As businesses expand and reach larger audiences marketers are beginning to worry they are losing their “small town” feel, becoming corporate giants that leave customers out of the loop.
Wal-Mart is launching local Facebook pages for each of their physical stores, hoping to achieve the community feeling and increase their interaction with Facebook users. Each of Wal-Mart’s social-local pages will be monitored by social media trained employees. These new pages will allow Wal-Mart to get involved in local communities, respond to feedback, post community events, and tailor each Wal-Mart’s Facebook to the needs of the customers in that area.
And although social-local pages require greater coordination, individualization, and attention, other corporations are following in Wal-Mart’s footsteps. Gyms and other retailers have hopped on board the social-local approach.
The advantages to social-local pages are valuable for increasing customer interaction within a localized area, and customers get the opportunity to interact with a big company while knowing the information is relevant and their voice is being heard.