Running local social media adverts

Using media packages from head office

A bicycle retailer wants to promote this season’s new e-bikes. Their customers scroll through Instagram in the evenings, follow local news on Facebook and watch reviews and cycling tour videos on YouTube. That’s where the adverts should run. However, setting up a dedicated campaign across three platforms requires time and specialist knowledge. And that’s a real challenge in the day-to-day running of a retail business.

Which channel suits the target audience? How big should the budget be? And which media mix is best suited to which product? Retailers don’t have to ask themselves questions like these when – as the socoto system enables – pre-configured media packages are available. The marketing head office works with its media agency to develop suitable campaign sets and makes them available to local retail partners directly within the marketing management system. All branches are notified of the campaign launch via automated retailer activation.

Head office plans the media mix

Marketing managers at head office work with the media agency to determine the target audience for each campaign, the platforms on which it should be run, and how the budget should be allocated. The advertising agency then designs the promotional materials to suit each channel: for example, 9:16-format Stories for Instagram, 4:5-format single-image adverts for the Facebook feed, and short landscape-format video adverts for YouTube. YouTube displays these before, during or after videos. So anyone watching a cycling tour video will see the new e-bike in between, advertised by their local specialist retailer.

Based on the planning, head office puts together packages in various sizes, such as for 500, 800 or 2,000 euros. The target audience and channel strategy are fixed; the packages differ in terms of budget and reach. This means that small specialist retailers can find a package just as easily as larger outlets. Head office and the agencies handle all the preparatory work, ensuring that retailers receive suitable advertising materials for every channel. socoto customers are already familiar with this principle from the banner advertising and Addressable TV modules.

Booked in just a few clicks

The retailer then selects a package, adds their local details and specifies the time period and target area. To do this, they can either accept the head office’s suggestion or draw the boundaries themselves. After all, they know best which areas their customers come from and which neighbouring towns form part of their catchment area. As soon as they approve the booking, the marketing management system runs the campaign during the selected period. This allows retailers to serve multiple platforms with just a few clicks.

The results are incorporated into the reporting section of the marketing portal. Retailers can see the impact of their campaign, whilst head office maintains an overview of all locations.

Advertisers are increasingly shifting their budgets towards social media: according to the German Economic Institute, spending on social media advertising in Germany rose by just over half between 2022 and 2025, to around 5.1 billion euros. With media packages from head office, even small branches can use these channels for their local advertising.

Would you like to know more about social ads for your retailers? Then please feel free to get in touch with us!