[FAQ]

I run a small retail shop here in Manila and I’m trying to figure out how to get more local people to discover us on Instagram.

Our follower count is growing, which is great, of course, but many of them are from other countries or provinces. It’s not really translating to more people actually visiting the store. I feel like my profile itself isn’t set up correctly to attract a local audience.

Beyond just adding our full address, what else can I do? How important are things like the business category, or using keywords like “Manila” or “Philippines” in my name or bio? Just wondering what profile tweaks have the biggest impact on local discovery.

Thanks for the help!

[Jeff Bullas]

Optimising for local is one of the smartest things a brick-and-mortar business can do.

Quick Answer: Include your city or neighbourhood as a keyword in your searchable ‘Name’ field, and ensure your business category and physical address are correctly filled out in your profile settings.

You need to treat your profile’s text and settings as powerful signals that tell both users and the algorithm that your image and video content is relevant to a specific geographic area.

The single most effective tweak is to edit your ‘Name’ field in your profile to include your location; for example, change ‘My Shop’ to ‘My Shop | Boutique in Manila’. That name field is searchable and a massive signal for local discovery. After that, ensure you have a professional account with the correct business category selected and your full physical address entered so the ‘Directions’ button appears on your profile. These profile optimisations should then be supported by your content strategy. You must consistently use the location tag on all relevant image and video posts and use location-specific hashtags in your text captions. A dedicated Story Highlight with a clear cover image for ‘Our Location’ or ‘Hours’ also makes it incredibly easy for a potential customer to find you.

Cheers,

Jeff

[Author]

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