The social marketing platform provider SOCi has released a new report focused on trends in localized marketing that it predicts will dominate in 2020.
SOCi has championed the idea of localized social marketing, the practice of social media marketing at the individual location level. It’a practice that has in many ways advantaged small, independent businesses that can focus on generating authentic social content for a single location. It has been a much tougher nut to crack for brands with tens, hundreds, or thousands of locations. Producing authentic local content at scale is a perennial challenge.
This is gradually changing as companies like SOCi have rolled out platforms that enable brands to do localized social marketing at scale. Perhaps because it has been so difficult, brands have not prioritized localized social marketing to the degree companies like SOCi argue they should. Hence, SOCi is a prolific content marketer, using sophisticated research to both make the case for localized social marketing and establish best practices for brands and multi-location businesses.
SOCi’s latest report, “The Rise of Localization for Multi-Location Marketers,” looks back at the major 2019 developments in the space and offers some trends to watch in 2o20.
“While we saw an increased focus on local results on leading search and social platforms like Google My Business and Facebook, there is still a lack of awareness among marketers about the significant impact localization has on sales and awareness for specific business locations,” said Monica Ho, CMO of SOCi, in a statement. “We know that brands that are effectively optimizing their local social, reviews, and search strategies are growing up to three times faster than their competitors, which is why it’s absolutely critical that multi-location brands have a strategy in place.”
The report shares SOCi’s “Top Localized Marketing Trends of 2019” across several subcategories, including localized search, localized social, and reputation and reviews. Here are a few examples of the trends cited:
Blurred Lines Between Search & Social
SOCi notes that “Platforms that were previously considered search tools are increasingly morphing into social tools. GMB and Yelp are examples of this trend.” Conversely, the report points out that Facebook continues to encourage consumers to use it as a search tool.
Zero-Click Search
This topic received a lot of attention in 2019. Zero-click search is any instance where a user’s query is satisfied within the Google environment. For example, through an answer box or by clicking to a GMB profile. SOCi’s take on Zero-click search is that “with the growing use of mobile searches, more and more search results are becoming localized, driving more activity to these local pages, which further increases zero-click searches.”
SOCi also shared three localized marketing predictions for 2020.
Growth in Real-time Messaging
This trend will be driven by the growing importance of giving customers an immediate response to a comment, question or complaint. “And with the growing importance, consumers have continued to expect quicker responses every 6 months, we see a strong trend toward real-time messaging.”
More Emphasis on Trust and Digital Reputation
“As we’ve seen throughout the past year, expectations around brands are continuing to increase. This year alone, the average star-rating needed for consumers to choose a business increased from three to four stars.”
Commerce Integrating with Social
“We see the opportunity for commerce to weave into and be derived directly from social.”
SOCi will have a significant presence at the upcoming Localogy 2020 event in San Antonio. SOCi execs will speak on “Who’s Winning in Localized Marketing” on Day 1 and will unveil highlights of its 2020 benchmarking study (a joint project with Localogy) on Day 2.
