April 2014 Archives

Recently I met with a franchisor that is quickly growing the franchise across Canada. What I discovered about the company's social media surprised me...not because I haven't seen evidence of it before with other franchises but because I've never met a franchisor state it quite as plainly as this one did.

The franchise had a Facebook page and a Twitter profile that were relatively well-maintained.

It also had a slew of Google Plus pages, none of which were optimized or being utilized.

When I opened discussions into ways they could expand the audience of their (what I assumed to be) corporate brand pages, they said they weren't looking to grow them as representative of the entire brand because they only represented the one corporate location and not the franchise overall.

Hmmm...

Then when I asked about the lack of franchisee pages and profiles, they said that was up to the franchisees.

They didn't care what the franchisees did with their social profiles because it was "their business."

I was stumped...not that a franchisor hadn't put a plan into place to support franchisee social media growth but that a franchisor actually said it wasn't their business.

Franchisee social media not a part of the franchisor's business? To say this is short-sighted is an understatement.

What this franchisor hasn't come to understand (and what I did try to impress upon them during our meeting) is that every bit of franchise exposure, be it local, corporate, or lack-there-of, impacts the franchise overall and each local franchise.

The strength of the corporate brand presence impacts the franchisees, and the strength of each franchisee on social channels impacts every other franchisee and the corporate brand overall.

Why? Because social networking is both hyper-local and global at the same time, and online conversations are public and pervasive.

This franchisor took an entirely hands-off approach to franchisee social media marketing. While this may, at first glance, appear to be exactly what prospective franchisees may want, consider what this really means (given that you know you absolutely, positively must be on social media, of course):

1. Setting up social media pages and profiles will be up to you.

2. Designing graphics to fit properly and capture audience attention will be up to you.

3. Getting your audience to like and follow your pages will be up to you.

4. Developing and posting consistent, creative content will be up to you.

5. Paying for relevant social promotions will be up to you.

6. Providing customer service will be up to you.

7. Responding to comments and other interaction will be up to you.

8. Doing all this while you do everything else involved in running and growing your franchise will be up to you.

9. And if you don't do it, your audience may not find you and your customer base may not grow.

Now I'm not advocating that you should buy into a franchise where you have zero input regarding your social media communication...unless that is what you want.

I'm simply asking that you consider the impact of having a franchisor that leaves social media entirely up to you because "it's your business."

As a franchisee, you are buying into a franchise because it has a duplicatable, working system that you can put into place.

It's a well-oiled machine with the training and support you need in order to implement it in your local market.

Shouldn't there be a system for social media as well?

You decide. It's up to you.

For the 5 Most Fascinating Stories in Franchising, a weekly report, click here & sign up.

Research conducted in the last two or three years has provided some interesting insight into why it is that we engage with social media:

• 80% of the content posted on social media sites, during a study conducted in 2012, were generalized posts about the immediate experience of the user. That could be something as simple as, "So tired...not ready for the week to start" or "Stuck in traffic - going to be a long day."

• Another study showed that users tend to share advertisements and promotions that are an extension of their self-concept, and one of course that is entertaining.

• Finally, sharing content in the spirit of offering help, advice, or suggestions to others gives people the sense of giving to others. By sharing that great article with a coworker who can benefit from it, you are really being benefitted as well, although in a different way.

So, is this what drives us to engage in social media content?

We want to show the "social world" who we are, how we want to be perceived, all the while being important and helpful to others?

I came across a great article that discusses this in more detail. The author gives a great example of what may be a typical "social media" day for any one user and explains why content is shared.

In thinking of the examples above, the article talks about how these types of content posting activities activate the dopamine reward system, which provides that internal reward that so many of us crave.

The more content sharing and posting in these various ways, the more that reward system is activated.

In extreme cases, it can be likened to a "drug" that people seek out to feel better about themselves.

From a business standpoints, it's a good thing to keep in mind as your marketing team is developing advertisements and engaging with customers - providing information that is entertaining, easy for customers to associate themselves with, and viewed as something that can be shared to help others may increase the virality of the content and enhance brand loyalty and engagement.

If you liked this, you should sign up for the LinkedIn Marketing & Advertising Tips from Franchise-Info newsletter.

Or, for more information on the Franchise-Info Business Directory, call Joe at 1-443-502-2636 or email Joe direct [email protected]

In today's fast-paced, high-tech world, the entire landscape of the media has changed - and continues to change each day.

At Ripley PR, we're constantly keeping an eye on traditional and new media, so that we can make recommendations to our B2B public relations clients that will help them land an interview or bylined article, in a newspaper, industry publication, or even on a blog.

This article from Ragan caught our attention.

It outlines some points to keep in mind in dealing with journalists - points that can ensure you get quoted or featured in the media.

These points are valuable for both PR professionals like ourselves, and company executives looking for media coverage.

