Social media marketing is completely mandatory for every business in 2019, however, doing so as a franchise is a tad more complex. By complex, we don’t necessarily mean more difficult to handle or less effective, on the contrary. The problem lies in the fact that your actions as a franchise owner may affect the franchisor and other franchise owners and vice-versa. This means that you need to avoid making impulsive decisions, think twice about everything you post online and remember that you’re still a part of a bigger whole. With that out of the way, here are five tips and tricks on franchise social media marketing that you could use.
Heavy franchise involvement is a must
The first thing you need to understand is that running a franchise, as a business model, heavily depends on the idea that both parties are satisfied with the deal. A dissatisfied franchise is not likely to prolong their collaboration, while an unhappy franchisor might decide not to prolong the contract. This makes a scenario somewhat more complex, due to the fact that you now have an additional important party to please, other than just being able to focus on the customer. Still, this has a positive side, as well, due to the fact that a heavy franchise involvement also means that you’ll receive some aid, at least in a form of feedback or positive government opinion.
Franchises may need to run different campaigns
The next thing you need to understand is the fact that different franchises may have to run different campaigns in their local market. For instance, everyone knows that Burger King goes by the name Hungry Jack’s in Australia, however, this also means that any commercial or promotional product needs to be printed over again. Sure, in most cases, the situation is not as extreme, yet, there may be some other reasons why a franchise needs to adjust to the local market.
Looking for situation-specific opportunities
Another thing you need to understand is the fact that there are some specific circumstances regarding your business that could help your marketing efforts. We’re talking about something that other franchises would use, yet, the option is not really available to them. For instance, there are some businesses that specialize in veteran franchise options. This is a program meant to make an easier transition into the entrepreneurship for people who just finished their military career. Needless to say, this is definitely something that could be used in the following campaign. After all, the person in this fictional scenario would have more than earned it.
Sharing knowledge
One of the best things about social networks is how they can bring people closer together. Other than helping people connect, they allow for a much easier knowledge sharing. This means that you get a scenario in which you have a direct line of communication with owners of other franchises. Seeing as how each franchise has its own territory and there’s no conflict of interest, these peers of yours might be willing to share some tips and tricks with you.
An ability to take calculated risks
Even though they belong to a massive organization and, therefore, share a positive or negative public image, it is possible to use one of the franchises as a test subject. Due to the fact that a franchise runs with a certain degree of independence, you can use this to see how well a certain action will fare before applying it to the rest of your businesses. Just keep in mind that while the social media accounts of different franchises do act as separate entities online, the difference between them (at least in the eyes of your audience) will not be that great. Therefore, you still have to think about how the action of a single franchise affects others.
Incentivizing
The last thing you need to understand is that, seeing as how a brand as a whole benefits from increased efforts of individual franchises, franchisors are sometimes willing to incentivize this extra effort. This is a minor investment in quality, especially compared to all the extra exposure that the franchise gets for it. Seeing as how all the franchises work towards the same cause, individual franchise owners get to benefit from social media activity of their peers, as well. A clear and undeniable win-win scenario.
Conclusion
Other than this, the usual social media marketing rules apply. This means that you should do research on your demographic to see what time of the day gives you the best reach (when the majority of your audience is online), pick a suitable format and remember that everything you post online stays there forever.
