“Local” as a tool for business growth
Small businesses might struggle to bring in customers. What you might need: a little local love.
If you’re a small business owner or employee, you might have tried the ‘a little bit of everything’ social media marketing strategy, or perhaps the ‘throw a few options up and see what lands.’ If that’s you — that’s cool, it’s many of us — but there’s a simpler and more purposeful approach to marketing: targeting your social media efforts to connect specifically with local customers. Social media is a fantastic, democratizing marketing tool. It’s free, and you can make your mark even as a tiny or new business. Putting up posts for general view is a great start — but finding ways to reorient your social media marketing strategy towards your local community can have wonderful snowball effects. One small way of doing this is to follow your city or neighborhood hashtag on Instagram. When you’re scrolling through your feed, you’ll also see a rotating assortment of local users. “Like” and occasionally comment on these (specific comments are ideal, so you don’t look like a “bot” saying ‘Love this!’)
As a customer, there are many reasons to support local, independent businesses over chains or online shopping. Some are obvious: spending money at local shops keeps 2–3x more money circulating in the local economy than shopping at corporate-owned stores. But did you know…
