#HootTip: Geo-Located Search
The HootSuite dashboard is chock full of features and tools to help you make the most of your social media management, and we’re always adding more. To keep you up to date, or just refresh your memory, we have a new #HootTip all about a handy HootSuite feature.
Hoot Tip: Geo-Locate Your Search
For most businesses – especially small businesses – connecting with a local audience is the key to creating awareness and expanding your customer base.
But with so many people sending messages from social networks, how do you find the ones near you? Your time is too valuable to spend weeding through endless Tweets in hopes of finding someone nearby.
Thankfully, HootSuite has geo-located search built right in allowing you to filter your search according to distance and see only the messages from close by. Refine your search to industry related terms or brand mentions based on your location.
Here’s how:
You may be a dentist looking for new customers or trying to spread awareness for services, and the social web is a great place to start.
1. Enter your search term in the Twitter search field. For example, someone looking for more dental patients could type “dentist.”
2. Click the crosshairs icon on the right side of the search field.
3. A window will then pop up showing search results within a 25 km radius of your current location.
Give it a spin and you’ll see just how many people are talking about your business. And when you do, try sending them a note to say hi, or offer some friendly advice – it’s a great way to get your brand noticed and build trust with potential customers. By filtering your results you’ll save time and get the most from your outreach efforts.
Stay tuned for a new #HootTip next week – they’re short, sweet and Re-Tweetable so you can share your HootSuite expertise with your friends and followers. Some lucky RTers may just find themselves with a #HootKit… it’s our way of saying “thanks for spreading the word.”
I would very happy for a german translation, HootSuite have a great Germany community.
Geo located search is a great idea. If you are a local business you can target users in your area/town/city. This is also useful if you have for example a shopping website and you are selling products that may be used in an certain area.
Is there a way you can change your geo location? For instance I am in Smallville, but I want to find customers is Metropolis (more then 25km away). . .
I really like the Geolocation search feature, but I can only seem to get it to work in Firefox, doesn’t seem to work in Internet Explorer. Is there a setting within IE that needs ticking for this to work?
Hey Chris,
What version of IE are you using? Only IE 9+ supports geolocation.
Is there a way to expand the search radius?
Hi Trey,
There is a way. It’s a little geeky but definitely possible. Fill out a request ticket at our Help Desk. One of our support owls will be able to help you out there.
Thanks Andy. Unfortunately, your response was much faster than that of the help desk.
http://help.hootsuite.com/requests/35099
I use Hootsuite / Hootwatch in English, but i also would prefer a German translation.
This would be great if it actually worked consistently. I tried it several times during a Hootsuite workshop this morning and it didn’t work for me at all (I was the instructor, no less) and only one of the students was able to actually get a local search out of it. Very frustrating that we can’t depend on it to work. And the Hootsuite Twitter accounts have been NO HELP.
Hi Anita,
That’s not right. Fill out a Request Ticket detailing your process. Our support team will be able to help you out from there.
I’m also not getting response when clicking the GeoSearch gadget. So its intermitent?
Hi Mark,
Hmm, that doesn’t seem right. Fill out a Request Ticket with detailed information. Our support owls will be able to help you from there.
Is the geolocate feature available for Facebook?
HootSuite Enterprise plan includes geo-targeting for Facebook posts.
The geolocation feature is great, but I seem to be having an issue. While our coordinates are correct (I double checked on google maps) we seem to be getting a large amount of UK results. We’re located near Manchester, NH, so I’m curious if we are somehow getting linked to Manchester, UK?
Nice post Ashley. For local service providers using Internet marketing to reach local markets, geo-located search is a really powerful capability. Used in conjunction with inbound marketing to generate and nurture local leads, users can get a strong boost to their local demand generation efforts. Though based on the thread here, it sounds like there are issues being addressed. It’s definitely worth the effort to get geo-location searches to work. Thanks for sharing.
Is there a way to expand the target area, or target other cities?
I would prefer a German version for Hootsuite / Hootwatch for easier use.
Is there a way of generating search results that only refer to tweets sent from a specific country (e.g. sent from Switzerland)? The geo-located search is too detailed for me, since I’m looking for nation-wide tweets, not just those sent from 25km away…
Is there a way to expand the target area, or target other cities?