Demystifying Social Media for Franchises
When franchises dive into social media, they’ll wrestle with questions that affect franchisor and franchisees alike.
Here are answers to several questions franchises encounter as they embrace social media.
Who will be responsible for monitoring the social web, the franchisor or the franchisees?
The answer depends on several factors: What is the goal of your monitoring program? How much autonomy do franchisees have? Are you only monitoring brand mentions, or do you monitor relevant keyword conversations?
In most cases, I believe corporate should run point. HQ should also have a response strategy in place. Engagement can come from a franchisor employee or a franchisee could be tapped to respond.
Smart companies monitor conversations on topics of interest to customers, too, not just brand mentions. This is one area where franchisees could be involved in monitoring. It opens the door to trust-building and relationship-building around a “bigger idea” than yourself.
How do franchisees maintain brand standards in social media?
A brand standards policy helps. Just as McDonald’s franchisees are given specs on signage, dress, greetings, etc., franchisees need guidelines for usernames, bios/profiles, avatars, blog designs, Facebook Fan Pages, etc.
Most franchises find they trail franchisees when it comes to social media adoption. Before you rap franchisees on their knuckles for “rogue” Facebook Pages, give them guidance and explain how consistent branding protects the value of their investment in the brand.
A corporate social media policy (“guidelines” may be a better term) might help you, too. Remember, it’s all about educating and showing best practices.
What social media tools and tactics should franchisees use?
This will vary from company to company, franchisee to franchisee, and objective to objective. The short answer: Whichever tools work. If one franchisee finds success participating in niche communities, and another by networking via LinkedIn, great. As long as they’re using tools effectively to meet business goals, let ‘em rock ‘n’ roll.
Should the franchisor oversee franchisees’ social media efforts?
The franchisor has a valuable opportunity to provide value to franchisees by offering training and guidance. Let’s face it: Franchisees are rarely satisfied with the level of support from the franchisor. Training them on how to grow their business with these new-to-them tools is one way to build whuffie.
What can a franchise use social media for?
Everyone wants to use social media for marketing. Yes, you can attract new business — although I recommend studying the art of “selling without selling.”
Franchises can use social media for more than driving traffic, though. Think about identifying potential franchisees, researching new markets, listening to customers to develop new products or services, providing “anytime/anywhere” customer service, recruiting employees, and participating in communities.
Where can franchises get advice on social media?
Check out Joel Libava, The Franchise King or Sean Kelly of Franchise Pick. Both share useful social media advice for franchisees and franchisors. Find Joel and Sean on Twitter, too.
Are You a “Five-Tool Player” in Social Media?
Have you ever heard someone say “Oh, I use Twitter, but blogging isn’t for me?” Or what about someone who doesn’t comment on blogs? Or a blogger who doesn’t link to other blogs?
They’re not what athletes call a “five-tool player.” And they’re suffering because of it.
Mack Collier wrote a great post about learning to be social in social media. He describes his progression from blog reader to blogger to blog commenter to…well, today Mack’s one of the top marketing and social media bloggers nationwide.
What made Mack a top blogger? He went from being a one-trick pony to being a five-tool player. It took hard work, but he learned.
How to Become a Five-Tool Player
To succeed as a blogger, you can’t occupy just rung of Forrester’s social technographics ladder. You need to span several rungs. You need to join, create, share, comment, and participate.
I was glad to see Forrester added a category for “Conversationalists” to its ladder. Being conversational — whether it’s via Twitter, Facebook, a combination or some other tool — is an important part of social media. And if this is the only thing you do with social media, that’s totally fine. Just keep in mind that it takes more than chit-chat to run a successful blog.
Here are some tips for becoming a five-tool player:
- Review Your Blog Subscribing Habits. Notice I didn’t say subscribe to more blogs. Some people need to follow to fewer blogs so they can be more focused and attentive. If you’re not subscribed to (m)any blogs, you might want to find a few more to follow. The goal is to be a thoughtful and meaningful contributor as a reader and commenter.
- Link to Other Blogs in Your Blog. This is one I screw up all the time. Your blog posts may be brilliant, but if you don’t link out to others, you’re walling yourself off. As the characters of LOST always say, “Live together, die alone.” [One tip: Outbound links should be threads of a conversation, not linking for linking's sake. Relevance is king.]
- Share Posts That Inspire You to Comment. Your Twitter followers probably appreciate when you share links to good content. If a post is so compelling you’re inspired to comment, your followers will savor a chance to read and weigh in, too. If it’s worthy of a comment, it’s worthy of a tweet. You don’t have to say “I just commented here” — you can, but sometimes a simple link’ll do.
- Invite Others to the Conversation — One at a Time. Here’s another one I struggle with. Tweeting a link and asking followers to weigh in is good…sometimes. But I love it when somebody shares a fascinating post and tags me, specifically, to ask me to join the convo. It says “I know you, I pay attention to you, and I know what issues you care about.”
- Email Your Favorite Bloggers. Email is a powerful way to say thank you. Why? It’s intimate — one-on-one. And it’s private, too. Sometimes a “thank you” in the public comments feels a little…I dunno…theatrical. Send your favorite bloggers an email to say “I appreciate you, even when I don’t have your audience’s attention.”
- Give Your Commenters the Publicity They Deserve. Did one of your readers leave an AWESOME comment? Tweet about it! Tell your followers to check out that person’s comments, and mention them by name in the Tweet. They’ll love the pimpin’, and your followers may make a new connection.
Scott Hepburn is a veteran PR and marketing professional. He blogs here about marketing, PR, advertising, journalism and social media.