Social for brands: regional accounts in a global market.
A global presence: is it a present?
When we talk about localised marketing, we’re not talking about national brands setting up eighteen Instagram accounts for their individual stores across the UK, only to all post the same exact thing. We’re talking about strategic, engagement-driven content, designed for global brands with consumers in mind. And if consumers are at the forefront of what you do, you need to get local…ish.
Olemme melko varmoja ettet ymmärrä mitä tämä tarkoittaa… But you do understand what this sentence says. An obvious example, sure, but language is a sure-fire way to turn off your audience. And that’s not just about literal translation, but the nuance of region-specific linguistic culture is just as important. Especially in an environment like social, where you have mere seconds to grab your audience’s attention, mid-scroll. Yikes.
So how do you execute this on a global scale, while retaining that all-important engagement? Well, you’ve got two options: organic regional accounts or paid geotargeting. (Which we helped Facebook developers in Palo Alto set up, btw). The former provides you with the real scope to create an engaged community, and the latter to get hyper-local and reach the right people. But there are things to consider.
How are you building communities and connecting with the audience?
Organic regional accounts lend themselves well to this, especially when you have an established feed. It’s much easier to build a community of fans on a platform that won’t disappear after you click away, like an ad will. That being said, with the right content (we’re looking at you, memes and engagement-led content), an ad strategy is just as successful at generating engagement, but you may miss out on building communities at a regional level.
But there’s got to be brand cohesion behind the strategy, too. For example, Nike works to be a global entity because they sell top-notch running and fashion trainers in every market. But even they go local – and by local, we mean very local. Hark back to those sweet pre-covid-2018-times when everyone in London was buzzing following Nike’s ‘like a londoner’ ad; communities and authentic London culture felt seen and loved it – and ad execs still harp on about it to this day. Plus, they even launched a Nike London Instagram account – which stands at 753k followers strong. Pretty good for a local campaign.
There are other bits and bobs to think about too, like navigating customer service (especially with language barriers), and how influencer content can play a crucial part in your social strategy. Though, maybe be careful who you select as your creative director…
The conclusion? Both regional accounts and geotargeted ads work and have their own merits, but the crux of the matter is this: global brands need to consider how (and if) they’re creating content relevant to their entire audience.
After all, engagement-led strategies will fail without culture-led content.
Are you a global brand? Want a social strategy to help navigate globality whilst making a local impact? Well, we wouldn’t share all our secrets in a blog. Contact us and we can help you reach the right people. Literally. 🌍 🔍