Although the internet, Google, Facebook, etc have been in our lives for quite some time now, I still find that franchisees are often reluctant or hesitant to fully utilise the power of the internet and social media to market their business.
Whether it be that they have some fear factor around it or that they simply don’t have the knowledge and steps to best use it or – probably the worst – that they don’t use or like it personally so why should they use it for business? That is a whole other blog.
What I have found is that the biggest stumbling block for franchisees is that they are usually posting in real time and reactional. For example, they think ‘It’s Monday. I should really post something on Facebook. Ummmm but I have nothing to post!’
This is so common to be trying to post on social media on the spot and when franchisees do this, they are usually inconsistent in their posting and then also their posts are not really well thought out and often far too promotional.
What you need to do is get them organised. Yes, a simple bit of organisation will solve this.
A couple of things I suggest are….
- Get a library of posts, a collection of photos, a document of ideas. Then instead of posting on the run, they have a whole folder of great content they can use.
- Schedule their social media. Whether they do that through scheduling apps or sites or simply have a social media plan written down of what posts/photos etc they are going to post on which days. This should be done for about a month in advance and a bit like scheduling on a calendar.
- Give them ideas and topics they could post on. What makes a great social media post and give them plenty of examples. What I find works really well is to scroll through all their social media and find posts that your franchisees have posted – use them as the example.
- If they are fearful or lack the knowledge on social media, then make it your mission to teach them. Bring in experts, run webinars, give them the information they need to learn how and why social media is a must in their business in 2019.
A simple bit of organisation can go a long way when getting franchisees to be more consistent – and effective – with their social media posting.
