Social Search Concerns for National Multi-Location Brands

7:08 PM
Social media management can be problematic for businesses of all sizes but is arguably most complicated for large multi-location brands, particularly following the advent of Facebook Graph Search and updates to Facebook Nearby. It is now no longer sufficient for national brands to rely on one social presence at the corporate brand level.

With a new focus on local search, Facebook has upped the stakes significantly for multi-location brands. According to a comScore local search study, consumers already search locally on Facebook. The study found that Facebook was second to only Google Maps as the place people go to conduct local searches on mobile devices.

In light of these trends, national brands should respond by building out local Facebook pages for each of their many locations if they want to compete with local and national competitors in each of their markets. Only a local presence can deliver the engagement and local flavor required to penetrate Graph Search and Nearby.

Developing a social media strategy that works across all of a brand’s locations, however, is difficult, and several roadblocks should be considered before jumping in.

Management

How does a national brand manage the social media presence of hundreds or even thousands of locations? They could hand over social media management to each location or choose someone at the regional level to be responsible for a group of locations.

Carefully choosing the right person(s) to handle social media at the local level is a great step toward developing a successful localized social media strategy that can deliver a powerful presence in social search; however, it also brings up a few additional issues to consider.
Social media management can be problematic for businesses of all sizes but is arguably most complicated for large multi-location brands, particularly following the advent of Facebook Graph Search and updates to Facebook Nearby. It is now no longer sufficient for national brands to rely on one social presence at the corporate brand level.

With a new focus on local search, Facebook has upped the stakes significantly for multi-location brands. According to a comScore local search study, consumers already search locally on Facebook. The study found that Facebook was second to only Google Maps as the place people go to conduct local searches on mobile devices.

In light of these trends, national brands should respond by building out local Facebook pages for each of their many locations if they want to compete with local and national competitors in each of their markets. Only a local presence can deliver the engagement and local flavor required to penetrate Graph Search and Nearby.

Developing a social media strategy that works across all of a brand’s locations, however, is difficult, and several roadblocks should be considered before jumping in.

Management

How does a national brand manage the social media presence of hundreds or even thousands of locations? They could hand over social media management to each location or choose someone at the regional level to be responsible for a group of locations.

Carefully choosing the right person(s) to handle social media at the local level is a great step toward developing a successful localized social media strategy that can deliver a powerful presence in social search; however, it also brings up a few additional issues to consider.