How Marketers Can Benefit From Hyperlocal Social Media Marketing

As a Marketer, you may be looking for new strategic approaches to expand your brand’s reach and audience. Look no further than your own backyard with hyperlocal social media marketing. 

Audiences are increasingly turning to social media to find information about local businesses or events, making this a great strategy to reach your local audience and build relationships with potential customers nearby.

Here’s everything you need to know about hyperlocal social media marketing.

What Is Hyperlocal Social Media Marketing?

You may be wondering, “what is hyperlocal social media marketing?” As its name suggests, it’s a type of social media marketing that focuses on a specific region or area. Its goal is to reach a local social media audience and build relationships with potential customers. Hyperlocalized marketing is different from other types of social media marketing because it focuses on a specific geographic location, like a city or even a specific neighborhood. 

The particular location focus allows businesses and Creators to engage with local users who live there or are visiting. With the help of Creators, businesses use hyperlocal ad campaigns to promote products and services. Some of these include local events, driving traffic to local businesses and restaurants, community organizations, and more.

The Importance of Social Media Marketing for Local Businesses

Hyperlocal marketing is beneficial for all kinds of businesses, from big box stores to local grocery chains to small boutiques. But it’s especially important for small or local businesses that depend on local patronage or foot traffic. The reality is that many small businesses don’t have the marketing budget of large corporations, and hyperlocal social media marketing allows them to target their ideal, local customers in a less expensive and precise method on the social platforms they use most.

Hyperlocal social media marketing allows businesses to specifically market to residents. People generally like to support their communities by shopping or eating at locally-owned businesses. By tailoring promotional content, businesses can resonate with nearby customers on a personal level. It’s also appealing for travelers looking for the local scoop, like where they like to eat or shop.

To get the most return on a marketing investment, it’s especially beneficial and effective to partner with someone local, like a local Creator who knows the ins and outs of the neighborhood, city or region. They know about the residents and how to use local landmarks and language to post content that is relevant and relatable. Additionally, many local Creators like to spotlight local small businesses and spread the “shop local” message.
If you’re a business looking to expand your local reach through content marketing strategies, a platform like Collective Voice helps. You can join as a brand and connect with Creators aligned with your business vision. You can even connect and collaborate with Creators local to you and successfully partake in hyperlocal marketing.

Why Hyperlocal Marketing Is a Strong Strategy For Creators

Hyperlocal social media marketing is a smart addition to a Creator’s overall social media strategy. In general, it allows them to expand their reach to their immediate community. This kind of marketing is particularly useful for Creators with a community-based focus, or even Creators who love to travel and spotlight local businesses in the places they visit. 

Not only does this kind of local marketing help Creators reach an engaged, niche audience, but it also builds relationships and potential partnerships with other Creators and businesses in a specific community. When Creators produce content for their community, they can become a spokesperson and a digital guide for locals and visitors. 

It may sound counterintuitive, but hyperlocal marketing can also help Creators expand their reach outside of their local community. In fact, Creators can use hyperlocal social media marketing to plan upcoming travel and content. As they discover accommodations, restaurants, and activities, they can create travel content and city guides that spotlight these local businesses. Since they’re not local, Creators can infuse their traveler perspective. As much as people love to know what the locals do in popular destinations, they also want to know about the best sights to see as tourists. Creators can even start bringing in an income as a travel blogger by looking for businesses in their planned destinations to see if they would be interested in collaboration.

Hyperlocal Marketing Examples

Here are a few hyperlocal marketing examples to show you how Creators and Marketers can work together on hyperlocal marketing content: 

• Local food guide: Marketers can engage Creators who specialize in food content to give their recommendations on the best places to eat in their city, town, or neighborhood. Restaurant reviews have been particularly popular in short-form video formats as of late, with these types of videos going viral on platforms like Instagram Reels and TikTok. Not only is this content engaging and fun for audiences who want to know where the locals eat, but it’s also a great way to collaborate with local Creators. 
• Local shopping tips: A local business can also work with Creators by offering them a steep discount, free clothing, or payment in exchange for seasonal creative content. A Creator could produce a video or images with shoppable content links highlighting the store and its offerings. And they can specifically showcase the benefits of the in-store shopping experience, encouraging more foot traffic. 
• Local community building: A non-profit organization could collaborate with a community-based Creator on awareness videos that spotlight a cause specific to that area. Think of a beach clean-up day, a canned food drive or a toy donation drive during the holiday season.

