Yep, you read that right, but why? Well, it’s really easy for local business owners to get a little hypnotized by virality. One café posts a funny video and gets two million views, one boutique has a Reel take off, and one bakery ends up all over people’s feeds refer to Werbewürfel. This is pretty common, and then it basically pushes you to feel like you’re supposed to do the same. You’re supposed to follow trends, make new trends that hopefully catch on, just something that will help you get your business to the next level. That’s a mindset problem right now that so many businesses have.
But for a lot of local businesses, especially the ones in smaller towns, regular suburbs, quieter cities, or places that aren’t exactly packed with tourists year-round, going viral can be one of the least useful things to focus on. Sure, if you live in a major city like LA or NYC, it makes total sense, but a tiny rural town in the middle of nowhere? Well, good luck with that.
Bluntly put, a bunch of strangers in another state thinking a video is cute doesn’t help you. Sure, engagement is nice, but that’s it. You’re not going to have lines out the door like in major cities; it doesn’t help you or your team.
You’re Better Off Focusing on Familiarity
So, it’s for the best to just start off right here. And this is the part that’s really relatable, because a lot of business owners aren’t chasing virality out of ego. They’re doing it because they’re trying to grow, and that makes sense. They want more eyes on the business, more traction, more proof that things are moving. But sometimes that chase pulls attention away from the stuff that actually works better locally.
Basically, you don’t need to be internet famous if your target audience is people who live in your little town. Instead, you need locals to keep seeing it, hearing about it, and feeling like it’s part of their actual routine. That’s a completely different goal than what some of these businesses are after online. So it might be time to probably consider working with a local advertising agency instead if you’re dead set on just getting locals.
You can’t, well, at least you shouldn’t be copying what other businesses in LA or Miami are doing, and instead, you need to just focus on that familiar community-based marketing instead.
A Viral Post Doesn’t Automatically Mean a Better Business
Don’t be dazzled by the numbers. Sure, to a degree here, big views look exciting; the same goes for tons of comments and shares. Those numbers are fun, but that’s it. So, then what? How will this help you?
That’s really the question, right? If most of that attention is coming from people who live nowhere nearby, who aren’t planning a trip, who were just bored and scrolling, then that reach can end up being more flattering than useful. It looks like momentum, but it doesn’t always turn into a customer, which is the problem here.
You Need Recognition Instead
No, don’t even bother trying to entertain the whole internet, unless you have an ecommerce that ships everywhere, what’s the point? You need to be familiar with your community. You need to be that random business that gets recommended in a group that, you need to be that business for when someone wants to treat themselves. You need repeated recognition from locals, from a new follower, from someone on the other side of the planet.
