3 Tips to Reach Your Local Audience on Social Media

When posting content organically on social media (rather than running paid ads), you don’t have control over which audiences that content gets pushed out to.

This means anyone, anywhere could be seeing your content, and that can make reaching people in a specific location feel like a challenge.

However, if you’re an business or organization aiming to reach people based in a specific location on social media, there are a few tactics you can use to achieve that goal.

This might be relevant if you’re selling real estate, trying to promote your local restaurant, or getting people to sign up for a local event, to name a few examples.

Here are 3 tips to reach your target audience in a specific area.

1. Location Tag

Add a location tag in your post. You can tag the specific location, such as the event venue for example, if it is a popular enough location that people may be searching up that location on social media.

However, a more effective approach is to tag the local cities that people might be searching for. You can vary the location tags you use on each post for a higher chance of reaching new audiences.

So, for example, if you’re based around Washington D.C., you can of course tag the city, but you can also rotate between tagging smaller cities and suburbs around the area. Just be sure the location tags you use are still within a relevant proximity.

2. Location Hashtags

Search for hashtags that fit the location you are trying to reach. These tags can be general to the location, such as #miamiflorida, but, there are usually other hashtags you can also use to reach a more specific audience.

For example: if you are a Florida childcare center trying to reach new mom's to fill an infant space try using a hashtag such as #floridamom.

A good way to find these hashtags is by looking at posts shared by other businesses and organizations in your region and seeing which ones also apply to your niche.

3. Local Collaborations

Collaboration with others in your area is one of the best ways to tap into your target audience, assuming they are also aiming to reach local people.

Here are a few ideas:

1. Collaborate with another local business on a giveaway

2. Create a “things to do” guide shouting out and tagging other businesses in your region — hopefully, they will share the post

3. Identify local microinfluencers to collaborate with, by either offering a free product/experience in exchange for a post or creating an ad campaign

Remember that if someone local sees your content and shares it, it's likely it'll reach more local people through their network. Shares are a great way to gain exposure!

So put aside going viral, and focus on reaching the right people become active members of your community through social media!

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If you’re still not sure how to go about reaching your target audience, book a consultation with Liz.