Last week I discovered this great resource from the LinkedIn Marketing Solutions blog called, “10 Content Ideas For Your LinkedIn Page.” What I appreciated is not just the suggestions for businesses on how best to use their LinkedIn profile in the new year, but also that it was shared in a franchise industry group. This Franchisor group on LinkedIn, now with over 7,000 members, is very active at helping those in the franchise industry share information and resources.
This post reminded me of the challenge we face at FranFocus with many franchisors, some of our own clients, who don’t understand why using social media to aid with franchise development makes good sense. Because “social” media seems oriented more for consumer branding, how can it be used to help attract and recruit franchisees? Let me answer that questing by posing a question:
How many of your existing franchisees use social media on daily basis?
So if we know your future franchisees are also using social media daily, like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, what topics would be helpful to those candidates following your opportunity (and your competitors)? While we provide a longer, more confidential topic list of our FranFocus clients who utilize our Content Marketing services each month, we set out to create a helpful public resource of our own – this Top 10 Franchise Development Topics for Social Media in 2020 video (full transcription is posted below):
Good day to you FranFocus clients and friends! Patrick Conley with you!
Ready to talk about some important developments that we’ve been promoting for quite some time, and that’s the idea of using social media for franchise development purposes.
Most of you who are involved in the franchise industry are using social media on your consumer side, but you are not using it much to help with franchise development (franchise awards). This topic came up
earlier this week on the Franchisor-Info LinkedIn group – Michael (Webster) shared this post that came from the LinkedIn marketing solutions blog called “Ten Content Ideas for Your LinkedIn Page.” It’s a really great article – it’s a really great resource, with some good ideas about how to get your information out and how to use your LinkedIn business page. If you want to access that you go to the LinkedIn group –
Franchisor – Powered by Franchise Info and you’ll see it listed there from Jan 15th. so that’s still readily available for you to go and see.
What I had mentioned in my comment to Michael was that not only is this article a good idea but there’s also a lack of ideas on the franchising side about how they should or WHAT they should promote, in terms of
franchise development.
So in today’s video I want to give you what I’m calling my Top 10 Social Topics for Franchise Development. And they’re all listed here but I’m going to go through them one by one. So when you are putting out information about your franchise, in trying to engage prospects – people who have expressed an interest in your franchise opportunity, or business
opportunity, you are CONSISTENTLY out there.
And I’m not suggesting that you need to be posting three or four times a day, but three or four times a month would be great! Once a week at least is really ideal. If you can do five or six times a month, that would be even better, but here are the Top 10 Topics – content ideas to consider when you are communicating socially on Facebook, on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram -wherever you find YOUR prospects are paying greatest attention to you.
Topic #1: Discovery Days
Topic #1 that I want to throw out is is kind of a no-brainer; Discovery Days. If you are publishing – we are in January right now, so you are probably working on an annual calendar for your franchise Discovery Day events. Maybe you have a Discovery Day once a month – maybe you do it once a quarter, biannually – whatever it is, but what you would want to do is put out a post that says “We’ve completed our Discovery Day calendar, here are the dates that we are meeting this year for franchise prospects that are most interested / qualified.
Two days prior to your Discovery Day you want to promote that event – I’m sorry not two days – two WEEKS prior to the Discovery Day you want to promote that event again taking people who are maybe NOW more interested than what they were before, and getting them to engage.
Be sure to take photos or footage during your Discovery Day. You don’t have to show attendees – you can show the backs of heads, you can show an on screen agenda – kind of like this one here is that I found online. And then after the Discovery Day do a follow-up that says; we talked about this market or that market, or talked to a multi-unit franchisee prospect or a master franchisee prospect.
You don’t have to give a lot of competitive information – you can talk about the event, and you can talk about the day by just being general about it, but the idea that you have Discovery Days, and that real people attend your Discovery Days is important and truly credible with people who are thinking about your opportunity going forward.
[SIDE NOTE: Just having a set schedule of Discovery Days for the year gives your franchise development teams a powerful talking point – something that allows them to take a quick temperature on a prospect and create some urgency about being invited to these private events.]
