Social media has become one of the top ways to introduce audiences to a brand. Spending online has increased year-on-year and has resulted in more customers using social media for shopping. In fact there are a huge number of internet based work from home franchises and interested in these types of business are soaring – now you can host shops and more on Facebook to help sell products and services quickly and effectively.
But should you rely on your franchisor for your social media presence? Or should you have your own social media profile? You need to consider these points carefully.
Franchisors have huge followings
Followers are very important when it comes to social media. Statistically, only about 5-17% of your following will see your content and engagement rates can be as low as 0.09%. So brands try to grab as big an audience as they can.
Established franchisors have big audiences, usually because they’ve been around for years and have the time and money to invest in promoting their social media profiles. Franchisors probably have more followers, engagements and comments than you will ever achieve. But there is no way to tell if those audiences are going to offer you any value.
You will sell your service to a specific territory, but your franchisor’s followers might not live in your area. As such, relying on their audiences might not lead to any sales or interest in your activities.
Franchisors can’t create content specifically for your segment
A franchisor will have content that it has designed for its audience. This strategy is what has worked and might have helped the brand to attract franchisees like you.
Therefore, the franchisor’s content might not be the most suitable for your target audience. Your audience will have different priorities than theirs. For example, a franchisor’s social media account might publish content about buying a franchise, but your audience will want content about your services/products.
If your audience likes local news, they could struggle to identify with news published by headquarters from another area. In turn, you might lose out on leads. Different regions, even within the UK, have variances in word use, so your followers might get confused if your brand’s social media accounts use a different dialect than your audience is used to.
Reactive social media
While it is important to get content out every day, it is also vital that you engage with your audience. You should always respond to comments and messages on your profile. This isn’t always possible in a timely manner, for example if you’re running automotive franchises or children’s franchises, unless you’re operating as a management franchise then you probably won’t have much time on your hands. In this case, it may be worth hiring someone on your behalf, or during out of hours, you could look at a social media scheduling platform. Facebook ranks your page based on how reactive you are to messages and this can have a massive impact on social media campaigns.
Don’t rely on your franchisor to respond to messages either. Even if they are responsive to messages, they might not be able to respond to queries that are specific to your area.
For instance, a customer might request a quote or an appointment, so the franchisor sends them your contact number/name. The customer is probably going to be unhappy about this and abandons your brand, losing you a sale.
Most franchisors won’t allow you to have access to their pages either. Therefore, you can’t respond to these comments for messages yourself.
You must have your own social media pages
Therefore, even though franchisors have significant followings and probably publish content regularly; they are not reliable for your social media output as a franchisee.
As such, you should produce your own social media content on a page you operate and manage. There are numerous social media networks that you can use, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you’re more of a business-to-business franchise, then you need to use LinkedIn. Otherwise, you can choose the social media network that you think will work best.
How to build followers for your franchise business social pages
Many franchisees new to social media worry about building a following. Luckily, there are simple ways to do this. The first is that you can produce daily content that your followers find interesting and useful. But you should also be looking at growing the number of followers on your page. A good way to do this is to buy advertising space on Facebook to promote your business, using analytics to put your details in front of the right people.
It only takes a small amount of investment to grow your following. Some experts recommend that you spend about £1 a day on your Facebook page. Therefore, for just £30 a month, you could improve your following and market to more people. Regardless of whether you’re running low cost franchises or any other franchise opportunity, social media doesn’t have to break the bank and can certainly lend a hand in driving more traction for your business.
Conclusion
Ultimately, don’t rely on your franchisor’s social media accounts. Instead, you need to set up and grow your own pages/accounts. Then you can be more responsive and collect leads from your social media output. Eventually, you might want to outsource the management of your social media account to get more value from it.
Franchise UK was established in 2004, and since then has grown to be the UK’s largest franchise directory with over 1000 franchise opportunities listed. From the latest franchise opportunities in plumbing businesses to gardening and van based operations, Franchise UK helps people to find their ideal franchise.
