The Last-Minute Holiday Guide for Local Retailers

The holiday season is fast approaching, and for retail brands with hundreds of locations, this time of year can make or break your sales targets for the year. The stakes are high — customers are eager to shop, but only from businesses that are easy to find, engage with, and trust. So, the question is, is your brand ready?

Many retail brands are missing out on significant opportunities because they aren’t optimizing their local online presence, managing social media effectively, or engaging with customer reviews. If that sounds familiar, don’t worry, there’s still time to prepare. With just a month left before the holiday rush, you can still get ahead of the game with the right local marketing strategy. 

At SOCi, we understand the challenges retail brands face when managing local marketing for hundreds of locations. That’s why we’re here to help you optimize your strategy and drive more foot traffic to your stores this holiday season.

Optimize Your Online Presence to Maximize Local Visibility

One of the first steps to preparing for the holiday rush is making sure your brand is easy to find online. Consumers today rely heavily on local search when making purchasing decisions, especially during the holiday season when time is limited and convenience is key. In fact, 87% of consumers use Google to search for products during the holiday season. But SOCi research shows that multi-location brands aren’t showing up in 3 out of 4 local searches. 

If your local stores aren’t appearing in search results, you’re invisible to potential customers who are ready to spend.

Tactics for Improvement:

• Update and standardize local listings: Make sure your business information,like your name, address, and phone number, is consistent and accurate across all online platforms. Inaccurate listings can lead to customer frustration and missed opportunities, with 47% of consumers saying they’d visit a competitor if they encountered inaccurate information about a brand online.
• Optimize your local SEO: It’s critical that your stores rank highly in local search results, especially as more consumers turn to “near me” searches during the holidays. Focus on relevant keywords, and ensure your business locations are optimized for Google and other search engines. An important tip: ensure your Google profiles contain both primary and secondary categories representing all key lines of business.
• Further optimize your Google Business Profiles: Enhance your profiles by adding high-quality photos, social links, links for ordering or booking appointments, and up-to-date business details. Take advantage of the Q&A feature to address common customer questions. Regularly updating your profile keeps your business top-of-mind and boosts your visibility in local searches.

SOCi Solution:

With SOCi’s AI-powered tools, managing your local visibility across hundreds of locations is simple. Genius Search analyzes real-time data from multiple sources to enhance your local listings, leading to an increase in your business’s visibility in search engine results. It also ensures your listings are always current, aligns with consumer trends, and provides proactive, tailored recommendations for capitalizing on local search opportunities.  

Build a Locally Focused Social Media Strategy to Engage Shoppers

The Power of Social Media

Social media is more than just a place to share updates—it’s where consumers go for product inspiration, holiday deals, and updates on the brands they love. During the holiday season, having a strong local social media presence can help you attract nearby customers who are looking for holiday shopping ideas.

Tactics for Improvement:

• Develop consistent, locally relevant content: Tailor your social media posts to reflect the unique interests and needs of your local audiences. Highlight store-specific deals, events, and promotions to engage customers in each location. Locally relevant content is 71X more engaging to consumers than copying the same corporate posts to every location.
• Use holiday-themed content: Shoppers are on the hunt for deals and gifts during the holidays. Create localized promotions and holiday-themed content that resonates with nearby customers and encourages them to visit your stores. Remember, customers are looking for deals this time of year, but they also appreciate content that helps or entertains, so lean into what makes your brand stand out. 
• Engage with your local audience: Respond to comments, messages, and mentions to foster real-time interaction with your audience. Showing you’re listening and engaging with local shoppers builds loyalty and encourages them to visit your store.

SOCi Solution:

SOCi simplifies local social media management, no matter how many locations you oversee. With SOCi’s Genius Social, layered over SOCi Social, brands can automate local content creation and consumer engagement at each location. It is adept in your brand’s voice, employing data-driven strategies to enhance your social presence while saving time and boosting efficiency.  

