As a multi-location marketer, you’ve probably heard the importance of a robust localized marketing strategy time and time again. Data from our most recent State of the Market Report reinforces this idea. As COVID-19 impacted everyone’s lives and social distancing became the norm in Q1 2020, we saw a new digitally focused world. Consumers turned to local search and social media more than ever to get information and updates about their favorite multi-location businesses amid the pandemic. 

Throughout this blog, we’ll dive into the data found in our Q2 State of the Market Report and highlight why localization has become even more essential for a successful marketing strategy. 

Multi-Location Businesses on Local Social 

When it comes to local social pages, individual brand locations post 2x more on Facebook than Google My Business (GMB). This data was highlighted further in our 2020 Localized Marketing Benchmark Report, which found that 92 of the enterprise brand locations that were studied were posting to local Facebook pages, while only 23 percent were posting on local GMB pages. 

While Facebook continues to outperform GMB when it comes to local social, it’s also important to know that the volume of posting on all social platforms increased dramatically in March. We saw double-digit increases in March across all major social platforms when compared to January and February. This increase in posting coincides with COVID-19 ramping and social distancing requirements across the nation. As more businesses had to temporarily close their doors due to COVID-19, they found other ways to connect with consumers through digital channels. 

Is your multi-location business utilizing local social to its full potential during this time? If not, the data shows that it’s time to reconsider.  

Multi-Location Businesses on Ratings and Reviews 

As we looked into trends on local search platforms, we found that GMB received 4x more reviews than Facebook in Q1 of 2020. Today, Google claims three out of every four reviews for multi-location businesses. If you’re looking for ways to increase your multi-location business’s review volume, GMB is the place to start, although it’s important not to forget about other platforms. Facebook and Yelp came in second and third place, respectively, when looking at the overall number of reviews. 

While review volume is essential and something your multi-location business should be monitoring, there are other important factors related to ratings and reviews. For instance, what is your business’s average ratings across various search platforms? How often does your company respond to reviews, and how quickly are you responding? These are some of the questions that you should consider as you work to improve your multi-location business’s localized marketing strategy. 

In terms of review response time, data from our most recent State of the Market Report found that the average review response time dropped down to 3.6 days in Q1 compared to a response time of 8.9 days in Q4 of 2019. This decrease in response time can likely be attributed to more businesses spending time online and answering consumers’ questions about business operations in response to COVID-19. While the average response time has decreased, we have seen that the average response rate has stayed around the same at 50 percent. Ideally, your multi-location business is responding to 100 percent of the reviews you receive, but 50 percent continues to remain the industry average. 

How SOCi Can Help Your Multi-Location Business

After going through the data, it’s crystal clear that localization is key amid this crisis. SOCi understands that many businesses are having to consolidate their marketing efforts during this time, but that doesn’t mean that localization should be forgotten. If you’re looking for ways to manage both local search and social platforms across all of your business locations, SOCi can help! 

Your multi-location business can use SOCi to manage local search, social, reviews, ads, and more all from a single platform. We understand how crucial localized marketing is to help your multi-location business stand out from competitors. If you want more information on how SOCi can help your multi-location business, email us at [email protected].