Social business at large companies is maturing rapidly and one of the most conspicuous indicators of that maturation is the emergence of structured local social activity at major retail brands. Brands are realizing that social media tactics, much like every other retail marketing activity, are geographically sensitive. Weather varies, culture varies and big brands have to be conscious of that in their marketing activities across every channel – including social media. WalMart’s recent launch of a localized Facebook application for 3500 of its store locations is the strongest indicator of the trend. As indicated in their press release, WalMart sees this as a chance “… to take our focus from the national to the local level so that a consumer in Florida sees an offer for sunscreen while someone in the North sees an offer for snowshoes.”
At Dachis Group, we are helping a number of brands take advantage of this opportunity and there are definitely some common factors driving this trend. You can use these as a way to gauge your organization’s appetite and ability to pursue a local social approach.
- Have your target consumers demonstrated a willingness to participate locally through their use of check-in technology, daily-deal sites and decision to ‘Like’ your local brand pages on Facebook?
- Do you have a cadre of local store managers that indicate a desire to communicate in social media for the brand?
- Do you have enough governance and process in place to make national/global social participation routine, thereby freeing up resources to pursue a more granular local approach?
- Do you have the ability to develop localized content and promotions for social media (or repurpose existing ones) into social channels?
If you can’t answer these questions in the affirmative, then it is hard to suggest that your brand is ready for a widespread local social roll out. In fact, if you work at a company with a physical footprint and you can’t answer these questions in the affirmative, then you now have your to-do list to solve before you attempt a localized strategy. You must:
- Investigate the appetite of your target consumers for localized content and engagement
- Research and track your own employee social media activity identifying the precocious individuals who are ripe for a local social engagement pilot
- Establish governance, business process and an organizational structure that frees you from the day-to-day of social media management to focus on new strategic initiatives
- Partner with your peers in operational store management as well as your local/national marketing counterparts to investigate how to best
The leading edge of social media is moving into local markets. You need to be on top of this trend if you are going to remain a leader in the market. In future posts we will discuss various organizational models for attacking the local social opportunity, but first take a hard look at your organization and decide if you’re ready for this shift.
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