If you’re starting to incorporate local social media into your marketing strategy to grow your online presence, you may seem a little lost at how to get the best results.
After all, using just trial and error to figure out your gameplan can be a very lengthy and even costly process.
This is where having a strategy can come in handy.
Although you may not be able to predict how successful it will be, you can know that this will give you a solid base for you to build off of.
What is Social Media?
Social media is the most popular way of communicating and interacting online and is continuing to grow through several different platforms. It is a way for people to directly communicate with an audience, make comments, share photos, etc. all in real-time.
With social media platforms becoming more accessible as easier to use, we have seen a large increase in its usage over the last few years. It has become an integral part of many business’ marketing strategies and allows them to reach their customers directly and develop a relationship with them, as well as reach new audiences.
Pick Your Channels for Local Social Media
When it comes to picking the social media channels you will be using, it is important to choose the ones that will benefit your business the most. This means knowing which platforms your target audience is on and how your content will be consumed on these channels.
Bigger brands will usually have a large presence on multiple channels, but a smaller business would benefit more by focusing on two channels and getting good at using those channels.
Twitter is a pretty simple social media platform that requires minimal setup allows you to engage in direct communication with followers. This can be a great platform if you are focusing on customer service or interacting more with your audience.
Facebook is like the OG of social media and is definitely one of the first platforms that come to mind when you think about social media. It is the platform everyone and their mother is using… Literally.
Facebook has become a great platform for the brick and mortar type businesses and allows you to target local customers more effectively. Plus it allows for things like reviews, which is huge for your business.
Instagram is a great platform for the creative ones out there, as it is centered around visual content. It is a platform that anyone can find useful and reach their audience in a fun and creative way so you can show off your products and services in a whole new light.
LinkedIn is a platform every business should have in my opinion. It is a great place for startups and anyone with a business in the B2B space. If you’re looking to connect with other local businesses, marketing managers, and CEO’s, this is the place to do it.
Pinterest is a platform that is centered around visual content and is a great network for social selling. Similar to Instagram, Pinterest thrives on creative imagery and content with products acting as the centerpiece.
YouTube
While this may not seem like a typical social network, you are still able to engage with your audience and deliver top-notch content that they can see. If you are making videos, YouTube is a great place for you to house your videos so they can have a platform to be shared on.
Keep an Eye Out For Mentions of Your Business
Be sure that there is a system in place for monitoring comments, mentions, and notifications of your business. Doing this will allow you to keep track of customer concerns, shout-outs from customers, or maybe even a follow an influencer.
Having a timely response to these can be very important. You want to show your customers that you appreciate their actions of support with their positive mentions of your business. This shows them that you are seeing it and will encourage them to do it more often.
When it comes to the customers voicing their concerns, you really want to be sure that you are responding to them. Not only will this show them that you are working on improving your systems, but it will help to show you what needs continued improvement and attention.
Consistent Branding and Voice
Brand Guidelines
Having a guideline around your brand makes you more consistent with the information that you are putting out, and could be more important than you think. Things that surround your brand are your logo, colors, fonts you use in your content, your tone, etc. Once you have these figured out, you will have a better idea of how you want to approach your local social media plan to mesh with the brand you have created.
Know the Audience
Know who you’re reaching and try to be as relevant as possible with the content that you are providing to them. Depending on the social platform you’re posting on, you may have to change your tone of voice you’re using, but it is important that you have a connection between your posts.
Don’t Be a Robot
Being that you’ll be engaging with other humans, it will benefit you to come off like a human and not like a robot. People will be more likely to engage with your content if it sounds like it is coming from a live person, and will help you to build up relationships with your audience.
Prove Your Expertise For More Followers
What causes people to follow you on social media?
That’s easy, you provide value to them.
While this can be done in multiple ways, proving your expertise and knowledge in the field through valuable information and resources can help to build credibility among your audience.
These days, everyone thinks they’re an expert in their field, so instead of just saying it, prove it.
How do you do this? You can start by putting out content that answers questions that your audience is asking. This will not only prove your credibility but will help to provide value to them as well.
Be sure that your content is both engaging and entertaining as well so that your audience isn’t just getting boring and generic content.
Another route you can go is by taking other people’s useful content and sharing it. When you share the content though, be sure to mention the creator of the content. When you do this, you will get the attention of the creator and possibly get them to share some of your posts as well and build your local social media following with some of their audience.
Conclusion
We’ve covered a lot of information that can help you to make your own local social media strategy and build up your local social media following.
While there is no one size fits all approach.
There is one thing that may work great for one business that may not work for you, and that’s totally fine. You also don’t need to stick to your gameplan full force. See what’s working and what isn’t and adjust from there. Just make sure that you are giving it a chance to work.
Good luck using these local social media basics and hopefully you find the gameplan that works for you!
