4 Ways to Use Social Media as a Franchising Advantage

Social media has a huge influence on franchising nowadays whether you’re doing it for the consumer side or for the franchising side of things. If you neglect to use social media as a marketing tool, you’re forfeiting one usually free tool for gathering new clients. If you’re not sure how to use social media as a form of marketing, you should always talk to your franchisor to see if they have a system already in place. If they don’t, you can ask about taking it upon yourself to make one for your specific location because the right social media presence can not only bring your business, but can grow your company at record speed if used appropriately.

 

1. You Must Promote Your Accounts

If you create social media for franchising purposes, it’s not something you can just do in most cases and then let the account just sit there and do nothing. If you create pages on Facebook or Twitter for your franchise, you will be expected to be active and interact with customers that may post on your page as you gain momentum. If you create pages on Yelp, Foursquare, or other ‘rate my business’ sites, while you don’t actively post on those, you should promote people going to them to rate their experience.

 

2. Do Not Over Post

One of the biggest pet peeves for consumers who like a business is to have their social media pages flooded with posts from a certain business every time they log into their account because the social media ‘experts’ are posting a dozen posts a day. If you create a social media page for franchising, do a little marketing research for how much activity is expected in your industry and don’t go overboard. It does not help.

 

funding your franchise3. Post Content with Value

Every so often you might see a post on a related social media page that relates to franchising or your business in some way and then you might want to share it, that’s perfectly acceptable. However you should be careful that you don’t spend too much time posting spam or otherwise valueless information. If you post things with little to no value, your consumers will know and begin to see your company as one with little or no value. Post with purpose and intent at all times.

 

4. Respond to Inquires About Franchising

The biggest reason to have a social media account for franchising is so that you can create more customer interaction for your business. If someone posts on your page, don’t be afraid to respond appropriately. In fact, that’s a key opportunity for marketing through customer relations. Once you build your social media account and following, you must keep up with it by being active on it through regular posting and responses to customers.