How to Localize Your Brand’s Marketing Strategy

Your brand’s target demographic stretches across the entire country. Maybe, the world. So you only need to target them at that scale, right? 

Wrong! Connecting with as many new customers as possible with a wide net is important, but you can follow those potential customers even further with a localized social media strategy that reinforces their purchasing decision when they’re going about their daily life. 

Thankfully, a lot of social media platforms have tools that allow you to tailor content to local communities. And outside of those tools, third party apps automate the process of syndicating your digital media content to your retailers so they can amplify your brand’s message for you.  

But let’s start with the basics. Facebook, Instagram, Google, and most other social platforms allow you to tailor the audience that receives your paid advertisements based on location. In other words, If you’re interested in localizing your social media content manually… you can. Take a single piece of content and make minor changes to it to resonate to specific audiences. You can do this to both the media itself and the post details surrounding it depending on the amount of time you’re willing to dedicate. Then follow up in the demographic details and make sure the places your ad is getting served matches the details in your post. 

The benefit of localizing your content manually like I’ve explained is that you have the most control over your posts and who sees it. But you’re limited in two distinct ways. First off, the content is only on your page when it could be used by your entire network of partners and retailers. So you’re restricted in terms of reach. Secondly, handcrafting multiple variations of a single post takes a lot of time. Time that you may not have if you’re busy managing a fast-pace marketing strategy. 

Let’s try to tackle those two limitations. Starting with reach. Just like we discussed when we were tailoring content, you can also go about the process of sending your content out to your retail network manually. All you need to do is a build a content library and have a centralized location so others can come and access your brand-curated assets at their leisure. Dropbox, Google Drive and other commonly utilized storage solutions work well for this. You’re just a blast email away from giving every retailer in your contact list access to every picture or video they’ll ever need of your product. 

But as you’d expect. This completely neglects the second limitation that we mentioned before. Your time. Manually building a huge library of eye-catching multi-media content takes time! And making sure every retailer has access to it can be a headache, especially if you’re communicating via phone tag. 

That’s where Thumbstopper, comes in. Sure, it’s possible to execute a localized social media strategy manually. But it’s time consuming and full of pitfalls. Thumbstopper is an easy-to-use tool that allows your retailers to access a library of brand-curated content and schedule posts to go live across multiple platforms, all in one place. On-boarding is simple, and allows even the most tech-inept to find beautiful high quality media of your brand and schedule dozens of posts in a matter of minutes! Suddenly your reach went from just your page, to hundreds of pages across your entire network. And you didn’t have to do a thing. Interested in learning more about how Thumbstopper can do the heavy lifting for you? Visit Thumbstopper.com. 

Want More Video Content?

Check out our YouTube channel for the latest videos from ThumbStopper.

Featured Resources
BLOG
How to Reach a Local Audience With Automated Content Distribution
Lifehacks that Every Big Brand CMO Needs to See
CASE STUDY
The Story Behind A National Powersports Brand’s New Recreational Vehicle Launch
How STIHL Canada Drove a Successful Co-Op Marketing Campaign Utilizing Marketing Technology
GUIDE
How to Get Retailers to Participate in Your Channel Marketing Program
[/et_pb_column]
[/et_pb_row]
[/et_pb_column]

Key Points:

 

  • Companies should understand the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure their websites are accessible.
  • Brands that concentrate on accessibility on social media demonstrate care for their customers and build a positive brand reputation.
  • Brands should always consider inclusive design, such as plain, straightforward language, in their social media posts.

 

 

Accessibility may not be a term you usually associate with the internet and social media. You might picture wheelchair ramps, directional signs in braille, or sign language interpreters at live performances. The landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 dictates the legal necessity of these and similar accommodations in public spaces. As we’ve come to rely on the internet for everything from entertainment to buying groceries, it’s become clear that the internet is now also a public space. It must be accessible to everyone. And like other applications of ADA, businesses that do not comply are liable for damages caused by inaccessibility.

 

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are an international set of standards to provide instruction on meeting accessibility needs. It’s important for companies to understand how this applies to their websites, especially if they engage in e-commerce. In terms of social media, the requirements are less concrete. But prioritizing accessibility on your company’s social media is essential to your reputation, even if the legal requirements are uncertain. We’ll look at why it’s important to your customers, how it affects the perception of your brand, and how to make these changes efficiently.

Social Media for All

The cornerstone of accessibility is inclusive design: products or experiences that are accessible for everyone regardless of disability. The most important place where this shows up is on company websites where most users expect to also find links to the brand’s social media profiles. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of websites are not accessible, despite the fact that the application of ADA to the internet is over 20 years old. Making websites accessible is a complex process without the use of specialized software like Accessibe or EqualWeb.

Unlike websites, making sure your social media is accessible is a straightforward, ongoing process. Every social platform has been quick to release optional accessibility features. These features are important to many users even if they don’t rely on them to use social media.

Making your social presence accessible tells users that your brand cares about people, not just profits. It’s the same idea as the push for the representation of different body sizes in fashion or more expansive skin tone ranges in beauty products. Brands that meet the needs of underrepresented groups endear themselves to others as well. And while optimizing your brand website for accessibility might be a larger project you aren’t ready to tackle yet, starting with your social media pages is a great way to show customers that you’re listening to their concerns. 

 

Making Content Accessible

Shifting to accessible content means incorporating inclusive design into your creative process. The practice varies by type of media. For platforms that have graphics or videos with captions, it means not only adjusting each component but also being mindful of how they interact with each other.

For example, YouTube’s automatically generated closed captions and subtitles are often inaccurate. It's one of many examples where the caption generation software has issues picking up strong accents and mumbled words. This could be remedied with handcrafted video transcription services. If that’s not in the budget, the video creator could add their script or transcription to the video description.

None of the technology for accessibility is perfect yet. Teaching computers to digest complex information for human understanding is difficult, and the variations in disabilities further complicate it. The majority of adjustments creators need to make revolve around helping assistive technology better understand their content. Let’s look at how to make different kinds of content accessible. 

Text

  • Use plain language that’s easy to understand 
  • Avoid text in all caps
  • Capitalize the first letter of each word in a hashtag, like #SocialMediaMarketing, a practice called camel-case

Videos

  • Provide descriptive captions. Instead of just displaying the words people on-screen say, explain background noises and other sounds that are relevant to the scene.
  • Add your own subtitles or enable auto-subtitles on the video platform of your choice
  • Use captioning for live videos when possible

Graphics

Distribute Accessible Content

Many users find their new favorite brand through social media. When disabled people (who make up 26% of the population according to the CDC) can’t access your brand’s social posts, you miss the opportunity to connect with a demographic that’s eager to engage in online communities. On a hyper-local level, that kind of connection goes even further.

That’s why ThumbStopper exists to help brands distribute their social content to their retailer network. Retailers can connect with their local audience - with your accessible, branded content - in a more personal way. And since content goes to their page automatically once they sign up, retailers can effortlessly promote your brand online while focusing on running their business. 

Ready to see how ThumbStopper can help your brand improve its reach? Check out our brand reach calculator or book a demo.

 

 

accessibility
[/et_pb_column]
[/et_pb_column]
What Is Social Media Automation?
[/et_pb_column]
[/et_pb_column]
10 Ways to Automate Your Marketing
[/et_pb_column]
[/et_pb_column]
How Effective Is Your Social Media Strategy
[/et_pb_section]