Topic #2: Signing Franchise Agreements & Franchise Renewals
Next topic – #2: Any new franchise agreement signings and any renewals of a franchise agreement signings. All of those franchise agreements should be signed in person, ideally, so that they can be preserved with the photo and/or a video a franchise renewals especially at the ten and twenty year mark or 30 year mark – wherever you guys might be with your existing franchisees – make a big deal about it!
Balloons, champagne and photos – pictures with the founders, pictures with the CXOs, all of that that not only gives genuine appreciation to the franchisees who’ve been with you the longest but that again lends credibility to somebody who is thinking about becoming a franchisee within your brand. ALWAYS mention the market, the name of the franchisee, the executive shown in the photos. Again it goes a long long way to getting your franchise information shared amongst a wide group of people – spreading that word organically that you’re offering these franchise opportunities and leveraging social media to the maximum.
Topic #3: Real Estate Purchases & Leases
Sometimes franchisors are a bit reluctant to do this because we all know that just because you sign a lease or just because you purchase property doesn’t mean that the location is going to be turned into a business overnight. So sometimes we might want to delay that until construction starts, or until we get occupancy permits, or build permits – whatever that case is for your particular brand. But if you are a physical business – if you’re a bricks & mortar location for your franchise opportunity talk it up! Talk about lease signings, purchase closings, lease renewals, all of that kind of stuff so that your candidates understand that this is a valid franchise business and and that real people are investing – not just in the franchise but into properties to support those franchises as well.
Topic #4: Franchise Expos and Meet & Greet Events
If you are exhibiting at an upcoming franchise expo put the word out a month in advance, six weeks in advance. Follow up post two weeks in advance – provide links for tickets and coupons for discounts. Give the people the ability -YOUR prospects- the ability to reach out to you to say “yes – I’m going to be in Cleveland that weekend and I would like to stop by and visit your booth and have a little conversation with you!”
So creating – create an agenda and a calendar and schedule a time with them. But put the word out there to your entire base of franchise candidates who are following you on social media, or even with an email blast that to all of your target zip codes in Ohio that “we’re going to be at the Cleveland show” or that “we’re going to be at the Tampa show” put the word out using social media and emails.
If you’re doing private Meet and Greet events;”we are looking to meet potential franchise partners in a given market.” Put that out on social media as well and then you could then you can do pay-per-click campaigns dedicated to that market, and franchise prospects in those markets that might be interested in having a private meeting – learning more about your business model in a more secluded setting. Maybe it’s a hotel suite or a conference room or a brewery somewhere – just giving those prospects the ability to meet – especially if they can’t validate easily. If you don’t have a franchise location nearby and you’re 500 miles away from that target market, Meet & Greets are a great way to go about that.
And when your franchise executives are attending an IFA Expo or some kind of continuing education event, or let’s say they become a CFE, all of that information is very, very relevant to prospects that are following you and interested in potentially investing in your brand going forward.
Topic #5: New Construction or Remodeling Process
Earlier we talked about lease signings and real estate purchases; now once that happens then we want to come back and we want to show the groundbreaking photos, and construction updates and when we get under roof, and we get occupancy permits, there’s going to be a call for hiring and training and “we’ve just opened our Facebook account” so follow this particular link location on Facebook.
Soft opening events are typically when you have the opportunity to invite local first responders and a Chamber of Commerce members and presidents and people like that. So always talk up those landmark events as that new unit gets ready to open publicly.
For every new unit that opens there are a wide variety of opportunities for you to promote that to your followers on social media as well as via email. Ribbon-cutting photos like this one are huge and just speak volumes in terms of credibility when you’ve got literally hundreds or thousands of people paying attention to your franchise through your LinkedIn page or through your Twitter or Facebook accounts.
Topic #6: Charitable Community Events
One of the many things that I’ve learned after 20+ years of being in the franchise business is that some of the most successful franchisees that you’ll find are heavily involved in community and charity events. And most of the franchise… I think all of the franchisors that I work with are really supportive of that idea and they want all their franchisees engaged at the community level, and with local charities, and youth athletics and all those things.
