Do you have a multi-location business? Do you want to improve your social media strategy? Our web experts have laid out the Top4 tips for structuring a social media marketing strategy for multi-location businesses that can be applied across all markets.
1. Develop an overarching brand message
As you expand your business operations into new markets (countries, states, cities or even suburbs), you’ll need to expand your digital footprint to make sure that you reach your target audience. But should you start a social media account every time you make a move, or would a global account be better? The answer depends on the size of your team. But even if your group is small, their influence can be considerable with the right strategy.
Integrating your social media marketing efforts into your overall business strategy and mission is one of the most difficult challenges. Reporting on numbers is essential for budgeting and it’s critical to provide a return on advertising spend for every campaign. It’s even more challenging when you have multiple markets that are laser-focused.
All regional and worldwide social media marketing efforts must be aligned with the overall business goals business of raising awareness and increasing profits. This can only be accomplished with a seamless “one voice” approach to messaging, promotions and online community involvement. Start with a plan that focuses first on your global social media mandate and then communicate it to your local/regional teams. The global message should capture your business’s objectives, values and mission, which then helps local/regional teams develop campaigns and digital promotions.
Form your local teams
Consider how you want your local/regional teams to be organised. When choosing your team members, keep these tips in mind:
- Assign positions based on the strengths of the team members. Responding to comments and generating leads should be your community social lead well-versed. This person may need to have a deeper understanding of business operations to direct prospects and customers to resources in real-time.
- Assign your staff members to your social media channels based on their experience with the platform. Consider assigning people to your social channels depending on their specialties if you have several markets and accounts. A team member with an eye for aesthetics may be a good fit for managing your Instagram efforts, while your YouTube channel lead might have an innate love for and understanding video production.
- Assign team leaders to regions with which they are familiar. Someone knowledgeable about the local culture can interact with customers more authentically. If your brand relies heavily on capturing your audience and guiding them through purchasing decisions, use a native speaker or local expert to facilitate the process.
It doesn’t make sense to have one person in charge of all of your social media accounts if you have a presence in many countries with time differences and cultural nuances to grapple with. However, scheduling and management tools are available, a local rendition of the global message matters.
In addition, you need to consider the languages spoken in different parts of the world. Think how confusing it would be to receive messages on your account in Spanish when your social media lead only speaks Chinese. You can’t rely on Google Translate to save you, mainly when those inquiries include native terms. Most importantly, you don’t necessarily need a social media profile for each channel in every market. You can make a single global page on Facebook and YouTube.
2. Create local/regional social media strategies centred on your brand’s message
Research the cultural nuances of the markets you’re entering or currently operating in before deciding which platforms to include in your social media strategy. Suppose you already have a multiple-market approach and your brand is receiving low social engagement rates. In that case, it may be due to overly generic and broad messages you’re posting across your channels, which your audience can’t relate to.
Begin by evaluating all of your brand’s assets, taglines and phrases. Don’t expect your brand will resonate as you had expected. Due to politics or colloquialisms, simple features like your brand name and colours may not appeal in particular countries, and another business may already grab equivalent aspects. Translate and research as much of your branding and messaging as you can and then determine if a name change is necessary.
Examine local events and cultural celebrations and other businesses’ marketing activities in those areas. These insights will help you determine what your response rate and content uptake can look like if your messaging resonates.
3. Determine your social media platforms
The next step is to identify the ideal social media platforms after you’ve strategised your global message, established your team and designed a local/regional approach in line with your global mission.
It may be time for a social media audit if you already have many social channels for a single market and are getting little to no response. Auditing your social media marketing will help you refocus your efforts.
Here are some tips on how to obtain the information you’ll need to make an informed decision:
- Analyse the available data on social media usage in your markets to see if having several social media accounts makes sense.
- For each social platform, determine the number of active users and demographics. You want to find out if your target audience is on that platform and whether you’ll be able to reach them.
- Learn how people use each platform to determine the most effective ways to improve your content. Social media algorithms are updated constantly, and it’s critical to be familiar with how they work before you set up a new account.
- Evaluate your present accounts’ analytics. Choose a social media management tool that lets you access group data and monitor market performance.
When determining social networks for your market, consider your business goals, ideal customer and the best fit for your brand style. You don’t have the time or resources to be active on every social media channel. Your time is better spent focusing on the sites that drive maximum traffic and visibility. With this in mind, match your goals, audiences and the type of content you’re creating with the right platform.
4. Create distinct campaigns for each local or region
The following stage is to determine how you’ll create marketing and promotions for the right target audience.
Determine which aspects of your messaging will appeal to all of your markets and which will not. You want to ensure your social media engagement, brand sentiment, and business opportunities feedback into the global social media plan. There are some promotions that all of your audience will relate to, and those make better use of spending for global campaigns.
Start doing targeted advertising on social media with an end goal in mind. Depending on your campaign goal, you might choose to target a worldwide audience or focus on specific regions you want to reach. Targeting is critical when rolling out campaigns with multiple markets. You have to spend wisely and seek innovative opportunities for broader reach.
When you have market-specific social media accounts, you need to promote content around the clock to keep your engagement alive. The market-specific campaigns below stick to the global social media strategy to drive vehicle purchases by appealing to their audience’s sense of adventure.
Final takeaways
If your business has multiple markets, this four-step plan will help you devise a social media marketing strategy that you can run seamlessly across all of them. With the proper support in the right places, you can maintain your global strategic business objectives while marketing to your local/regional audiences.
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