How to boost your freelance business with hyperlocal social media marketing

When we think of social media, we often picture a global stage—a tool to reach audiences far and wide. But did you know that it also works great for hyperlocal marketing? You can use social media to zero in on specific neighborhoods, communities, or regions, making your content more relevant and personal.

Imagine using hyperlocal social media marketing as your creative superpower, helping you connect with local clients and build a loyal fanbase right in your own backyard. Whether you’re a freelancer wanting to connect with local clients, or a designer looking to build a loyal fanbase right in your own backyard, here’s how social media marketing could be your secret weapon to winning new clients and elevating your business.

Hyperlocal social media marketing is marketing that targets a specific geographical area. This could be a neighborhood, city, or region. Instead of casting a wide net, such as a national or even global audience, hyperlocal marketing aims to connect with and engage people who live and work in your area. This makes it highly relevant to creative freelancers and brands who work with local clients.

This type of local marketing involves the use of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, as well as Google search engine marketing. These platforms allow you to target users with specific interests, within a specific location. They make it easy for you to reach the right audience: people who are likely to become clients, champions, or collaborators.

One of the biggest advantages of hyperlocal social media marketing is increased visibility within your community. Targeting a local audience means your posts, stories, promotions, and ads are more likely to be seen by people who live or work nearby. This can mean more inquiries, sales conversations, and bookings. You could build a strong local client base with hyperlocal social media marketing.

Hyperlocal marketing enables you to connect with clients and collaborators on a personal level. And we know that deep, meaningful relationships are key to the long-term success of a freelance or creative business. When people know, like, and trust you, they’re more likely to hire you—and to spread the word about you. What’s more, when people see you as the local expert and a familiar face in the community, they’re more likely to choose your services over those of someone they don’t know.

With hyperlocal marketing, you become an active participant in your local community. This can open doors and generate new opportunities for you! You get to engage with other creatives and business owners, as well as organizations, individuals, and movers-and-shakers in your area. You get to position yourself as a valuable contributor to your community’s life and growth.

Social media marketing to a broad audience can be expensive, but localized social media marketing is more cost-effective. It narrows your focus so you can allocate your resources more efficiently. You can get great results even while spending less, when you target people who are “warmer” to your messages and are, therefore, more likely to engage with your content and convert into clients. And when it comes to social media, success begets success. So the more engagement you get, the lower your ad costs.

The next benefit of hyperlocal social media media marketing is simply feeling good knowing that you’re supporting the local economy. By promoting or collaborating with local causes, businesses, and events, you contribute to your community’s vibrancy. This not only enhances your brand’s reputation; it also creates a positive impact that resonates with your audience. Being an active member of the community could be the edge you need to win someone’s business—no matter how much you charge!

Hyperlocal social media marketing doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. It can even be a lot of fun! To do it well, just follow these steps:

As with any type of marketing, the first step to implementing hyperlocal social media marketing is identifying your local audience. This involves researching local demographics and interests. You need to understand potential clients near you and what they care about. Social media analytics tools can give you valuable insights into the behaviors and preferences of people in your area.

Begin by analyzing the demographics of your current followers on Instagram, Facebook, and other social media platforms. Look for patterns in their age, gender, and location. Follow your biggest clients and customers. What accounts do they follow and engage with?

Consider using tools like Google Trends and Facebook Audience Insights to gain a deeper understanding of the local audience you want to reach. As you roll out promotions, pay attention to your own analytics to see what types of content better resonate with them.

When it comes to hyperlocal marketing, not all social media platforms are equal. Some are better suited to connecting with local audiences than others.

With its emphasis on visual content, Instagram is a natural fit for designers, artists, videographers, and other visual artists. The platform allows you to add location tags, stickers, and hashtags on content. You can also include location-specific hashtags. These will increase the visibility of your posts to the locations you specified. Stories, Reels, and live streams are great tools for sharing behind-the-scenes content, showcasing local events and projects, and engaging with your hyperlocal audience in real time.

This platform’s robust community features, such as Groups and Events, make it ideal for hyperlocal marketing. Join local groups related to your own, participate in discussions, and share your work—in a non-salesy way—with the community. You can also create your own Facebook group or run locally targeted Facebook ads. If you’re organizing or participating in local workshops, exhibitions, or collaborative projects, you can use Facebook Events to promote them.

