Multilocation businesses face unique challenges in structuring their social media presence. With multiple physical locations, these companies must balance brand consistency, local relevance, and resource management. This article explores various approaches to social media strategy for multilocation businesses:
Single Brand Account with Location-Specific Content
Regional Accounts by DMA or Geographic Area
Individual Accounts for Every Location
The attainability of managing multiple social media accounts depends mainly on your organization’s resources and commitment. Consider staff availability, content creation capabilities, and engagement management. ROI can be challenging to measure for localized social media efforts. Still, key metrics include engagement rates, follower growth, website traffic from social media, in-store visits attributed to social media, and local sales correlated with social media activity.
Let’s examine the pros and cons of each method and offer insights to help determine the most effective strategy for your organization.
Table of Contents
Option 1: Single Brand Account with Location-Specific ContentOption 2: Regional Accounts by Geographic RegionOption 3: Individual Accounts for Every LocationPlatform-Specific Multilocation ApproachesTools for Multilocation Social Media ManagementKey Takeaways and Determining the Right Approach
Option 1: Single Brand Account with Location-Specific Content
One approach is maintaining a single, central social media account for the entire business while using hashtags, geotags, or other identifiers to distinguish content for specific locations or regions.
Pros
Easier to maintain brand consistency
Centralized management of content and engagement
Consolidated follower base, potentially leading to higher overall engagement
More efficient use of resources
Cons
It may lack local flavor and personalization
It isn’t easy to build strong local communities
Content may get lost in the mix for followers interested in specific locations.
This method offers easier brand consistency maintenance and centralized management of content and engagement. It also leads to a consolidated follower base, potentially resulting in higher overall engagement and more efficient use of resources. However, it may lack local flavor and personalization, making it challenging to build strong local communities. Additionally, content for specific locations may get lost for followers interested in particular areas.
Option 2: Regional Accounts by Geographic Region
Another strategy involves creating separate accounts for different geographic regions, such as Designated Market Areas (DMAs) or other logical divisions.
Pros
Allows for more targeted, regionally relevant content
Can build stronger regional communities
Easier to manage than individual location accounts
Cons
Requires more resources than a single central account
This may lead to inconsistencies in brand messaging across regions
Potential for confusion among customers in border areas between regions
This approach allows for more targeted, regionally relevant content and can build stronger regional communities. It’s also easier to manage than individual location accounts. On the downside, it requires more resources than a single central account and may lead to inconsistencies in brand messaging across regions. There’s also potential for confusion among customers in border areas between regions.
Option 3: Individual Accounts for Every Location
The most granular approach is to create separate social media accounts for each physical location.
Pros
Highly personalized, location-specific content
Potential to build strong local communities
Direct engagement with local customers
Cons
Extremely resource-intensive to manage
High risk of brand inconsistency
Difficult to maintain quality across all accounts
This may result in low follower counts and engagement for individual locations
While this method offers highly personalized, location-specific content and the potential to build strong local communities, it’s highly resource-intensive to manage. There’s a high risk of brand inconsistency, and it isn’t easy to maintain quality across all accounts. Additionally, individual locations may struggle with low follower counts and engagement.
Platform-Specific Multilocation Approaches
Some social media platforms offer features that can help multilocation businesses manage their presence more effectively:
Facebook: Allows creation of location pages under a main brand page, making it easier to manage multiple locations.
Instagram: Offers location tagging and the ability to switch between multiple accounts easily.
X: Allows for creation of lists, which can be used to organize tweets by location or region.
LinkedIn: Provides company page features allowing showcase pages, which could be used for different locations or regions.
Tools for Multilocation Social Media Management
Several tools can help streamline social media management for multilocation businesses:
Agorapulse: Offers social media management tools with features like shared calendars, team collaboration, and social listening, which can be particularly useful for tracking location-specific mentions.
Hootsuite: Offers a comprehensive platform for managing multiple social media accounts across various platforms. It includes features like team collaboration, content scheduling, and analytics.
Sendible: Designed for agencies and multi-location businesses, Sendible offers features like custom workflows, team collaboration, and white-label reporting.
SOCi: Specializes in localized marketing solutions, offering features like local listing management, review management, and social media content distribution across multiple locations.
Sprout Social: Provides robust social media management capabilities, including content calendar planning, engagement tracking, and reporting. It also offers location-specific tagging for content.
These tools can help businesses maintain consistency across locations, allowing for localized content and engagement. They often provide centralized dashboards for managing multiple accounts, scheduling tools for coordinated content distribution, and analytics to track performance across different locations or regions.
Key Takeaways and Determining the Right Approach
Consider your resources, including staff, time, and content creation capabilities.
Evaluate the unique characteristics of your local markets and stores.
Assess your ability to maintain brand consistency across multiple accounts.
Determine the level of personalization and local engagement required for your business.
Explore platform-specific features that support multilocation strategies.
Audit your current social media presence and performance.
Analyze your target audience and their preferences in different locations.
Assess your content creation capabilities and resources.
Consider starting with a hybrid approach, such as a central account with location-specific content, and evolve as needed.
By carefully considering these factors and aligning your social media strategy with your overall business goals, you can develop a practical approach that balances brand consistency with local relevance for your multi-location business. Regularly review and adjust your strategy based on performance metrics and feedback.
©2024 DK New Media, LLC, All rights reserved.
Originally Published on Martech Zone: Navigating Social Media Strategy for Multilocation Businesses: Is Hyperlocal Social The Right Solution?