How an Arts & Culture Platform Built Local Audiences to Support Its B2B Offering
Growing one social media account is one challenge.
Growing several regional audiences while driving website traffic, supporting local events, improving audience quality, and managing paid acquisition requires a more flexible approach.
That was the opportunity for an arts and culture discovery platform helping people find events and experiences across three regional markets.
Personalized Creative began working with the brand in October 2025. Our work covered three regional Instagram accounts, Facebook content, paid social, community engagement, and six local Facebook groups.
We used performance data to understand what each market responded to and where content, engagement, and paid investment could have the strongest impact.
In Q2 2026, the social program generated 861,807 content views. Paid follower campaigns acquired 3,725 Instagram followers at an average cost of $0.73 each, while paid traffic campaigns generated 3,149 outbound clicks at an average cost of $0.24 each.
The Challenge: Different Markets, Different Starting Points
The brand’s regional accounts needed different kinds of attention.
Its established market had a larger audience, but that audience included previously purchased followers. The two newer markets had existing accounts that had been largely inactive for years.
Follower count alone could not tell us whether the strategy was working.
We needed to:
Build relevant audiences in the two newer markets
Improve audience quality in the established market
Drive traffic to event listings and cultural content
Identify which topics and formats encouraged people to follow
Support visibility for local events and partners
Create community touchpoints beyond the main feeds
Use paid support efficiently
The strategy needed to account for both audience growth and the relevance of the people joining.
Building a Social Media Strategy Around Local Relevance
Each regional account needed to feel useful to someone living in that area.
We built a repeatable content framework that could adapt to local events, seasonal opportunities, cultural interests, and audience behavior.
The content mix included:
Local event roundups
Curated cultural guides
Genre-specific recommendations
Museum and attraction recommendations
Seasonal activities
Educational arts and culture posts
Relatable humor
Collaborative posts
Giveaways and event promotions
By Q1 2026, event roundups, curated guides, and collaborative content were among the strongest formats for visibility, engagement, and traffic across the Instagram accounts.
Educational and humor-driven Reels also performed well, giving us additional formats to develop.
The accounts were becoming cultural discovery resources, with content people could use to plan their time.
Building Early Momentum Across Regional Instagram Accounts
Q1 2026 showed strong progress.
The established market’s Instagram account generated:
333,015 views
138,045 accounts reached
5,717 content interactions
10,570 link clicks
3,850 profile visits
520 net new followers
Every major metric exceeded its quarterly target.
One newer market added 887 net new followers in Q1, while the other also gained momentum.
Across the regional accounts, strong content combined local relevance, useful recommendations, seasonality, and shareable formats.
Those findings helped shape Q2 priorities: continue developing effective content while improving paid efficiency and tracking audience quality.
Separating Paid Follower Growth From Website Traffic
Follower acquisition and website traffic served different goals, so we measured them separately.
In Q2 2026, follower-growth campaigns used $2,720.59 to acquire 3,725 Instagram followers, averaging $0.73 per follower.
Traffic campaigns used $767.22 to generate 3,149 outbound clicks, averaging $0.24 per click.
Approximately 78% of this paid spend supported follower acquisition, while 22% supported website traffic.
Separating the objectives helped us judge each campaign by the action it was designed to generate. Content that encouraged someone to follow was not always the content that encouraged them to visit the website.
What Encouraged People to Follow?
Two approaches stood out in follower acquisition testing:
Explaining the account’s value clearly.
People needed to understand what they would gain by following.
Offering immediate local value.
Useful guides, free cultural opportunities, and timely recommendations gave people a practical reason to stay connected.
Some of the most efficient follower campaigns featured:
Clear explanations of what the platform offered
Local cultural guides
Free museum opportunities
Timely event recommendations
Relatable content about cultural interests
In the established market, one value-focused campaign generated followers at $0.37 each.
In one newer market, several local guide and cultural identity posts generated followers at approximately $0.51 each. Efficient campaigns in the other newer market ranged from approximately $0.51 to $0.60 per follower.
The common thread was clarity. People could quickly understand that the account reflected their interests or would help them find things to do.
What Encouraged People to Click?
Traffic campaigns needed to give people a specific reason to learn more.
Strong examples included:
A food festival promotion: 884 outbound clicks at $0.17 each
A distinctive music event: 775 clicks at $0.19 each
A maker-focused event: 359 clicks at $0.25 each
Environmental programming: 349 clicks at $0.29 each
A regional cultural roundup: 283 clicks at $0.35 each
A classical music carousel: 413 clicks at $0.36 each
Giveaways produced some of the lowest traffic costs, but distinctive experiences, free programming, niche interests, and curated event collections also generated efficient clicks.
These campaigns connected an appealing recommendation with a clear next step.
Measuring Audience Quality Alongside Growth
The established market presented a reporting challenge.
During Q2, its content generated 866 new follows, but the account recorded a net decline of 1,272 followers as legacy purchased followers were removed during audience cleanup.
Meanwhile, the two newer markets added 1,760 and 1,099 net followers, respectively.
Together, those newer markets gained 2,859 net Instagram followers in Q2.
Reporting only the established account’s net decline would have missed the new people choosing to follow. Reporting only new follows would have hidden the overall audience change.
We tracked both figures to show what was happening.
That distinction helped separate acquisition performance from changes associated with the account’s legacy audience.
Building Community Beyond the Main Feeds
Personalized Creative also launched and began growing six local Facebook groups centered on regional arts and culture discovery.
By the end of Q2, the groups had 219 members combined.
These communities were still developing, but they gave the brand additional places to:
Start conversations
Share local events
Learn about audience interests
Build regional relationships
Encourage repeat participation
The groups complemented the main accounts by creating spaces for more focused local discussion.
