Will Social Media work for your Franchise?
With the ever evolving social media world, it is important for franchises to understand how to properly use the many platforms available in order to grow their business and expand their brand. The success of the franchise industry has primarily been because of its consistency and uniformity so adapting to new sites like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube can be challenging. Most likely, every franchise business has employees who interact and engage in social media at both the franchisor and franchisee levels, but it is ultimately up to the franchisor and the corporate team to monitor who’s saying what.
It is difficult for anyone to deny the impact of social media. Since this is a rather new concept - meaning its impact has only been seen in the last five years or so - it is important for all users to educate themselves before jumping in. Social media can be a wonderful marketing and communication tool to increase brand awareness, share news about the company and engage with potential franchise owners. Social media appeals to many franchisors because of its a cost effective way to get key messaging to their audience on a larger scale, especially now when many businesses are trying to do more with less.
Increasing your brand and presence on social media could be a very wise way to grow your business, only if your clientele is aware and active on social media. If your target demographic is a bit older or too young and sees no interest in the Internet, then investing money and time into launching a social media campaign would not be a smart business decision. Creating a social media strategy for your franchise starts with discovering what your clients are thinking, doing, saying, and purchasing. Then you should use that information to determine the best way to communicate with them. After this, you should decide how you will institute your presence on social media. What will your username be? How will your blog look? How will you customize your Twitter to make it look appealing? All of those questions should be answered when launching your social media campaign. Franchises should get everyone involved in the process of making these plans so that language remains consistent and messaging reflects the brand well. Social media is typically most effective when used in addition to a larger marketing plan because it will nicely complement those efforts.
The ultimate goal with social media is to engage with customers and draw attention to your franchise’s products and/or services. It’s important to have a presence on these sites to continue to evolve with technology and find out what works best for you and your brand.
