Replay: How Brands Win in Facebook’s New Local-First World

Multi-location brands are missing a major opportunity if they aren’t fully utilizing local Pages for each of their stores, restaurants or business locations. Data show brands will see more engagement and organic reach with a local strategy than with a single, corporate account. But the two strategies are complementary. During a recent webinar, SOCi‘s CMO Monica Ho explained how corporate Pages and local Pages differ and how they can support each other. She also discussed how location Pages help with brand perception, review generation and the overall customer experience. Monica noted Facebook’s News Feed update from January 2018 which prioritizes locally relevant content in the News Feed. With the change, broad, national brand messages are having less visibility. Additionally, new research from SOCi and LSA shows that local Facebook pages account for 72% of all engagement while brand pages only capture 28%. The webinar was full of interesting insights and tactical recommendations. Here are just a few:

• Local reviews on Facebook are becoming increasingly important beyond the platform, showing up prominently in search results on Google for example.
• With Facebook’s August 6 “Recommendations” announcement, prior reviews will be converted into a recommendation and will continue to be displayed and factored into the overall star rating of the page.
• Facebook’s recommendations will only continue to increase in importance/prominence for marketers because: 1.Ease of use will drive more recommendations 2. Ability to surface what businesses are known for 3. Authentic feedback 4. Increased reach
• Ranking in Facebook local searches appears to be a function of two things: location and relevant page engagement. Top local search results have a large number of recommendations and conversations.
• Brands should see local Facebook pages as a powerful tool to support customer service and to answer locally-specific questions.
• Tips for managing a (local) Facebook crisis before it occurs: 1. Help local stores understand their responsibilities; 2. Have an escalation & response protocol; 3. Pre-identify a local page ambassador; 4. Continue to review/refine processes.

You can view the entire SOCi and LSA webinar recording below: For more info about LSA’s webinar series, visit: http://bit.ly/LSAwebinars.

https://www.businesscreatorplus.com/replay-how-brands-win-in-facebooks-new-local-first-world/