Instagram photos and videos be seen by nearby customers. For example, if you want to market or advertise your local yoga studio or coffee shop in Birmingham, use hashtags such as #birminghamyoga or #birminghamcafe.
When using hashtags, relevance is as important as popularity, as not every popular hashtag will lead to brand visibility. At the same time, avoid super-niche hashtags as you may not receive sufficient visibility. Further, while social media platforms allow you to use a certain number of hashtags, you do not need to use all those.
For example, on Instagram, you can add up to 30 hashtags in your posts. However, according to research by Sprout SocialOpens a new window , top-performing posts use two to five hashtags. A few other studies suggest using five to ten hashtags.
Here is an example of PopSockets using only two hashtags to generate over 115,000 views.
Ultimately, you should be wise in using hashtags and look at relevance instead of being concerned about the right number.
Learn more: Instagram and Facebook Ads Automation: How AI and Machine Learning Will Power Your Campaigns
3. Post Content With Location Geotags
In addition to using local hashtags, make sure you use location tags or geotags for Instagram whenever you publish a post or a Story at your location. When you use geotags, they act as a library for all the content from that place. This is an excellent way to put your physical store on the map and raise awareness about your business. Additionally, when your customers visit your shop, encouraging them to post content tagging your location helps you create social proof for your business.
Besides increasing awareness for your local business, local hashtags and geotags can increase engagement for your content. For example, people who live or work close to your shop’s location may feel a better connection with your business and interact with your brand’s page.
If you already have a business account on Instagram and are connected to Facebook’s business page, your business’s location tag automatically becomes populated within Instagram. Alternatively, you can also create a custom location tag. You can do this by following the steps given below.
- Sign into the Facebook mobile app and enable location services. This will help Facebook to access your device’s GPS location to determine your physical coordinates.
- Within your ‘Post Status’ box, tap check-in.
- Type your business’s name and add the location.
- Select a category and a physical location.
- Add any other details you want and tap ‘create’.
- Finish by claiming your location.
Once you have completed this process, you can do a location tag search on Instagram and geotag your posts. The above steps are necessary since you cannot add a location tag directly on Instagram.
4. Create More Localized Content
An excellent way to create awareness and engagement among your local consumers is to create and publish content related to a specific area. Smaller businesses have the advantage of being aware of the events and activities in a particular geographical area. Hence, you can leverage this knowledge to generate more buzz around your business. Local content can also increase your ranking in search results, be it on the internet or social media.
So, how can you generate local content?
One way is to look at your content strategy and see how you can put a local spin. Another way is to partner with a few local businesses to cross-promote each other. You can take part in a local festival and publish content about your business’s participation.
For example, here is an example of Glossier, a global beauty company, doing hyperlocal marketing. Glossier opened its pop-up store in Boston’s Seaport area in 2019. The company wanted to leverage local events to promote its store among its target audience, people who lived in Boston and could travel to Seaport. Hence, the store posted photos of the New England Patriots celebrating their victory at Superbowl LIII. The pictures were taken at a public transit stop just a few minutes away from the stores.
Another example is Chicago-based Metric Coffee, which uses Twitter effectively to do hyperlocal marketing. The shop uses local language and contact information in its bio as well as tweets targeting local customers. Here is a photo it tweeted a few months ago.
Local #smallbusinessesOpens a new window need your support more than ever before. Our next Make City #GiftGuideOpens a new window feature is @metriccoffeeOpens a new window , a #coffeeOpens a new window roasting company based in Chicago, providing both retail & wholesale coffee. Use ICNCFRIENDS for 15% off their holiday blend: pic.twitter.com/651W8WT3OWOpens a new window
— ICNC (@ICNCChicago) December 10, 2020Opens a new window
When you search for “chicago coffee†and click the “People†tab, the shop’s name comes in the top 5. For a generic query, the shop’s hyperlocal marketing is paying off.
5. Engage More Frequently With Local Communities
A great way to build trust among your local customers is to engage with communities in that geographical area actively. And social media is one of the best channels to engage with these communities. Actively engaging with local customers and communities gives them a sense of being heard. You can collaborate with local celebrities, micro-influencers, and niche enthusiast groups to engage with your customers. You can also engage with your customers by listening to their feedback and concerns and addressing them. Alternatively, when they tag or appreciate your business, reshare it as social proof.
For example, continuing with Metric Coffee, the shop collaborates with local businesses and retweets appreciations from its customers. Here is a tweet.
Thank you Metric Coffee for the generous donation! We can’t wait to distribute these along with emergency food boxes in the upcoming weeks. We know participants are going to enjoy every cup. @metriccoffeeOpens a new window pic.twitter.com/ulkmJVj2bSOpens a new window
— Beyond Hunger (@gobeyondhunger) January 16, 2021Opens a new window
Learn more: 5 Ways Location Intelligence Helps Retailers Drive Better Business Results
Are You Ready To Go Hyperlocal?
As more people are on social media platforms today than ever before, these platforms play a powerful role in your hyperlocal marketing strategies. Further, platforms like Facebook and Instagram have made it easier for businesses to reach out to more people in smaller geographic areas. Hence, make the best use of these features, tools, and tips given above to connect with your local customers, establish valuable relationships, and grow your business.
Which other ways can you use social media to implement hyperlocal marketing strategies? Do share with us on FacebookOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , and LinkedInOpens a new window .