Social media has become an integral part of everyone’s lives. In fact, 86 percent of adults in the United States aged 18 to 29 are active on social media. That is a huge demographic, and if you are invested in franchise marketing, then you need to have a presence on multiple social media platforms.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, Pinterest and more are now valuable tools for selling your business. Social media has become the go-to way for consumers to share information. Social media marketing is affordable and a great way to enhance your brand. However, you need to use it in the right way. Here are some steps for marketing your franchise on practically any platform.
Define Your Company’s Voice
Before you start posting, you need to determine what voice your franchise has. This should be based on who your primary demographic is going to be. If your company will target primarily younger teens and adults, then you want to have an approachable, youthful voice. Every single post you make should be in this tone. To get an idea for voice, look at similar companies’ social media posts. You want to avoid being too similar, but it can serve as inspiration. During this time, you also need to identify your brand’s core values and competitive advantages.
For franchisees, this step is much simpler. You should already know what the company’s voice is. The company’s marketing department may have already sent your location paperwork on how you are to behave on social media. To avoid running afoul of the company, you should follow this information precisely.
Define Your Central Purpose
Next, you need to decide what you hope to accomplish by posting on social media. Do you want to reach more customers? Do you want to sell products? Defining this purpose is also helpful for determining which social media platforms you need to be active on. Some businesses can benefit greatly from being active on Instagram because they have unique products they can create posts about. Other businesses may not be able to benefit as much. As a result, you know where most of your energy needs to go.
Know Your Budget
You should look at your franchise marketing budget to determine how much you can spend on each platform. It is free to create accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but you can benefit more if you are willing to invest some money. You can pay for targeted ads to reach more people interested in your services in your area. This may require you to bring on a full-time employee to monitor all social media activity or work directly with a social media marketing agency, who can manage all of your social media accounts entirely.
Be Present
After you create your profiles, you need to post often. There are different levels in which you need to post based on the platform. For example, it is recommended to post on Facebook at least three times a week. On Twitter, you should post at least once a day. People expect different levels of content on each platform, and you need to adapt. You do not want your followers to forget about you, so you need to have a constant presence.
Do Not Post Too Often
With that being said, you need to be careful about coming across as too “spammy.” If you post all the time, then people will slowly become annoyed. They may even stop following you. Franchisees, in particular, need to be careful because the location’s posts can reflect negatively on the company as a whole. If people at corporate catch wind of what is happening, then you may be in trouble.
Target Local Fans
People may already be familiar about the company as a whole, but you need to make it clear your franchise offers something different. You need to target local fans, and that involves posting locally relevant content. When there are events in your neighborhood, you can post about them on your page. This makes it clear this is not a generic account set up by someone thousands of miles away.
Engage With Audiences Via Video
Another way you can reach people local to you is to post videos. People get tired of reading all the time when they are on social media. Posting a video catches people’s attention, and they are more likely to stop scrolling to see what it is. This content can be anything you want it to be. It can be a tutorial relevant to your industry. You could also post something more fun to show off your staff and services.
Respond to Comments
These days, people use social media to reach out to companies. They may have compliments to give, in which case, you should thank the person for taking the time to leave a review. More often than not, you will get reviews from people who have a bone to pick. You need to know how to respond to negative criticism constructively.
You never want to respond in anger. If necessary, wait an hour before commenting on the review. After that time, you want to reach out to the person privately to try to resolve the issue. Many companies offer a free or discounted product as a way to apologize and retain the person’s business. After you have responded privately, you can respond to the review publicly. This allows other people who may come across the post to see you were proactive about resolving the issue. You may not be able to retain that one customer, but you can salvage dozens of others.
Launch Paid Campaigns
Having a social media presence is free. However, if you can afford paid campaigns, then you can benefit even more. You can pay to boost certain posts. For example, if you are running a special deal, then it would behoove you to pay for a campaign to let as many people know about it as possible. It is relatively inexpensive, and you can potentially reach thousands of people in your area. You can also use this to promote specials and discounted offers.
Offer Giveaways
Another great way to use social media for your franchise is to provide giveaways. You can tell your followers that to win a great product, they need to follow you on the platform. You can create a post telling people to like and share, and they will be entered into a drawing to win. Asking people to share the post is an easy way to get people on social media to do your marketing for you.
You already have people following you, but you need more. When you have a giveaway and tell people to share, now those people’s followers see the post. You have reached a new audience without spending any money. Enticed at the possibility of winning something, other people will follow your page and share the post. You may lose one product to give away for free, but you organically get a lot of new followers. Once those new people follow you, they will get the chance to learn more about your business and may even become customers themselves.
Need Help With Your Franchise’s Social Strategy?
These are simple strategies any franchise owner can implement to grow their business. You can develop an even better social media campaign when you hire the professionals at V Digital Services. Contact us today to learn more about which social media services will benefit your franchise the most.