You don’t need to generate state-wide recognition or be known across the country to grow a successful business. Clients tend to form personal relationships with small businesses in their area. So, a local marketing strategy is key. In fact, hyperlocal social media marketing is one of the best ways to attract and retain clients.
Here’s everything you need to know about hyperlocal social media marketing and how to use it to grow your small business.
What is hyperlocal social media marketing?
Hyperlocal social media marketing is how your business communicates with potential clients in a specific neighborhood or area. You use tailored marketing tactics to reach clients in your immediate vicinity and stay booked solid.
Hyperlocal marketing allows you to build name recognition and a good reputation in your community. Maybe you want to become the go-to mobile detailer in Boulder, Colorado or a well-known independent massage therapist in Prescott, Arizona. Either way, hyperlocal marketing puts you on the map, literally!
On top of more money for your business, hyperlocal social media marketing leads to:
- A stronger sense of community and connection between you and your clients. It’s easier to get to know your clients and so easier to target their specific needs.
- Opportunities to collaborate or form partnerships with other businesses and entrepreneurs in your community.
- Increased engagement from new and existing clients on your communications, marketing campaigns, sales promotion, etc.
- Higher conversion rates as a targeted audience are more likely to be in need of your services and so more responsive to your marketing.
Plus, you may end up paying a lot less for advertising in the long run. Hyperlocal social media marketing is a win-win for you and your clients.
The best hyperlocal marketing tips
Hyperlocal social media marketing is key to growing your small business. Even large businesses use local marketing strategies to reach clients in their day-to-day lives. Large-scale marketing campaigns are inherently generic, as they try to appeal to every man. Local marketing is personalized and audience-driven, so will lead to a higher ROI.
Here are seven hyperlocal social media marketing strategies to grow your small business.
#1 Optimize your Google My Business page to generate leads
Google is more than a search engine. It’s become a social app for users to communicate with each other through reviews and share information about services, events, and promotions in their area. As a small business owner, your Google Business page is key to a successful hyperlocal social media marketing strategy.
Google Business is inherently local. Every day, thousands of users search for services “near me,” and Google uses a combination of factors to display profiles that are the best match. To make sure your business shows up first in the search results, optimize your Google My Business profile for leads. Here’s how:
- Make sure your service hours, description, and contact information are up to date
- Add a “book now” button to your Google Business profile that links directly to your appointment booking site
- Add photos of your business location, services, and clients results
- Solicit reviews from your clients to increase your search rankings. More good reviews mean more bookings. Also, respond to bad reviews to quell worries from potential clients.
Make sure to add a link to your Google business page to all your social media platforms. Clients will go looking for reviews anyway. Make it easy for them!
#2 Invest in Paid Advertisements
The good news is that social media is engineered for hyperlocal marketing. Most social media platforms allow businesses to run paid advertisements to a select target audience by location and interests. Make sure to target the specific zip code in which you operate your business.
Don’t blow your entire marketing budget on your first round of paid advertisements. Over time, you’ll learn what kinds of ads your audience responds to best.
#3 Join or start a Facebook Group
Facebook groups are a space to share ideas, products, and techniques with other professionals or potential clients in your area or with similar interests. So, they’re the perfect tool for your hyperlocal social media marketing strategy.
Perhaps you’ll join a Facebook group for dog trainers in Miami. Just make sure not to sound too sales-y as groups often have rules about this. Or, you can start a Facebook group specifically for your clients to keep them updated on your services and promotions. Treat your Facebook group like an exclusive club for your clients. Give them special offers or insights to increase loyalty and engagement.
#4 Use hashtags and geotags
Social media is gold for a small business. But, with so much competition, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. Add hashtags to your social media content to target people with interests in your business and in your area. So, find hashtags that are trending locally.
You can also add geotags to your content. These tags usually appear at the top of a social media post to indicate to viewers where the content was shot. For example, when you post about your Pilates studio on Instagram, be sure to add the location of the building or general area as a geotag. Clients are more likely to stop scrolling when they recognize a location tag, or they’ll find your content while searching that tag themselves.
Either way, it’s more exposure for your small business.
#5 Create location-specific content
Also, you should create content for your social platforms that’s tailored to your local audience. The messages and imagery should be familiar to potential clients in your area.
For example, use images of popular landmarks in your Instagram photos, add polls about current events on your Facebook page, or even post memes about the weather. Potential clients are more likely to relate to, like, and share the content. Plus, it’s more recognition for your brand.
#6 Integrate text marketing into your strategy
You already have one of the best hyperlocal marketing tools in your back pocket: your clients’ phone numbers. Text marketing is one of the most relatable ways to reach out to clients in your area. It’s easy to keep current clients informed about your services and re-engage past clients.
You can use PocketSuite’s automated text campaign feature to alert clients to upcoming events in their area. Maybe you’re hosting a Pilates class on the rooftop of a local business or a pop-up sale at the town shopping center. Either way, you can make announcements to a targeted group of clients.
#7 Try out Influencer marketing
You can also reach out to influencers to promote your business and services to their followers. Or, you can ask them to create user-generated content, i.e., they create content about your services, and you use the content for your marketing channels.
The great thing about influencers is that they’ve already made a name for themselves in your target community. So they can take your hyperlocal social media marketing strategy to the next level.
You can give them rewards for every client they send your way, like cash or merchandise. Don’t be afraid to reach out to micro-influencers. Their following may be small, but they tend to have higher engagement rates with their audience.
Are you ready to go local?
Hyperlocal social media marketing is key to growing a small business. It’s the best way to create personal connections with your clients so you’ll keep them longer, and they’ll refer your services to others.
PocketSuite can help you manage all the new clients from your hyperlocal marketing campaign. We’re the all-in-one app to grow a client-based business.
