How to Reach More Local Customers on Instagram

If you run a local business, you probably don't need your Instagram content to reach everybody.

You need it to reach more of the right people in the right place.

Which is why a Reel getting 40,000 views can look incredibly exciting until you realise most of those people live hundreds of miles away and have absolutely no intention of driving to Bristol for a haircut, massage, kitchen extension or family photoshoot.

For a local business, bigger reach isn't always better reach.

So if you want Instagram to help you find more customers locally, here's where I'd focus.

Make it incredibly obvious where you are

This sounds almost too basic to mention.

And yet I regularly land on business accounts and have absolutely no idea where they're based.

Don't make people investigate.

Your location can appear in your bio, captions, content, location tags and the things you naturally talk about.

You don't need to awkwardly wedge your town into every sentence for the sake of SEO.

But if someone discovers one of your posts, they should be able to work out fairly quickly whether they can actually buy from you.

If you're a Bristol photographer, say Bristol.

If you're a beauty therapist in Clevedon, say Clevedon.

If you cover Bath, Bristol and surrounding areas, tell people.

Location is useful information, not something to hide at the bottom of your website.

Create content that feels local

There's a difference between putting “BRISTOL” in a caption and actually being part of Bristol.

Talk about where you work.

Show recognisable places.

Mention other local businesses.

Share the coffee shop you stopped at before a client.

Talk about the area you're working in today.

Show yourself arriving somewhere.

Celebrate something happening locally when it's genuinely relevant.

If you've got a physical location, show what's around you.

This creates little signals throughout your content that tell someone:

Oh. They're near me.

And that's incredibly useful when the person watching has only just discovered you.

Remember that local businesses have audiences too

One of my favourite ways to grow locally has nothing to do with posting more.

Talk to other businesses.

Not:

Great post! 🔥

copied underneath 47 accounts because somebody told you to “engage for 15 minutes before posting”.

Actual interaction.

Follow businesses you genuinely like.

Reply to their Stories.

Share them when relevant.

Recommend them.

Tag them when you've visited.

Talk to people.

If you run a business on a high street, the café three doors down isn't just another Instagram account.

They probably have customers who live, work and spend money in exactly the area you're trying to reach.

Local businesses recommending and interacting with one another makes sense because your audiences overlap.

Make content people want to send to someone local

This is a big one.

Think about the difference between:

Five reasons you need a massage.

and:

Bristol people: where are you going when you need an hour where nobody can ask you for anything?

The second has a reason to be sent to somebody.

Or:

Things I'd do before renovating a Victorian terrace in Bristol.

Three places I'd visit in Clevedon before or after your yoga class.

What I'd tell anyone buying their first home in Bristol.

The mistake I keep seeing in gardens around new-build estates.

The exact angle will depend on the business.

But local relevance gives people another reason to share.

Show the people behind the business

Local business has one enormous advantage over huge brands.

You're actually there.

You're a person someone might see at school pickup, in the coffee shop, walking down the high street or at a networking event.

Use that.

You don't need to turn your Instagram into a personal diary.

But showing your face, your team, your working day and bits of the business makes you more recognisable.

And recognition matters.

Someone sees your Reel.

Then your name appears in a local Facebook group.

Then their friend mentions you.

Then they see your van.

Then another post pops up.

Suddenly:

“Oh yeah, I've seen them before.”

That's a much more realistic version of social media marketing for many local businesses than going viral overnight.

Give customers reasons to tag you

Your existing customers already know people who live near them.

That makes them a pretty useful audience.

Create things worth sharing.

Reshare customer Stories.

Ask for reviews.

Make it easy for people to tag you.

Photograph work they're excited to show off.

Celebrate your customers where appropriate.

You don't need to turn every transaction into a desperate:

PLEASE TAG US ON INSTAGRAM.

Just remember that recommendations have always mattered to local businesses.

Social media gives those recommendations somewhere else to happen.

Use location features when they're useful

Use your location on posts and Stories where it makes sense.

Tag the venue you're working at.

Tag the business you've visited.

Add your location to your profile.

And use the actual words your customers might associate with what you do.

If you're a wedding photographer in Bristol, it isn't unnatural to describe yourself as a Bristol wedding photographer.

If you're a massage therapist in Bath, talking about massage in Bath is perfectly reasonable.

You don't need to write captions for a search engine.

You do need to give Instagram — and the human looking at your account — enough context to understand what you do and where you do it.

Don't forget Facebook

Yes, we're talking about Instagram.

But if you're a local business, I wouldn't automatically ignore Facebook because it feels less exciting.

Local groups, recommendations, community pages and existing customer networks can be incredibly useful.

Someone asking:

Can anyone recommend a good nail tech near me?

is considerably closer to buying than somebody casually watching your Reel from Australia.

You don't necessarily need an entirely separate Facebook content strategy either.

Some of what you're already creating for Instagram can have a perfectly useful second life there.

Stop chasing people who can't buy from you

This is the part I really want local businesses to remember.

Imagine one post reaches 50,000 people across the world.

Another reaches 1,200 people, including loads of people within five miles of your business.

Which one performed better?

I can't tell you from those numbers alone.

What happened next?

Did people visit your profile?

Did they follow?

Did somebody send it to a friend?

Did you get an enquiry?

Did anyone book?

Did somebody walk into your shop and say they'd seen you on Instagram?

Reach is useful.

But reach is the beginning of the story, not the end.

Become familiar, not famous

For most local businesses, I'd much rather build recognition among the people who could genuinely become customers than chase enormous numbers for the sake of an impressive screenshot.

Be visible in your area.

Talk about where you are.

Show the people behind the business.

Build relationships with other local businesses.

Create things local people actually want to share.

Give your existing customers reasons to recommend you.

Keep showing up.

You don't need everybody on Instagram to know who you are.

You need enough of the right people nearby to think of you when they need what you sell.

And that's a very different goal.

Want less social media advice to keep up with?

Slightly odd offer from a social media person, I know.

The Butterfly Broadcast gives you one thing worth knowing, one thing worth trying and one thing you can forget about each Monday morning.

For small business owners who want to use social media well — without making it their whole job.