GOSO

By: Chris Garrett Co-Author of Best Seller of ProBlogger, our celebrity blogger, Chris has helped thousands of individuals, non-profits, small businesses and blue chips make the most of the web.

One of the things that my Realtor clients and friends are great at with social media is “claiming territory“. What do I mean by that?

Well anyone in the real estate business will likely have a geographic area that they cover, care about, network, are expert in, and sell to. I expect most auto dealers would be the same (ignoring national internet sales for now).

When you look for a new home or business property, location is very important. If you want to test drive a car, or look at the inventory available, geography is also a factor. There are not many people willing to travel a thousand miles to check out a standard family car, though I might be persuaded if we were talking about a Tesla or Bugatti Veyron. Maybe.

Regional and local business can be crucial to your short term profit and long term profitability. By selecting a geographical area you get the double benefit of making your marketing budget go further and also becoming the trusted dealer for your locality. While in most cases people associate the internet, and especially social media, with international, there are many benefits to be had on a local level too.

If you search in Google using some search terms then do the same search while adding a city or county, you see the results change quite dramatically. Local results also influence the standard results, especially the paid results. Facebook advertising has some very granular targeting, check out the screen shot here.

You do not have to rely on advertising to target a locality though, you can do it through content too. Blog about the location and include regional Flickr photographs. Create videos that talk about the area and local prominent people.
Join in events and networking meetings, promote them in upcoming/linkedin/Facebook, then write them up in your blog and your Twitter/Facebook accounts.

Another tip you can get from your Realtor friends is they often connect with local businesses and trade communities, and help them connect to each other. By being a connector you get access to more local people and gossip than if you stand on the outside.

Bottom line is social media is not just useful at great distances, it also helps you connect better with people on your doorstep!

Do you have any examples of social media used at a local level? Please do share in the comments …