While the Internet is great at spreading messages far and wide, there are certain advantages to reigning things in. Many marketers are finding a wide, global messaging strategy to be limited in some cases. This is where the opposite approach can be handy. Enter hyperlocal social media.

What is Hyperlocal Social Media Marketing?

Hyperlocal social media marketing allows companies to precision-target their MarCom activities for a very specific geographical location or target group within a region. It is basically a way of narrowing market focus for better results. The practice is especially helpful for location-dependent businesses or small businesses that want to build their regional operations.

The practice involves using:

• Geo-tags for posts.
• Area-specific or relevant hashtags.
• Co-marketing with other local businesses to boost local engagement.
• Targeted advertising.
• Local SEO (particularly for local search).
• Engaging in local events or community outreach.

The benefits of hyperlocal social media marketing include the following:

• Reduced and focused ad spend: Concentrating on a particular target group can be cheaper in terms of pay-per-click and can sometimes be beneficial for the cost-per-keyword as well. Niches often allow for tailored experiences and finding underrepresented interests.
• More engaging personalized ads: Focusing your efforts on local shopping can be especially advantageous for brick-and-mortar stores. Such shops can capitalise on the proximity and ability to provide live services.
• Becoming more involved in the community: While everyone is busy trying to be global, you can carve out a niche in your area. Becoming a community staple can build a lasting audience with unmatched loyalty.
• Can produce a stronger brand identity: By tying yourself to a region, you can become a staple of the area and harness community spirit.

Hyperlocal Marketing Strategies

One of the easiest ways to make use of hyperlocal social media is to use tools like the reach features on platforms like Facebook. You can set the reach for your campaigns and establish objectives, both of which will keep your cost-per-impressions low. Meanwhile, you should monitor relevant geo-tags to keep track of what’s happening in your target area.

With these things set up, create content that matches your tracking and is relevant to the geographic inhabitants. Partner with local businesses and engage in cross-promotion if you can. Another way to go about this is to get local influencers or celebrities to star in your content.

Generally, one of the tools in your social media arsenal has to be cross-posting, meaning the use of the same content shared across multiple platforms. While this is one approach, it can benefit your local social media when you engage the local region. Tag locations, use specific hashtags for that region as they best suit the platform you’re on, and use location-specific language as it’s used by the platform users. Instagram will have a different style of content compared to TikTok. These seemingly small changes can add up.

Hyperlocal strategies can also include social branding. As mentioned earlier, community involvement can be something companies can use to their advantage. Advancing local, social causes for an area can endear your company and social media brand to your target group. It helps establish you as a part of the local region through, for example, charity drives or community fund-raising.

Local SEO vs Social Media

While both SEO and social media are necessary for any business, they provide distinct benefits. Local SEO allows customers to find you more easily in an organic manner. Social media is particularly useful for finding your audience and developing awareness on the platforms they use. While social media is a great way to drive traffic to your website, SEO can rank your website in organic searches.

Social media is great for targeting, but SEO can bring in customers for the right keywords. If a customer is searching for something general, they should be able to find your website. In contrast, social media ads can help you attract your target group by approaching them first.

Regardless, one should buttress a company’s social media with SEO activities since any ad can lead to a Google search. Since a majority of purchases begin with Google, it’s an important tool to have in your arsenal. Alongside the social media strategies outlined above, you also need robust local SEO. Here are a few ways to achieve this:

• Set up your Google My Business account and put up posts.
• Fill out your profile, timings, address, business listings, etc.
• Optimize your online directories and develop a presence on directories like Yelp.
• Improve your internal linking.
• Google Maps optimization is important.
• Create local content or add content with local keywords (such as locations).
• Optimize for mobile since people look for local businesses on their phones.
• Improve link authority.

Developing an Integrated Social Media Marketing

Aside from social media content, you can complement your efforts with the use of targeted ads. These could be useful for remarketing if people show interest in your content. The content and the ads can thus become parallel activities that boost each other.

Another way to integrate social your social channels is to create a store on the platform you’re on. Link your website on your socials and vice versa. Keep the information consistent across all platforms and make it easily accessible for customers.

Use schema mark-ups where you can if you want to boost your visibility. Tools like WordLift can make this easier as they have an intuitive way to put in your business information, location tags, and other such features. These help your audience find you and improve your Google standing.

Hopefully, these tips can help you establish a better local marketing strategy.

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