Why you need to go Local with your Social Media strategy

I wrote a post recently discussing “Why should I let my franchisees use Social Media,” and this post is right in alignment with its predecessor.

Local social media efforts have proven to be much more successful than using social media at the corporate level. This was a huge topic at FranCamp this year and BJ Emerson, VP Technology Tasti-D-Lite, made our jaws drop in the audience with the statistics below from his presentation.

Locally created Facebook pages deliver 5 times more reach. Why? Because Joe in White Plains, NY doesn’t care about the fact that Pizza121 is offering “Buy One Pizza, Get One Free” in Texas. He cares about his Pizza121 two blocks away and their new offer for “free breadsticks when you purchase two 10” pizzas.” Joe is also more likely to comment on that offer when it is posted on the White Plains Facebook page because he knows that he’ll be noticed, and he will benefit from their future content.  If he posts or comments on the corporate page he will not get noticed since they have 500,000 fans.

Local posts provide 8 times more fan engagement. Since Joe knows that he is interacting with a local business he’s more apt to engage with them online. Most citizens love their communities and want to promote local business. Also that content that is promoted on those local sites is tailored to the residents in the area. For example when the White Plains Pizza121 posts a picture from a nearby park at lunchtime and says don’t you wish you were eating a pizza while you were sitting on this bench? Joe recognizes this park, he has been there and it hits home with him. Whereas if corporate posts a picture of a park in Texas, Joe will most likely not be familiar with the location and the weather there is probably not the current weather in White Plains so there will be no connection for Joe.

One local fan is worth 40 corporate fans. One customer from down the street who frequents your location often, shops there and engages with you online is more likely to share your posts with their friends who also live in the area. This will most likely turn into sales through creating a higher level of brand awareness in your geographic location with the current residents in the area. You will suddenly be introduced to new fans through the share from your current fan and stay top of mind when they are looking for a local pizza joint.

If you’re hesitant to get on board with social media at the local level, whether it is because of a larger work load or you do not want to give access to your franchisees, you should read my recent blog post. I explain the many benefits of letting go of the reigns and yielding the success of social media marketing at the local level.

Do you have any success stories you can share?