One of the biggest challenges of working across digital channels for hospitality brands over the last decade has been how best to manage local activity, because we know that when you get it right, it can be incredibly powerful.
The desire for local connection is not a phase; it is a structural shift in how people relate to the places they eat, drink, and stay. Pubs and restaurants are uniquely positioned to sit at the heart of that community life, both on and offline. ‘Local’ is now a permanent fixture of any smart digital marketing strategy.
According to the UK Government’s Community Life Survey, 62% of adults in England feel they belong very strongly or fairly strongly to their immediate neighbourhood.[1]
Pubs, restaurants, and hotels should be at the centre of their communities, not just physically, but digitally. Social media is where that connection is reinforced daily.
In the same way that Google rewards businesses for prioritising local optimisation, social media platforms behave similarly. We recently presented at a General Manager Conference for a well-known restaurant brand whose local social media pages were eight times the size of their brand channels, with significantly higher engagement.
So, how can hospitality brands unlock the full potential of local social media?
Article contents
- Social media training
- Social media champions
- Social media tools
- Content planning support
- Social media reporting
1. Social media training
Training is the foundation of any successful multi-location social media strategy.
Providing local managers with practical, hands-on guidance is essential. This should focus on actionable skills – how to capture better content, write engaging captions, respond to comments, and understand what success looks like.
A survey is a useful starting point to assess current skill levels and identify gaps. From there, training can be tailored accordingly.
In-person sessions are ideal, but when this is not possible, online training can still be effective if it is concise, practical, and directly relevant to day-to-day operations. The key is to ensure there is a clear takeaway and a follow-up session scheduled to maintain momentum.
Without this ongoing support, even the best strategies will struggle to gain traction at a local level.
2. Social media champions
One of the most effective ways to scale local social activity is through a network of social champions.
Across any hospitality group, there will always be a wide spectrum of ability when it comes to social media – from highly engaged and creative managers to those who are far less confident.
Creating a group of ‘social champions’ from your most capable operators introduces a vital middle layer between the central marketing team and individual sites.
This train-the-trainer model allows knowledge, ideas, and best practice to cascade more naturally across the business. It also builds internal advocacy, making social media feel less like a corporate directive and more like a shared opportunity.
3. Social media tools
The right tools can play a crucial role in connecting central teams with local sites.
Tools such as Sprout Social and Hootsuite can help share approved assets from the brand or central team to local sites, suggest posts around key calendar dates, and schedule content to appear across all local social media pages – for example, at Christmas or during seasonal promotions.
However, it is important to strike the right balance. Too much central control can strip away local personality and ownership, which is ultimately what makes these channels effective. Collaborate with your social champions to define how these tools should be used across different sites, depending on capability and confidence levels.
WhatsApp Groups and WhatsApp Communities remain some of the most practical and immediate tools for sharing content, ideas, and best practice across teams. There is something about a group chat that platforms simply cannot replicate – it’s fast, familiar, and already embedded in how teams communicate.
For larger groups or more structured communication across multiple locations, WhatsApp Communities provide a more organised layer without losing that informal, conversational dynamic.
4. Content planning support
Supporting local teams with content planning is one of the most impactful ways to drive consistency and creativity.
A ‘key date’ calendar is a strong starting point. This can highlight moments throughout the year – from Easter to World Emoji Day – that teams can tap into for local content. Providing this as a printable resource can help keep it front of mind.
Building on this, introducing content pillars gives teams a clearer framework. For example, a pillar such as ‘steak’ could include topics like cuts, pairings, cooking tips, or sauces.
Content tactics can then be mapped across four key quadrants:
- Educate – guides, tips, infographics
- Entertain – quizzes, competitions
- Inspire – reviews, testimonials
- Convince – offers, promotions
Combining a topic with a tactic creates a simple but effective structure for posts.
To learn more, read about the latest social media trends in hospitality.
Also build in a dedicated column for user-generated content (UGC) and employee-generated content (EGC). Encouraging teams to share authentic behind-the-scenes moments, or repost guest content tagged at the venue, consistently outperforms highly polished brand content at a local level – and costs almost nothing to produce.
Real people and real moments are the currency of local social media, and something no central brand team can replicate at scale.
Team members still feeling a bit shy? Here’s how to get staff involved in social media.
5. Social reporting
“If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it,” consultant Peter Drucker famously said.
Reporting is a powerful tool for engaging local teams and reinforcing the value of their efforts.
Sharing performance highlights – whether that is a high-performing post, increased engagement, or follower growth – helps teams understand what is working and why. Providing simple frameworks and tools to track performance empowers sites to take ownership of their results.
It is equally important to connect local performance back to the wider brand. Demonstrating how individual sites contribute to overall success builds motivation and encourages continued improvement.
Finish your brew…
Local social media is no longer a ‘nice to have’ – it is a core driver of brand visibility, engagement, and loyalty in hospitality.
The brands that succeed will be those that empower their teams, embrace authenticity, and strike the right balance between central guidance and local creativity.
If you would like support with training, content planning, or building a scalable local social strategy, let’s chat.
Reference
[1] UK Government: Community Life Survey 2024/25: Neighbourhood and community (Updated December 2025)
Matt Bowell
Matt has been in marketing for 25 years, clocking up many years for institutions like the NHS, the BBC, Comic Relief, Goodyear Dunlop, and Lonely Planet in the UK and abroad. Matt leads the client service team as one of Brew’s directors.