So my point to you is that don’t just make that a training aspect for new franchisees – start promoting it at the prospect level! Start talking about and showing “this franchisee is doing X for the community” and “this other franchisee is doing Y for her community.” Talk about it EARLY in the process so that your franchisee prospects have that expectation going in that I need to be involved with MY community like all these other successful franchisees are involved with theirs. And document that!
And also document, not just your franchisees, but the franchisor! This particular photo was of a client; the franchisor’s team got involved to help do landscaping at a local school. So make sure that it isn’t just walking – you know, you are walking the walk and not just talking to talk. So that’s really what it comes down to in terms of community events.
Topic #7: New Support Staff Hires & Promotions
Anytime you hire a new support staff for your franchise body that’s an important, newsworthy element. Any time you promote someone from within that’s an important element. I always like to include at least 3-5 questions or facts about that particular person; maybe where they started, how they started, and the promotion that’s happening within.
Again when you have a face and a name that says this is so-and-so and he is a part of our franchise support team that gives confidence to franchise prospects following you on social media and through email marketing.
Topic #8: Meet Our Team Interviews
Meet the Team interviews are something that we lean on pretty heavily; usually at least once a month for my franchisor clients that are paying for a content marketing services through FranFocus. Once a month or once a quarter provide a written, audio or (ideally) a video interview with an executive, a support team member, a vendor partner or even a franchisee. Maybe a franchisee who’s celebrating a 10 year anniversary – they would be an ideal person to present an eight to ten question interview with.
And again this is really important content – I can show you web analytics reports that shows these are stories that people consistently dwell on for three, four, or five minutes at a time and really engage with – so this
is content that is relevant for franchise development, but it’s really
frequently overlooked by most franchisors.
Topic #9: New Consumer Products and Innovations
Any kind of new consumer products that you are publicly introducing or new innovations, maybe like a loyalty mobile app that your franchise company is coming out with. LTOs (Limited Time Offers) are also very popular to share with franchise candidates.
I don’t always like to lean on the heavy, more consumer-facing marketing
aspects, but every once in a while – every four to six weeks I’ll see something that is being actively promoted by the consumer marketing department (or agency) that I think is going to be relevant to franchise prospects. And then I’ll share that across the FD accounts so that they (prospects) are reminded about the new menu items that we’ve got or
here’s the new LTOs that we’ve got, or “here’s a brand new point-of-sale system” or new CRM system that this client has developed. Those kinds of innovations are powerful in getting people to remind themselves about why they were interested in your brand in the first place.
Topic #10: Target Markets and Growth Projections
Last but not least, and again I want to reiterate that these are these Top 10 are in no particular order I think they’re all very, very relevant and should give you a Content Calendar that you could develop for 2020, but #10 on the list is Target Markets and Growth Projections.
At the core of FranFocus is my philosophy is that franchises obviously grow nationally, but they do that best by growing concentrically, and growing strategically – focusing on three to five target markets every six months or 12 months. So what we want communicate that – we want to let people in those markets know that “Sonic is coming to Cleveland” and is focused on finding local franchisees in the Cleveland market. So we want to promote that and again, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube; those are all social media channels that your potential franchise prospects in Cleveland (and everywhere) are paying close attention to, so why not put that out there? Why not make that a shareable topic of public conversation, and then leverage that content -your content- with a pay-per-click campaign? Because LinkedIn lets you target people in Cleveland; you can target them by their job experience, you can target them by their age, income, their work history – all of those things. So use that information not just to get attention to your website – to your franchise validation website: And not just to add more LinkedIn followers to your brand, but also to find franchise prospects!
All right – that is it! Those are your Top Ten Topics for Social Media. Again YOUR franchise prospects pay attention to social media; that is one of the five key offerings that FranFocus offers – which is franchise development Content Marketing, Social Media management & monitoring, Social Media Pay-Per-Click (PPC). And again, this is not your consumer side social – this is ALL dedicated to helping you find potential franchisees and sell franchises, and expand your brand accordingly.
If you want more details please visit FranFocus.com If you’ve got questions about anything that I’ve presented here, get in touch with me directly Patrick at FranFocus.com or connect with me on LinkedIn!
I appreciate your time – I appreciate your attention.
Have a great 2020!
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