Franchises have a somewhat difficult task when it comes to creating and managing an online presence through use of social media. Does each franchise have their own tone or should the brand guide the individual franchises on a uniting theme? Our recommendation is always presenting one cohesive brand across all channels.
Identify Your Goals
Before you can inform your franchises about what to post, when to post it and how to post it you need to make clear, easy to understand goals. A few questions to ask yourself include:
- What do you want to convey about your brand?
- What tone do you want?
- What do you want to achieve with your social media presence?
- What audience are you trying to reach?
- How many social media accounts do you want per franchise?
Map Out Messaging
Once you have isolated the goal for your franchise’s online presence it’s time to get more specific. The best way to get everyone on the same page is by creating a guide for what should be said to the audience about the brand and what you’re promoting.
- What do you want to say? When do you want to say it?
- If you have multiple audiences, who are you speaking to on what social media platform and when?
- What assets are you using? Do they need to be edited to fit different audiences?
- How often do you want to post?
Prepare for Engagement
Another important step in creating a seamless presence on social media is to guide your brand’s franchises on how to engage with their audience. If you have a franchise in each of the 50 states you will most likely have numerous people managing your various social media accounts. Take the guesswork out of it and create a FAQ used for responding to common questions. To get started on this response guide, ask the following:
- Do you know how you want to respond to messages & comments? Public or private?
- What will your tone be in your responses?
- What timeframe do you want to establish for replying?
This is just a starting point, but outlining what you, as the brand, expect from your franchises will allow you to create a brand identity that stretches across all franchises and all digital channels.
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