Put Your Shop on the Map
A 90-minute, hands-on workshop that gets your high street business found locally — on Instagram, on Facebook, and on the map. You do it all on your phone, in the room, before you leave.
01
90 minutes Hands-on,
not a lecture
02
You leave with a working, optimised profile
03
Focused entirely on local visibility
Most high street shops are invisible online — and it is easier to fix than you think.
If you have set up an Instagram account but are not sure it is actually helping anyone find you, you are not alone. The honest truth is that most local social media accounts are missing the simple signals that tell Instagram and Facebook where you are and who you serve.
I recently visited three independent shops in my area to see how they were set up online. None of them had the local basics in place — not the location in the bio, not the right post settings, not the Instagram-Facebook connection. They were working hard on content and getting almost no local reach for it.
These are quick fixes. That is what this workshop is for.
What we cover in 90 minutes
Three things. All done on your phone. All finished before you go home.
-
Your bio is the first thing a potential customer sees — and the first thing Instagram reads to decide whether to show you to local people. We will look at how your bio is set up right now, update it so it works for local search, and make sure your address is showing correctly.
You leave with: a fully updated Instagram bio, optimised for local visibility.
-
There is a difference between posting on Instagram and posting for your local area. We will cover location tags, the topics that resonate with local audiences, and the simple habits that help your posts reach people who are actually nearby — not just your existing followers.
You leave with: a printed cheat sheet and a homework task to put into practice straight away.
-
Most shops have both an Instagram account and a Facebook page but have never connected them. That connection is one of the most effective things you can do for local visibility, and most people do not know it exists. We will walk through how to link the accounts and set up your Facebook bio correctly at the same time.
You leave with: both accounts connected and a Facebook presence that works alongside your Instagram.
What you walk away with
A fully optimised Instagram bio, updated in the room on your own phone
Instagram and Facebook connected and set up correctly
A printed cheat sheet to keep at the till or behind the counter
One clear homework task — so the work continues after the session
Practical knowledge of how local posts work, not generic social media theory
This workshop is for you if...
You run a shop, studio, salon, cafe, or any other business with a physical location
You have an Instagram account (or are about to set one up) but are not confident it is working for local customers
You are short on time and want practical action, not a lecture
You have heard you should be on social media but have not had a clear starting point
You are within roughly an hour of Towcester, Northamptonshire, and can attend in person
NOT for you if: You are looking for a broad introduction to social media strategy, or you already have a well-optimised local presence and are focused on growing your following at scale. This session is specifically about the local setup — getting the foundations right.
Run by someone who has done it.
I am Cecile, founder of The Shop Life. I also run The Slow Life, an independent gift shop on the high street — and I became profitable within four weeks of opening, with 80% of my clients finding me online.
I am not a marketing consultant who has read about retail. I am a shop owner who figured out what actually works for local visibility — and I built The Shop Life to share that with other independent retailers.
Every workshop I run is based on what I use in my own shop, right now.
Ready to get found locally?
Spaces are limited — this is a small, hands-on session, not a conference. Bring your phone and your login details. Everything else is provided.
Frequently Asked Questions
-
The Put Your Shop on the Map workshop is a 90-minute, hands-on social media session run by The Shop Life in Towcester, Northamptonshire. Participants work through three practical areas: optimising their Instagram bio for local search (including displaying their address correctly), learning how to create posts that reach a local audience using location tags and locally relevant topics, and connecting their Instagram account to Facebook to maximise local reach. Every task is completed by participants on their own smartphone during the session, not demonstrated and noted down for later.
-
The workshop is designed for independent high street business owners in and around Towcester, Northamptonshire — including shop owners, café owners, salon and barber owners, florists, studio owners, and anyone else running a business with a physical location who wants more local customers to find them online. No prior experience of social media marketing is required.
-
The Put Your Shop on the Map workshop is held in person at The Slow Life, an independent gift shop in Towcester, Northamptonshire. The session lasts 90 minutes. Group bookings can be accommodated at a location within approximately a 45-minute drive of Towcester — contact The Shop Life directly to discuss arrangements.
-
Participants leave with three concrete outcomes: a fully updated and locally optimised Instagram bio, their Instagram and Facebook accounts connected and configured for local reach, and a printed cheat sheet covering local posting strategy. Each participant also receives a specific homework task to complete after the session.
-
Local social media is distinct from general social media because the goal is to be found by people in a specific geographic area, not just to grow a following. This requires specific technical steps — displaying a correct business address in the Instagram bio, using location tags on posts, choosing locally relevant topics, and connecting Instagram to Facebook — that are separate from standard content strategy. A well-crafted post with no local signals will not reliably reach customers who are physically nearby.
-
No prior social media experience is needed. The session is structured for business owners who may have set up an Instagram account but are not confident it is working for local visibility, as well as for those just getting started. Everything is done step by step on participants' own phones — the only preparation needed is knowing your Instagram login details.
-
The standard workshop takes place at The Slow Life in Towcester, Northamptonshire. However, The Shop Life offers group bookings for business associations, chamber of commerce events, and retail clusters, delivered at a venue within approximately a 45-minute drive of Towcester. Contact The Shop Life directly to discuss availability.
-
The workshop is run by Cecile, founder of The Shop Life and owner of The Slow Life, an independent gift shop in Towcester. Cecile made The Slow Life profitable within four weeks of opening, with 80 per cent of her clients finding the business online. She holds a degree in digital marketing and has built communities with over 30.000 followers and £ 1MM in sales for her own businesses. She has created The Shop Life to help other independent retailers apply the same local visibility methods she uses in her own shop.