How to Encourage Franchisees to Engage in Marketing Campaigns on Social Media

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By Max Pecherskyi, PromoRepublic

The lockdown changed the way people interact with each other and the way businesses interact with customers. Daily communications with clients and buyers online have become the new normal.

Franchises of all levels are posting on social media to support, educate and cheer up the public. However, one of the biggest challenges for them is implementing all these marketing activities on time and following the central strategy.

Forrester’s research says that 73 percent of marketers consider managing franchisees a tough row to hoe. Often being pressed for time running local spots and trying to follow the government pandemic regulations, franchisees find it difficult to be actively and timely involved in marketing initiatives.

Since they have been playing a significant role in encouraging society during trying times, the leading marketing executives have to support local partners with valuable knowledge and tools for efficient online communications. Such assistance will not only improve franchisee performance and web presence but also drive their authority at the local level, potentially boosting franchise sales rates.

There is a surefire way to help franchisees stay afloat, thereby becoming a well regarded expert, and not just one.

1. Fuel franchisees with marketing knowledge.

There are several actionable formats of educational sessions that franchisees can benefit from:

Onboarding and educational webinars.

By running systematic onboarding and educational webinars, you can make franchisees more tech and marketing savvy. It’s a key method to educate a group of entrepreneurs simultaneously and provide them with the fundamental social media marketing knowledge and brand guidelines.

You can teach the franchisees on how to create engaging content, master posting, manage communications, and measure performance. Some good topics are: “Ways to build a local social media presence” and “How to stay connected with local audiences during the lockdown and afterwards.”

Translate the changed offerings (hygiene, health), brand promises and rules (do’s and don’ts), and share onboarding checklists.

During your talk, pay attention to the pandemic aspect. Explain to franchisees how they should adapt their posting to the times. For example, advise them on how to create engaging promo campaigns aimed at informing society about the COVID-19 restrictions.

Set up Facebook Live videos, upload tutorials to your YouTube channel, or hold webinars on Zoom. The more channels you cover, the more likely your franchisees will get access to them and hone their business thinking.

Peer mentorship culture.

A good practice can be to assign a senior digital marketing expert as a mentor to the novice franchisee to exchange some valuable franchise promotion experiences and insights, and set up marketing automation tools to ensure consistency of posting. This accelerates the process of franchisees’ adaptation and growth.

To build an efficient mentorship ecosystem, you can create a devoted Facebook community where the trained employees will be able to exchange valuable information, discuss hot issues, brainstorm and share opinions.

Since peer mentorship is not prescriptive and does not imply judgment, criticism, or evaluation, it also forms a sense of belonging to the franchise and improves team spirit.

2. Accelerate campaign distribution across franchise locations.

Statistics say that social consumers expect brands to be more socially conscious, with 70 percent saying that it’s important for brands to take a public stand on social issues. This means that social networks are a must-have channel for franchisees to maintain online comms, run promo campaigns, and inform society about emerging problems, especially during the pandemic times. However, posting precise pieces on an exact date can become a real challenge.

To achieve this consistency, you can incorporate a social media management platform for your franchisees and brands which greatly automates and simplifies daily communications with users online. That’s how you can also ensure that all your social media marketing campaigns are running in full consistency with the core brand pages.

Check if the software provides the following set of features:

  • Content Creation

Instead of spending hours on creation of the visuals for upcoming posts, you can select the ready-made images from the database of editable promotional images. Customize them to your brand guidelines and localize branded content, by adding franchisees’ address, contacts, and other details that appeal to the local audience.

Make sure that the tool allows you to edit text and visuals before posting right in the interface and upload promotional assets directly to a content hub. You should also be able to schedule created posts to franchisees’ social media calendars along with the posting time.

  • Asset Manager

The asset manager allows you to upload content to the platform and store the images for each campaign in separate folders, so that franchisees can easily find them, post or customize to their customers.

In such a convenient way, you organize content for different regions, setting a single entry point with quick access for all franchisees.

  • Posting

After content was uploaded to the asset manager, it’s possible to set the posting in the franchisees’ calendar for their approval. Franchisees can access the database of images right in the asset manager, make required adjustments, select a suitable time slot and schedule the posting in their social media pages.

The advanced one-click posting feature allows franchisees to use the ready-made content, and, as the title says, approve and schedule it just in one click. It’s an indispensable option in case there is no time for customization.

  • Mobile App

A software that has a mobile app is a really convenient option. Your franchisees can manage business pages on social media even outside the workplace.

The urgent changes and updates can be done right in the mobile app: for example, giving a quick answer to a new review or getting notifications on content suggestions and approving posts on the go.

  • Results Measurement Dashboard

Make sure the software provides a comprehensive analytics system and tracks the key marketing metrics. A thorough results analysis makes planning of the future campaigns more efficient by understanding what works best for your audience.

Using the results measurement dashboard, marketing executives should also be able to prepare detailed reports to get an overview of the campaigns performance across all locations and give their franchisees actionable guidance.

Three Awesome Promo Campaigns From Franchise Brands That Will Inspire You

1. Podcast announcement from FASTSIGNS.

This stylish announcement of the upcoming podcast with the CEO of FASTSIGNS won’t leave you feeling indifferent.

The post combines three nice marketing solutions at once: the use of a trendy content (podcast), a trendy topic (“How to lead a franchise with integrity”) and a trendy design (vivid colors and bold fonts catch the eye).

The message was automatically spread across the locations.

2. Educational video on social distancing from American Family Care.

As an urgent care clinic franchise, American Family Care, couldn’t pass up such a crucial topic as social distancing.

In a pretty engaging manner, the video explains the permitted distance between people during the pandemic. This promo brilliantly conveyed the brand’s idea and mission, and was shared by all American Family Care branches.

3. Charity Campaign From Big Mama’s & Papa’s Pizzeria

Nothing improves our loyalty to brands better than doing good things together. Big Mama’s & Papa’s Pizzeria, which cooks the world’s largest deliverable pizza, ran a perfect social media campaign with a charity goal — inviting customers to buy a tasty food combo set with an included $2 donation. All funds were directed to support the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

This promo campaign was translated by all Big Mama’s & Papa’s franchise participants.

To Sum Up

By supporting local franchisees with professional advice and helping them incorporate advanced social media management systems, we can ensure that their online comms with the society are always carried on-time and in a unique branded style.

In turn, the public becomes aware in a timely manner of the emerging issues and feels the irreplaceable support from the local businesses.

 

Max Pecherskyi, CEO & co-founder of PromoRepublic. PromoRepublic’s Social Media Marketing Suite connects brands with local audiences. The platform is designed to help franchise HQs eliminate inconsistent communications across multiple locations while giving franchisees powerful, easy-to-use tools for social media content creation and AI-driven scheduling. For more information on International Franchise Association (IFA) supplier member PromoRepublic, click here.

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