Here are the key points:

• Be prepared: these days, most media outlets are short-staffed, and reporters may run on multiple assignments each day. That means that unlike the old days, they might not have the time to do in-depth research in preparation for an interview and story. So, if you're on the other side of the interview, it's worth it to prepare yourself. That might mean taking some time to research the reporter and what kind of stories he covers, and anticipate what questions he might ask - even ones you would prefer not to answer. Then, prepare your answers - and make sure you're ready to provide some background information on your company.
• Be professional, but be yourself: It's important to be natural in your interview - building a relationship with a reporter will benefit you down the road. But you must also conduct yourself well. Make sure you've practiced your answers and don't try to fill a silence with awkward, mindless chatter that may lead to giving away something you don't want to. Also, be sure to ask the reporter if he needs any clarification on your answers
• Follow up: If you promised the reporter you'd send some materials, make sure you do so. You can include a note with them, clarifying any of your comments during the interview and creating another quote that's easy to copy and paste.

People tend to have a negative opinion about journalists, so it's very important to remember that they are people too, and that, just like you, they are trying to do their jobs to the best of their ability.

Keeping these points in mind will show respect for any journalists you deal with, and will help them build respect for you as well.

If you liked this, you should sign up for the LinkedIn Marketing & Advertising Tips from Franchise-Info newsletter.

Or, for more information on the Franchise-Info Business Directory, call Joe at 1-443-502-2636 or email Joe direct [email protected]

A professional negotiator and mediator asked me to take a look at his LinkedIn profile & make suggestions.

The guy has a terrific CV and resume. Very impressive.

But, does his LinkedIn profile attract or repel potential clients?

There are many LinkedIn experts who will say that they can help you. Maybe they can. I know that some of them will certainly charge you a lot of money.

The Science of Decision Making & The 3 Filters of Choice

It does make sense to know something about the science of choice - what people do when they have to make a decision?

Well, when people have to make a decision, they typically do something the first things very fast, first. Which allows them to form a conclusion quickly, and have a decision made. Without worrying too much about it.

Here is the basic decision process many people would go through to see if you were good at something that they were interested in.

They would scan your summary profile & use the following rules or filters and in this order.

Filter 1. You aren't good at anything --Leave and find someone else to help. Many people don't have a clear statement in their summary what they are good at & why the reader should believe it.

Here is my solution to that problem.

In the first line of my summary, I write:

Specialties: Strategic Analysis for Franchises and Negotiation, see Endorsements below.

And what does my Skill and Endorsements section look like?

Ok, you see the LinkedIn community thinks I am good at Franchising, Strategy and Negotiation.

There are a number of ways of getting around the first fillter.

But, if you have a good number of endorsements, then I would use this technique. Because it says to the reader - hey, a lot of people think I am good at some things -the sort of things you might want to buy, my dear reader.

Filter 2. Yes, you are good at something, but what you are good at isn't what I need.

This might very well be true. You don't need to be contacted by people who cannot really use your skills properly.

So, if someone asked me what you did, I might say something like this:

"Michael solves complex problems in franchising systems. Problems which demand the coordination, cooperation of people who sometimes don't talk, don't like, or actively dislike each other."

Then I might give them a link to this article on Creating the Modern Franchise Owner's Group.

Or I might go on an talk about the general problem of coordination in groups.

Or I might do both.

Now, Joe has more straightforward solution to this filter problem. In his summary, he is able to state with authority that he has 20+ years of franchise development, starting with fixing the sales process at a major QSR. As process still in place.

So, if the reader is interested in franchise sales or development, it is pretty clear that Joe has seen it all.

Filter 3. Yes, you are good at something that I need, but I don't need it now.

Ok, this is the hardest filter to make it through.

Why? Because customers always buy on their own schedules and not your timetable. So our solution to this problem is get people to sign up for our Tips newsletters, just like the one of the bottom of this page. We intend to stay Top-of-Mind with them until they need to buy from us.

Only profiles which make it through these 3 filters will magically attract clients. People who will call you and ask if you can help them.

And for getting this far, here is final neat tip.

Knowing how people like to jump to the end, I would include something like this in the last section.

Advice for Contacting Michael

-Hey you made it to the bottom of the page. Good for you!

-If you are a franchisor, Joe Caruso and I can help you with your sales process.

-If you are supplier, Joe Caruso and I can help you with establishing a vendor program.

-If you a franchise owner/franchisee, Joe Caruso and I can help you with establishing a franchisee's owners group.

-If you are anyone else, let me know what you think I could help you with.

Any questions?

If you liked this, you should sign up for the LinkedIn Marketing & Advertising Tips from Franchise-Info newsletter.

Or, for more information on the Franchise-Info Business Directory, call Joe at 1-443-502-2636 or email Joe direct [email protected]

Wired Flare recently conducted a study of franchises in the greater Toronto area to help us get a better grasp on the existing needs in the franchise industry for social media support.

The findings were rather surprising.

We analyzed 89 franchises in the GTA. These are the questions as part of the analysis process:

1. On what platforms does the franchise have corporate brand pages setup (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Pinterest, Instagram, other, all or none)?

2. On what platforms does the franchise have local franchisee pages setup (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Pinterest, Instagram, other, all or none)?