Another platform that enables hyperlocal marketing is LinkedIn. Join local LinkedIn groups where you can participate in discussions about community issues. Look for opportunities to share your expertise, whether in the comments or through your own posts. In terms of advertising, LinkedIn allows you to create targeted ads based not only on job titles and industries but also on location. Get the most out of the platform with our LinkedIn guide for creatives.

Specifically created for neighborhoods, Nextdoor is a social media platform that’s perfect for hyperlocal marketing. Claim your Nextdoor business page to ensure that its users can easily find you. Participate in neighborhood conversations to position yourself as an approachable and knowledgeable professional. Answer questions, offer advice, and share special offers. Nextdoor’s advertising allows hyper-targeted ads aimed at specific neighborhoods. With its local focus, Nextdoor is a good way to build relationships, foster trust, and become the go-to expert in your area.

Local influencers may not be as big as global ones, but they can still have a significant impact on your creative brand. Also referred to as micro-influencers, they have smaller audiences, but those audiences tend to be highly engaged. Collaborating with local influencers can help you reach new prospects and build your presence in your locality. Read my earlier post for tips on working with micro-influencers.

The first step in how to find local social media influencers and brands is to identify those whose values align with yours and whose following matches your target audience. Reach out to them with ideas for collaborations. You can co-host events, create joint content, or offer a discount to their followers. You could also offer them a commission on referrals. Approach brands that appeal to the same target audience but are not your direct competitors. Strive to develop authentic partnerships, not just one-off transactions. These will prove invaluable over time.

Another way to do hyperlocal marketing is to support local causes and events. You can sponsor an event or participate in a local trade show or fair. Don’t have a marketing budget? Volunteer your services to a good cause. Look for opportunities to get your face and your brand out there in the community, and create positive associations with you and your work.

Of course, use social media to make your participation known. Share pictures or videos of the events; you could even livestream it. Let your followers know about the event and, more importantly, your involvement. Use appropriate hashtags and tag the event organizers and other sponsors or supporters. Boost your visibility while strengthening your connection with the community.

User-generated content (UGC) is any social content created and shared by users and customers, not by you or your brand. It’s a powerful marketing tool because it’s authentic and therefore has more credibility and trustworthiness than marketing that originates from you. Examples of UGC include photos or videos of clients using your product, reviews of your services, unboxing videos and tutorials, and testimonials about how you helped them.

To encourage clients to create and share UGC, you can try these tips:

Article, an online furniture company, aggregates UGC on its website. It also makes it easy for customers to add their own photos on the page from their desktop, Instagram, Facebook, or Google Photos.

Local hashtags and geotags are an easy—and free—way for you to make sure people in your area can find you. And by combining them with your product or services, such as #YourCityPhotography or #YourNeighborhoodDesign, then you can get in front of people who are looking for your specific offerings.

Geotags add a location to your posts. Take advantage of them! Not only are local users more likely to discover your content; the social media algorithms are also more likely to serve your geotagged content to users in that location.

Create content that speaks to local culture, events, and trends. Reflect the interests and values of your community. This will make your social media accounts relevant and resonant with your local audience. Is there a popular local event coming up? Try creating content that ties into its theme, if not to the event itself. Does your area have a distinct cultural identity? Incorporate elements of it into your posts.

Showcase local projects and collaborations to make powerful connections with your audience. Share stories and testimonials from local clients. Highlight how your work has affected their businesses or lives. Don’t be afraid of selling your brand once in a while!

Any marketing strategy requires this next part: monitoring performance and making necessary adjustments to tweak and get better results. Use the built-in analytics and performance insights from social media platforms to track metrics like engagement, reach, and conversions. Monitor which posts and ads performed well and which didn’t.

What can you learn from your successes and duds? Use insights to refine your approach and develop a coherent social media strategy. Keep in mind that social media platforms are always changing. What worked in the past may not keep working forever.

Marketing is not a one-time effort, and the same is true of hyperlocal social media marketing. It requires consistency to yield positive results. Here are a few tips to sustain hyperlocal marketing, even if you have a small or even a one-person marketing team:

By now you know that localized social media marketing is a powerful way for designers, photographers, videographers, writers, and other local freelancers and brands to attract and keep clients. By focusing on your community, you can keep your client pipeline full and build a thriving creative practice.

Thinking small by targeting a specific and confined geographical area can yield big rewards and opportunities. Whether you’re a seasoned service provider or just starting out, hyperlocal social media marketing can be your client magnet.

Get started by exploring all the epic social media templates on Envato! Or, learn more about social media marketing by brushing up on the latest social media trends and how to use content batching for your social media marketing.