Becoming More Selective With Paid Support
Early in the partnership, paid boosts were used more broadly to support visibility and growth.
As reporting revealed clearer patterns, we became more selective.
We could better identify:
Content that resonated organically
Formats that generated efficient follower acquisition
Events that encouraged website traffic
Differences in response across markets
Opportunities that justified additional investment
This gave paid spending a clearer purpose and helped guide decisions about which content deserved more support.
The Results at a Glance
| Metric | Q2 2026 Result |
|---|---|
| Total content views across the social program | 861,807 |
| Instagram followers acquired through paid campaigns | 3,725 |
| Average paid cost per follower | $0.73 |
| Outbound clicks from paid traffic campaigns | 3,149 |
| Average paid cost per outbound click | $0.24 |
| Combined net Instagram follower growth in the two newer markets | 2,859 |
| Combined membership across six local Facebook groups at quarter-end | 219 |
Paid follower acquisition and net follower growth are separate measures and should not be added together. The established market recorded a net follower decline during legacy audience cleanup. Content views reflect the broader social program, which included organic and paid activity.
The previous quarter had already demonstrated momentum. In Q1, the established market’s Instagram account generated 333,015 views, reached 138,045 accounts, and recorded 10,570 link clicks, alongside 520 net new followers.
Why the Strategy Worked
The strongest results came from making the brand useful as a local discovery resource.
Content helped people make plans.
Roundups, guides, free-event recommendations, and curated collections gave audiences practical reasons to follow and return.
Regional accounts reflected local interests.
A consistent framework supported execution, while recommendations changed to fit each market.
Campaign objectives stayed clear.
Follower acquisition and traffic campaigns were evaluated separately, making performance easier to interpret.
Reporting accounted for audience quality.
Tracking acquired followers and net audience change helped explain growth without overlooking legacy audience cleanup.
Testing informed the next decision.
Creative formats, local guides, humor, giveaways, and campaign approaches were evaluated through ongoing reporting.
Paid support became more selective.
As patterns emerged, we could make better-informed choices about which content and events to amplify.
What Other Multi-Market Brands Can Learn
A repeatable strategy can still leave room for local differences.
For businesses serving several regions, the most useful questions include:
What matters to people in this location?
Which recommendations offer immediate local value?
Is this campaign meant to generate awareness, followers, or website traffic?
Does this market need a different content mix?
Are new followers relevant to the business?
Which content deserves additional paid support?
Where could more focused community conversations happen?
The answers help turn a broad brand strategy into content that feels relevant within each market.
Looking for a Social Media Strategy That Can Grow Across Markets?
Personalized Creative helps brands connect audience research, content strategy, organic social, paid media, and reporting.
We use performance data to refine the work, with priorities shaped by the audience, market, and goal behind each activity.
FAQs
How do you build a social media strategy for a business with multiple locations?
Start with shared business goals and a consistent brand identity, then adapt the content to each location.
Define which content can work across markets and which needs local information, imagery, or recommendations. Track performance by location so you can adjust content and spending based on each audience’s response.
For this regional discovery platform, we used a shared framework across three Instagram accounts while tailoring guides, events, and recommendations to each market.
Should a business have separate social media accounts for each location?
Separate accounts can make sense when locations serve distinct audiences and have enough relevant content to sustain their own presence.
A single account may be more manageable when audiences overlap or the team has limited content and engagement capacity. Consider whether each local account will offer something useful beyond repeating the main account.
In this case, regional accounts allowed the brand to publish recommendations specific to each community.
How do you attract local followers on Instagram?
Give people a clear reason to follow based on where they live and what interests them.
Local guides, timely recommendations, collaborations, and community-focused content can help communicate that value. Location-targeted paid campaigns can also test which messages encourage relevant people to follow.
For this brand, useful cultural guides, free museum opportunities, and clear explanations of the account’s value were among the most efficient follower-acquisition approaches.
What should a local events or arts and culture brand post on social media?
Create content that helps people decide what to do, where to go, and what is worth exploring.
Content ideas include weekend roundups, free activities, seasonal guides, recommendations by interest, venue features, and collaborative posts with local organizations. Questions and relatable humor can also encourage community participation.
In this case, curated guides, event roundups, and collaborative content were among the strongest formats for visibility, engagement, and traffic.
How can social media drive traffic to an event website?
Give people enough information to understand the appeal of an event, then provide a clear route to the relevant website page.
Highlight details that help someone decide whether to explore further, such as the experience, location, timing, or featured activities. Link to a page that matches the recommendation and measure outbound clicks separately from engagement.
For this platform, paid traffic campaigns generated 3,149 outbound clicks in Q2 2026 at an average cost of $0.24 each. Those clicks measured traffic-driving activity, rather than confirmed attendance or ticket purchases.
How should a multi-location business divide its social media advertising budget?
Assign budget according to campaign goals, local opportunities, and measured performance.
Track follower acquisition separately from website traffic, and compare costs across markets and creative approaches. An equal split between locations may be a starting point, but testing can reveal where adjustments are useful.
For this brand, approximately 78% of the reported Q2 campaign spend supported follower acquisition, while 22% supported website traffic. That allocation reflected this program’s priorities rather than a formula for every business.
How do you measure social media growth across multiple locations?
Review each location separately before combining the results.
Track new followers, net follower change, reach, interactions, and website traffic. Keep reporting periods and metric definitions consistent, and explain account-specific factors that affect comparisons.
In this case, the established market lost followers overall during legacy audience cleanup while still attracting new follows. Separating acquired followers from net growth helped explain that change alongside growth in the newer markets.