Manage Your Online Reputation to Build Trust and Drive Foot Traffic

Reviews matter, especially during the holiday season. Shoppers are more likely to visit stores with positive reviews, and they’re quick to steer clear of businesses with unresolved complaints. Our research shows that 94% of consumers use reviews to make local buying decisions. Your brand’s online reputation plays a huge role in driving foot traffic and influencing purchasing decisions, especially for customers who may be finding your brand for the first time while searching for items during the holidays. 

Tactics for Improvement:

• Respond to reviews promptly: Show customers that their feedback matters. Responding to reviews,whether positive or negative, demonstrates that you care about the customer experience. As a retail brand, it’s essential to respond to reviews in a timely manner. The average retail brand takes 4.7 days to respond to a Google review, but consumers expect responses in 24 to 48 hours. Strive to meet that standard.
• Engage with local audiences: Make sure you’re actively participating in conversations by responding to customer reviews and answering questions. This builds trust with potential customers and encourages them to choose your store over competitors.

SOCi Solution:

SOCi’s review management tools make it easy to monitor and respond to reviews across all your locations from one centralized platform. Genius Reviews combines cutting-edge AI technology, advanced on-brand training models, and leading localization and automation tools to deliver a highly customizable and automated system for managing reviews.   This innovative tool integrates with major review sites, including Google, Facebook, and Yelp. It utilizes proprietary “On-Brand” training models and prompts to provide fast and accurate responses to customer reviews in real-time, making the customer feel valued and heard.   

Using the Next 30 Days Wisely: A 4-Week Roadmap

With only a month left until the holiday shopping frenzy begins, time is of the essence. But don’t worry, SOCi has you covered. Here’s a four-week roadmap to help you get your local marketing efforts in shape.

Week 1: Audit and update your local listings
Start by ensuring that all your business information is up to date and consistent across online platforms. This includes your Google Business Profiles, Yelp listings, Facebook pages, and any other popular platforms where your stores are listed.

If this information is already up to date, you can go a step further and add engaging content to these listings. For instance, do you have updated and relevant photos in your Google Business Profiles? What about a Q&A for first time customers? 

Week 2: Plan and schedule localized social media content
Create a content calendar that covers all your stores’ holiday promotions and deals. Schedule these posts in advance to make sure your social media presence is active and engaging.

Once the content is launched, keep an eye on the performance of your social campaigns and make adjustments as needed. Double down on posts that engage, and steer clear of the ones that don’t. 

Week 3: Focus on review management
Take the time to respond to all outstanding reviews from the past month or two, and set up alerts to monitor new reviews. The goal is to have all reviews addressed before the holiday rush hits, showing potential customers that you value their feedback. As you receive new reviews during the holidays, aim to respond to them in 24 to 48 hours. 

If there are commonalities in the feedback your brand receives via online reviews, make adjustments accordingly. Customers value brands who not only respond to feedback, but take that feedback seriously. You’ll be rewarded by more positive reviews in the future. 

Week 4: Fine-tune and monitor campaigns
In the final week leading up to the holiday season, review your marketing campaigns and make any necessary adjustments. Monitor your local search rankings, social media engagement, and review responses to ensure you’re in the best possible position for success.

Our 2024 SOCi LVI analyzed 2,791 companies and assessed their local visibility. The research found that strong visibility in local platforms equates to local dollars. SOCi research has shown that brands in the top SOCi LVI rankings grow year-over-year revenue at 2-3X the rate of the average company. 

Optimizing your local presence by leveraging the steps above can ensure your brand has a successful holiday season and is well set up for success in 2025 and beyond. 

Get Ahead of the Holiday Chaos with SOCi

The holiday season doesn’t have to be overwhelming. With SOCi, you’ll have all the tools you need to optimize your local marketing efforts, engage with your customers, and drive foot traffic to your stores. Whether it’s updating local listings, managing social media, or responding to reviews, SOCi makes it easy to handle these tasks from one platform.

Don’t wait until it’s too late. Let SOCi help you drive more foot traffic, improve customer experiences, and boost your bottom line with our AI-powered tools. Request a demo to learn more!