5 Successful Facebook Tips for Franchisees

In 2016, a marketing survey found that 42 percent of professionals working with franchises believe that traditional marketing channels are no longer effective. As a result, more and more franchises have been turning to social media to attract customers and build their brand. Of all the social media platforms used for franchise marketing, Facebook remains one of the most highly recommended for B2C reach.

This is because advertising for local businesses is a walk in the park, if you know how to master the many idiosyncrasies that make some users believe Facebook is far more complicated than it really is. So, here are five Facebook marketing tips for franchises that will help to set your brand apart from the competition at both the corporate and local level.

1. Use Multiple Locations

Facebook encourages franchises and any other business types with multiple locations to use one Facebook page to manage all their shops. Facebook’s free tool provides businesses with the ability to manage these locations from one central dashboard while allowing some creative freedom for different locations. This helps to make it easy for customers to find your business no matter where they are. All they have to do is click the Locations option in the left-hand tab on your Facebook Business page.

We highly recommend that corporate creates and manages the central Facebook business page while allowing local franchises to create some of their own content. It’s also a good idea to create a social media guide for local franchises, sharing the dos and don’ts, to ensure brand consistency. In addition to this, ensure local franchises hire professionals to manage their social media accounts.

So, how do you set up multiple locations for one brand or business on Facebook? Here are some easy steps to follow.

1. Sign into Facebook and open your Facebook business page.
2. Click Settings in the top right-hand corner of the page.
3. Select Locations from the menu options on the left of the page.
4. If your main page already has an address, perhaps the address of headquarters or the original shop, you will be asked to remove it.
5. You can then add all the individual local franchise locations. If they already have a page up and running, you can bring them into the fold. For those who do not yet have a Facebook page, simply create one from scratch for them.

2. Use Targeted Ads

Before you make use of Facebook advertising for local businesses, you must first know who you’re targeting. This is often when many businesses realize they don’t know their customers as well as they originally thought. After all, the numbers don’t lie when ads fail to generate the expected rate of engagement or sale conversations. As a result, the first step of creating targeted ads is knowing your customers.

How will you get to know your customers? If your Facebook page has been up and running for a while, Facebook can help with this. Simply go to the Facebook Insights page and make a note of the following demographic information.

• The percentage of your followers that are men and women
• The most common age range of most of your followers
• The languages your followers use, if applicable

You will be able to collect similar information from Twitter and Instagram. To add to this data, create an incentive for customers to fill out surveys online, providing demographic information, such as those included in the list below. Make the surveys anonymous and reassure consumers of the anonymity and the safety of their private information.

• Industry in which they work
• Racial or ethnic background
• Personal or household come
• Family status, such as whether they are married or have children
• Any dietary preferences or restriction, such as gluten-free or vegan
• Hobbies or causes they participate in

Once you have gathered this information, by paying close attention to interactions online and in person, you can begin to draft profiles of what your average customers look like. Those are the profiles you need to target your ads for when selecting demographic information.

3. Know When to Post

Marketers the world over have written several posts about the best times to post on social media. Even we are probably guilty of this. However, do you know the absolute best time to post for your specific brand and its individual locations? That would be the time when your specific consumers visit your Facebook pages most.

Go back to Facebook Insights and click on the Posts button. This will show you your most active days and times. When scheduling posts, choose the days and times when your followers are most active on your specific pages. No social media guide on when to post can provide better advice than the numbers you receive at the touch of a button from Facebook.

Keep in mind that consumer behavior does change, so you will need to keep checking back on a regular basis. It is a good idea to check at least weekly or monthly. However, the absolute best time to check is right before you schedule your backlog of posts to cover the month.

4. Use the Offers Page to Share Special Discounts

Every franchise has special deals at various times of the year. While not all individual locations will participate, it doesn’t hurt to post those deals on the central page. As long as you add a disclaimer stating that it is only available at participating locations, you should be in the clear.

The best place to post special deals or discounts is on the Offer page of Facebook. You will find this on the left-hand tab of your Facebook page. If this is not visible then someone may have deleted it, but it is easy to reclaim via the following steps.

1. Open Settings
2. Choose Templates and tabs
3. Select Add a Tab
4. Scroll down to Offers and click Add Tab

Voila! Now, you can share special offers that customers can redeem online or at individual franchise locations.

5. Use Jobs to Find New Franchise Owners

How much a franchise grows depends on the ability to convince potential owners to open a new franchise location. How willing entrepreneurs are to take on such a task depends on how easy it is to get started. If you have partnered with a bank to provide funding for willing participants, or have other assistance programs in place, then why just use your job section to find managers and cashiers?

Mingled in with all the other job offers at various locations, you should also post the occasional job offer looking for willing entrepreneurs. You will never be short of people who want to work for themselves or manage their own business. All you have to do is present the opportunity, screen for the best fit for your organization, and then guide them along the way.

Need Help? V Digital Services Loves Working With Franchisees

When it comes to franchise marketing, the Internet and social media are easily two of man’s greatest inventions. However, keeping up market research, data analytics, creating ad campaigns, and managing Facebook locations can become a hassle. After all, social media is a full-time job, and you already have a franchise to run.

So, whether you’re looking for assistance with managing a franchise at the corporate or local level, hand over the reins to V Digital Services and watch your business grow. For more information on how we can complement your social media and overall marketing strategies, get the conversation started by contacting us today. We look forward to hearing from you!