|
24 September 2009
Small businesses have been hit hard by the economy implosion, but hard times often spark creativity. I’m experiencing this first hand right now as I help my mother introduce social media marketing to regional ACE Hardware stores. It’s refreshing to see business owners ready to take on the challenges of the Web 2.0 society. So many corporations are not utilizing the true potential of social media. According to a recent survey by the Franchise Business Review, 72 percent of franchisors and 70 percent of franchisees are already using social media, but only 20 percent of these people are using it for professional purposes. That means there are a lot of Facebook pages and Twitterers out there posting pictures from their family vacation, reconnecting with old classmates and taking part in conversations that interest them. They are not using their already established networks to grow their businesses. I found a great article by Gini Dietrich in the Franchise Times highlighting why corporations should start marketing online through social media. The bottom line is that yesterday was the perfect time to start. Generation Z and Generation Y already consider email outdated. With 80 percent of these two generations taking part in social media, businesses need to catch up if they want to thrive in this Web 2.0 world. Here are some great tips for franchisors and small business owners on how to get online the right way. Thanks Gini for your guidance. #1 Set visual standards: Social media should be approached in the same light as traditional media marketing when it comes to brand identification. Set guidelines for standard logo usage and provide these graphics in a central location for download. Decide on color schemes, provide generic backgrounds for social networking sites and develop a standard page design outlining what type of information should be displayed on social sites. #2 Provide guidance: Corporations need to know where their target audiences are online. When you learn something, pass that knowledge on and provide links to the communities and conversations. Make suggestions on how to use advanced search engines and what kind of activity to get involved in. Provide guidelines about how interaction should take place and what is appropriate (although it seems like common sense, creating guidelines from the start will help prevent future issues that may need addressed). #3 Build a central location for help: Have a place your franchisees and employees can go to find strategies on how to connect with customers, locating target audiences and making new connections through these social sites. Be specific. If your franchise sees potential in a certain site, get the word out about why and how to utilize that site for the individual businesses. Create an open dialogue about promoting your brand and listen to what your franchisees are finding online. They may be already connected to a vital community, so listen to what they have to say. #4 Provide content: Create regular, preferably daily, content on behalf of your corporate brand. Create http://ping.fm accounts that will allow the corporate page to automatically populate franchisee pages with company social media campaigns, including promotions, contests and discounts (Great tip, Gini). This should be considered non-negotiable. It will be a little extra work in the beginning, but the benefit to your brand will be priceless. The ping accounts update all connected sites at once. #5 Provide RSS feeds for the outside sites they should follow: These feeds could come from competitors sites or influencers sites they could take part in. Be specific about why each site is important and how to use the information for their individual businesses. The most important thing a corporation can is to keep an open dialogue about why promoting the brand through social media is important. You’re not policing anyone. This goes against everything social media stands for. To help eliminate that mentality, provide easily accessible how-tos about using the content you’re providing through rss feeds, links, automated pings, etc. Be sure to communicate why you’re providing certain tools and how it will benefit their individual businesses. It’s okay to provide quick how-tos on getting started on the social media sites, but don’t spend a lot of energy doing it. Most sites already have these get started guides. Instead focus your effort on branding and explaining why it’s important to have a generalized look online. You’re all in this together, and that’s the message you need to communicate to your franchisees and employees. And most importantly (I agree with you Gini) have fun with it. This is a new avenue you’re exploring. Don’t get hung up on technology and Internet lingo, instead explore the potential social media can provide for your marketing strategy.
