Social media marketing can be looked at as a stand-alone marketing plan, and should be approached with the same attention to detail as your overall marketing plan. While this type of marketing strategy is important for any business in today’s world, it is extremely essential for franchise businesses.
If you own a franchise of a company, you are typically stuck with pre-made marketing plans that usually have a national reach in mind. The corporate company may provide you with marketing materials and plans for new products and campaigns, but it is still important for you to focus on your local marketing and advertising. One of the easiest and most effective ways to do this is with social media marketing.
Your corporate company probably has a website for your brand, and may even have your location information listed, but it doesn’t give you much (if any) freedom to personalize it for your location. There are features of your business that probably vary from location to location, and you want to be able to reach your specific customers and target audience to market those things.
Benefits of a social media strategy
- Allows you to connect with your local audience on a personal level
- Gain insights and feedback directly from those you serve
- Present your business as a trusted local resource
How to get started
- Custom Facebook Page for your location – creating custom pages allows you to have more control and more content available to your local customers.
- Twitter – connecting with your customers on twitter can help you to gain feedback directly from the people you serve and help you to improve your products or services
- Google + - create circles to target market niches as well as boost your social search engine optimization.
If you have the opportunity and resources to market your franchise locally, take advantage of the social phenomenon. It is a great way to connect directly with consumers and market your franchise as an individual business as well as a corporate entity.