Hyperlocal Social Media Marketing: 4 Steps To Success

If you’re interested in dipping a toe into the waters of hyperlocal social media marketing, you’ll first want to take some time to create a smart strategy. This includes finding the right Creators to partner with, tailoring content to your target audience, and understanding their specific needs and interests. Let’s take a deep dive into hyperlocal marketing strategies for success. These four steps will help you get started.

Step 1: Identify Your Hyperlocal Audience

The first question to ask yourself is, “Who am I trying to reach with my hyperlocal social media marketing?” Consider the interests, needs, and demographics of your audience. Your messaging has to resonate and relate to your audience, or you’ll lose their attention. For hyperlocal marketing, narrow your audience down to a specific location. What’s that specific neighborhood known for? How does it relate to your content? 

If you want to learn more about your region, you can also use geotags and location-based hashtags to gain insight into what social media audiences are interested in. Narrow down your search by using tags that are relevant to your brand or niche. Here are a few hashtag ideas to search for:

• Other local business names and competitors
• Any niche or brand-related tags. For example, fashion-related Creators could search for #balletcore, #fallfashion2023, or #fallfashiontrends.
• Tags specific to a location or neighborhood. You could use a street name, local landmark, city, or any local language referring to a specific location.

Once you’ve researched, you’ll have a clearer idea of what kind of content you want to create.

Step 2: Choose Your Social Media Platform

Now that you’ve identified your target audience, choose the right social media platform. You may already be using Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, as they are the top social networking sites of 2023 and an ideal place to start. 

However, if you have a more in-depth knowledge of your audience, you can narrow down your platform to market on. For example, if you’re creating content for users in their thirties, don’t overlook the potential of Facebook. Facebook’s largest age group of users is in the 25-34 bracket; they make up almost 30% of users. 

A good hyperlocal social media marketing strategy should account for the right social media platform for your target audience. However, you may want to diversify your content across various platforms like Lemon8 or X/Twitter for maximum reach and engagement.

Step 3: Create Local Content

As a business, a good social media strategy is necessary for creating organic content that attracts the right customers. Of course, you need to create high-quality content that’s unique and catchy. But you also need to decide on the kind of content you want to create. It should align with your target audience and social media platform. 

Thinking deeply about your locality can determine what kind of content local audiences want, and what guidance you can provide. For example, if your neighborhood is filled with young college students, you may want to focus on creating short-form video formats that resonate with young consumers. 

Similarly, you should consider what your overall messaging should be, and how to adapt it to your local audience. If you’re a restaurant that wants to attract local foodies, consider how your content shows off your food and restaurant. You could create a video series on how your chef developed the most popular dishes on the menu. Or, you could post about the local farmer’s markets where you source your fresh produce and give your audience expert, chef-approved tips for finding the best local produce. You can also create video ads for traffic generation. 

Lean into your first-hand knowledge of the location and create witty captions. Perhaps the neighborhood rallies around a local sports team, or it’s known for its scenic backdrop. Include these in your imagery, video or captions to draw your audience into your establishment, service or product.

Step 4: Collaborate with Local Creators

Once you have perfected your hyperlocal social media marketing content strategy it’s time for collaboration. 

Reach out and partner with local Creators that share your same interests. Make sure they get to experience your business, brand, or product offerings, and give them all the information they need to educate their audience. However, keep in mind that Creators know their audience best. Allowing them to have the creative freedom to produce their own visuals and messaging will ensure their content remains authentic.

You can also search on social media or connect with Creators through platforms like Collective Voice.