Local is the Way to Go on Facebook

Allison Howen — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 16:00:00 GMT

Perhaps large corporations should get their social media advice from local businesses.

While it seems that bigger brands would have an edge over local businesses when it comes to social media (with the thousands of extra fans and all), a recent study from enterprise social marketing platform Hearsay Social reveals that the typical local Facebook fan is worth 40 times that of a typical corporate page fan.

According to the study, the typical post from a local Facebook page reaches five times as many fans as a corporate post, and eight times as many fans reached will engage with that post.

“What the research shows is that, pound for pound, local fans deliver exponentially more marketing value than corporate fans,” says Craig LeGrande, managing director at Mainstay Salire. “These results suggest that a corporate-based Facebook presence is fine, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg. A broader strategy that integrates your corporate Facebook presence with a network of local pages has the potential to drive dramatically greater business results.”

It is important to note, however, that the true goal of a successful social media campaign is to obtain greater fan engagement rather than fans. This can be done by posting relevant and interesting content, engaging with fans, keeping the platform personal, utilizing videos and photos within posts, creating polls and promoting contests, VIP offers and special events.

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Local is the Way to Go on Facebook