3. If the franchise has franchisee pages, are their pages for all franchisees or only some?

4. Are the brand images (logos, banners, headers, etc.) good quality, reflective of the brand and consistent across all channels?

5. What is the frequency of posting to each setup social network?

6. What is the consistency of posting to each social network?

7. What types of content are being posted to each social network (promotional, product-related, inspirational, informative, etc.)?

8. What is the level of audience engagement on each social channel?

9. How many online reviews have been published for each franchise on each applicable platform?

10. Do Google Plus listings come up in local map results for every location?

After compiling the answers to each of those questions for the franchises in the study, here are our findings:

Only 28% - Strong Corporate Presence, Inconsistent Franchisee Presence

28% of the franchises were found to have a solid corporate presence on social media. They had setup at least two brand pages on social media channels, were posting consistent content and were actively engaging and responding to their audience.

And none of those 28% of franchises had a solid, identifiable plan for their franchisees. Some of the franchisees had set up their own social media pages, some had not. Some were posting a lot, some not at all. Images were often varied, and in some cases customer questions remained unanswered.

54% - Poor Brand Presence, Poor Franchisee Presence

54% of the franchises had social media profiles setup but did not have a solid corporate presence on those channels. Posting was inconsistent, infrequent, and did not elicit response from fans or followers. In many cases there were customer posts that not been responded to. In every case there was also no identifiable plan for franchisees. As with the above findings, some local pages posted a lot, some not at all. Branding and customer service were inconsistent across the board.

18% - Not Found on Social Media

18% of the franchises had no social media profiles that could be found on any social networks. That is hard to believe...but true.

The noticeable statistic that does not appear is one that would represent the franchises with a strong brand presence and strong, consistent franchisee presence. Not one of the franchises we analyzed fit into that category.

Clearly our findings indicate that many franchisors still do not understand the importance of social media. Therefore most franchises do not have a solid social media program in place that benefits all their franchisees.

This is a huge missed opportunities for franchises, and it's one that they can't afford to keep missing.

If you're a franchisor that fits into one of the above categories and is in need of support to implement a social media program that works for you and your franchisees...contact us now. We're here to help.

If you liked this, you should sign up for the LinkedIn Marketing & Advertising Tips from Franchise-Info newsletter.

Or, for more information on the Franchise-Info Business Directory, call Joe at 1-443-502-2636 or email Joe direct [email protected]

The Massive Open Online Courses can teach you some important things about your own training videos for your franchisees.

While, I've seen many outstanding videos offered on the MOOCs there are still a distressingly high percentage of them that do not even meet the minimum standards of Public Access TV.

Your franchise training videos likely have one or more of the same problems.

If your franchise training videos has one or more of the following production quality issues, you will have a low viewer completion rates.

1. Bad Sound Quality: Sound is the Achilles' heel of most educational videos. Most people will put up with poor video but if you cannot hear or understand what is being said there is no use in watching any further. These problems are usually caused by poor microphone placement, low recording levels, background noise and talent who do not speak well on camera.

2. Poor Lighting: Even bad cameras look good when there is plenty of light yet many videos look as if they were videotaped in a closet. If a student is going to stare at your video for 15 to 60 minutes at least make the images visible.

3. Poor Graphics: Just like unintelligible sound, unreadable graphics are useless. If the viewer cannot read or follow the graphic why include it? This is more than a PowerPoint slide with small text, this includes flow charts that are so dense and detailed they cannot be followed or photographs of such poor quality it is hard to tell what they are.

4. All Text Presentations: If the only thing the presenter is doing is reading the text off of one PowerPoint slide after another why not just send the student the PowerPoint slides?

5. Talking Heads: Or even worse, talking shadows on a distant stage. Videotaping lectures is probably the quickest and easiest way to record educational content but it does not have to be the most boring way to present educational content. (I've written several blogs on videotaping lectures, including how I think the TED Lectures get it right.)

6. Long Videos: One of the best features of online videos is that the presenter is not required to lecture for 50 minutes as they are often required to in a scheduled class. They can make the video segment as long, or as short as it needs to be. Yet many online classes are 50 or 60 minutes because that is the length of a traditional classroom lecture. If students fall asleep in a classroom during a long lecture they will fall asleep faster during a long video lecture.

7. Not Using the Medium: Why, in this new world of television production where an inexpensive HD video camera can fit in the palm of your hand, do so many of the online video classes take place behind a lectern? Are cameras not allowed in the lab or out in the field? Is it impossible to interview an expert or illustrate a concept with animation? Television is personal and mobile. Take advantage of its strengths.

There are ways to improve production quality and the quality of your programs that will improve the effectiveness of your overall online course.

Are you involved in producing video for training?

What are your biggest production quality challenges?

What obstacles do you face in producing your videos? Let me know in the discussion section below.

If you are involved in producing educational or training video and would like some feedback on your production quality then contact us for a video consultation.

If you liked this, you should sign up for the LinkedIn Marketing & Advertising Tips from Franchise-Info newsletter.

Or, for more information on the Franchise-Info Business Directory, call Joe at 1-443-502-2636 or email Joe direct [email protected]