Local media is all the rage right now. For your marketing campaign to remain effective and actually matter in today's day and age, you have to have some remnants of local. It's imperative really. Everyone trusts brands that people within their social circles shop from and trust. It is for that reason that you need to get into those particular networks in order to gain some much-needed traction. The possible way to do that is via hyperlocalized video campaigns.
How Powerful Can Hyperlocal Video Be
According to statistics, 33 percent of web activity is related to watching videos and a little over 90 percent of individuals who watch videos on mobile phones will share them with their social circles. With numbers like those, it is clear that you need to be involved with video in order to be seen by prospective customers. This particular medium provides you with the opportunity for collaboration between your brand and your audience, which is the primary driver for customer engagement.
Some brands use video to grow their social communities and are able to develop their very own hashtag. One example is a news group known as Jersey Shore Hurricane, who used video to gain over 220,000 fans on Facebook and inspire the #JSHN hashtag. They use a combination of content that is contributed by their users as well as videos of towns within Jersey Shore. As a result, the news outlet is now the go-to source for local entertainment and news. This brand's success is proof that local video is powerful and that when people feel more involved that they are more likely to become loyal to that brand and share their content.
Creating a Local Strategy
Over the last five years, there has been an 11 percent increase in local marketing thanks to marketers in various industries realizing how important local connections really are. In addition, about 50 percent of the companies that participated in the same study said that they felt that their local marketing return on investments would outspace their overall campaigns. With that being said, businesses simply cannot afford to not have a solid local strategy.
Thankfully, social media makes it easy to localize national advertisements. The ad platform on Facebook offers location-based targeting in addition to selections tools that allow to pick and choose the audiences that will see which messages. This is very important if you are marketing to different customer segments and you create different content for each one. Localized metadata and paid posts can help you go that much further in guaranteeing that your content and advertisements are getting in front of the right audiences.
These ads and posts are most beneficial and effective when they are developed to reflect the interests and values of specific areas. And, if you decide to use Snapchat and Instagram, then geofilters and local hashtags are beneficial in getting you in on local conversations.
However, regardless of the exact platform that you decide to implement your local strategy with, here are three tips that will aid you in audience engagement:
Tip #1: Develop Relevant Partnerships
Reach out to well-known influential local individuals and feature them in informative and fun videos on your Instagram feed or Facebook page. This type of takeover of your social media page is a great way to increase brand enthusiasm because you are using that local celebrity's popularity to gain momentum.
You can also use retailers in the community for collaborative opportunities. You can do a live stream on Facebook of a joint promotion or use Snapchat for behind-the-scenes footage of events that you are helping host. This type of social buss will help get the word out that you're a local partner in the community.
Tip #2: Use Local Pride to Your Advantage
Most people are happy to be where they live, so you need to let your community know that you appreciate the virtues of the town. Share some videos of your employees paying homage to the town's history, indulging in local restaurants (maybe something specific to the area), and taking in the local scenery. Heartfelt videos like this will help star up emotions in your audience and inspire them to press the share button.
If you have a large event in the near future, make sure that you create a promotion that is linked to the event. You could ask your followers to submit videos that will automatically enter them into a special giveaway and you could share them up until the day of the event. You could get participants to create a unique/custom hashtag, which would help boost the visibility of your brand. Strategies like these can not only help capitalize on the buzz of your event, but it will also generate user-created content that will help your future campaigns.
Tip #3: Give Your Audience a Reason to Share
While you can assume that your followers will just share your content because it's fun and informative, you could go a step further and give them something in exchange for sharing your content. These types of relationships are some of the healthiest and the most effective. This is particularly true when it comes to relationships with local celebrities, public officials, and other influential people. Simply hand out a free sample product for sharing your posts. You can then share their posts as well whenever they need something, which will increase the chances they'll help you out the next time you need their help.
Ultimately, the most important thing is that you ensure your video marketing is genuine and authentic. Your audience will be able to tell if it isn't and they'll criticize you for it. So, make sure you are creating video content that is heartfelt, relevant and engaging. If you do, you will realize a boosted local campaign in no time.
For more advice or clarification, feel free to reach out to us at WebDetail.