Tag: Franchising

FranCamp 2012 Registration Open Now


I’m please to helping my friend Deb Evans organize FranCamp – The Franchise Social Media Camp – once again this year. Last year’s turnout at the Nashville event was so well received that we’re expanding the agenda for our May 4 event in Atlanta. Please check out the FranCamp registration page now and check out the description below from our FranCamp website.

FranCamp 

We realize that social media is a rapidly changing field and many marketing professionals, CEOs, franchise development staff and franchisees lack a clear roadmap for where to start with social media and how to weave together all the relating pieces that make up a successful social media and online content strategy.
 

What FranCamp is Not

If you work in the franchise industry, you know that franchise conferences are often full of vendors making pitches for services and products. Sometimes the information is helpful and it rarely goes into the real ‘recipe’ for using social media.

We want to change that.
 

What FranCamp is About

Everyone who works in franchising is affected by social media and the last thing any of us need is a speaker talking about ‘why you need to be using social media’ or big picture talk about ‘social media strategy.’ What franchise professionals hunger for is simple: real, actionable steps anyone can take that will make a HUGE difference in your marketing.

If you want to educate yourself on the best of current thinking and learn the real recipes that work from the most advanced franchisors, franchisees, consultants and experts in the field of social media, this is a one-day conference you can’t afford to miss.
 

You won’t get sales pitches. You’ll walk away with a very sophisticated level of understanding about ALL of the pieces of a successful social media strategy.

FranCamp follows the wildly successful PodCamp format – a low-cost, one day event fully loaded with a fast paced and aggressive agenda full of super-helpful content. What you will get is a good education in almost all of the relevant topics that marketers must understand to make good decisions. If you want to launch your own campaigns and make sure your marketing department is pointed in the right direction, this is for you. If you have a budget and need a better level of understanding about social media related issues so you can make good hiring and vendor decisions, this is especially for you.

 

Who Should Attend

Anyone who works in franchising: Franchisors – CEOs, COOs, VPs of Marketing and VPs of Franchise Development. Anyone who deals with franchise sales and lead generation, anyone who handles consumer side marketing should attend. If you work in the marketing department of a franchise system, this is for you. If you own a franchise and want to learn more about how you can boost your local marketing, this is for you.

 

Limited Registration

Registration is open and is limited to one hundred attendees. This is a high-power and intimate session. FranSocialCamp is designed to by inexpensive – total cost for flights, hotel and the $149 per person, making it one of the least expensive social media conferences in the country. Less costly doesn’t mean we skimp on content – you’ll have a hard time finding a better and more packed agenda than this one.

Breakfast and Lunch are included on Friday. Tuition comes with a very cool FranCamp T Shirt and copies of all presentations.

  
  
Sponsored by Engage121

3 Steps to Increase Facebook Engagement


Facebook Fan Page + Facebook Post + Facebook Ad

Last week’s International Franchise Association Annual Convention included several opportunities to learn about localizing social marketing from new IFA member Facebook and its representative Brian Wheelis, Manager of Agency Management Operations.

Brian shared valuable data including new research on where consumers are spending their time on Facebook. The good news is that they are spending more and more time on Facebook. The bad news is that they may not be spending their time on Facebook with your brand. We can fix that in 3 easy steps…


1. Create Engaging Content on Your Fan Page

Many brands’ Fan Pages consist of a slick picture and a blatant advertisement. Why would anyone return to this page after his or her first visit? Very few brands will garner millions of fans due only to loyalty and without having anything interesting on their page. These include Apple, Starbucks, and … I think that’s all.

 Your page must include something of value to a consumer: coupons, freebies, rewards, virtual gifts, or downloadable digital content.

 Value can also be in the form of assets or tools like informational (or fun!) videos, financial calculators, “ask an expert” type features, polls, quizzes, contests, and games. Remember, it must be valuable for the consumer and potential customer, not just for your brand.

 All of the above must be refreshed frequently with new reasons for the consumer to come back. Each time something new is created on your page, you must do step 2: create a post.

2. Publish a Post About Your Page’s Content

You can build the most engaging, fun, or valuable Fan Page on Facebook, but if no one knows about it, they won’t come. Facebook currently has over 800 Million users, but I’m guessing most of them are not looking at your Fan Page right now! Well-executed posts will drive some of them there.

Users spend 27% of their time on Facebook looking at their News Feed. And, with the proliferation of smart phones, most mobile users are looking at the News Feed exclusively. So on a regular basis, post a status update inviting everyone to come play your game, take your quiz, or get the new coupon. This is the quickest, easiest thing to do in all of social media! Write a little text, add a link to the tab on your Fan Page where the feature lives, and submit.

Your update will be seen by your fans on their News Feed and Ticker. Next, we move beyond your fans with step 3: create an ad.

3. Create a Facebook Sponsored Story About With The Post

The Facebook Ad, or more specifically, the Sponsored Story, is the spark that will ignite the inferno on your page.  Facebook’s Brian Wheelis says that these ads will be seen by 3 to 5 times more Facebook users than the post alone.

Why? Facebook Sponsored Stories appear not only to your fans, but also to their friends.

That’s the key! Too many brands focus only on the number of fans they have accumulated. That number is important, but the goldmine is in those Fans’ Friends.

Our team at Engage121 has recently launched Engage121 Version 2.1, which now includes the ability to instantly create a Facebook Ad out of your status update. More importantly, you can also instantly create multiple localized ads for each of your franchisees’ or outlets’ local pages.

A marketing misstep is spending too many resources on converting customers to fans. If that sounds backwards, it’s because it is! Yet we see it everyday: print displays or customer service messages asking current customers to become a Fan. I supposed that has had value, as you do want your customers to be a part of the community. But don’t stop there; the people seeing those “please Like us” messages are already in your store, visiting your website, or receiving your invoice! Don’t market Social Media to them; market your business to new people using Social Media. Using the above 3 steps will refocus your attention to converting Fans (and their Friends!) to customers!
  

 

Fan Pages:                       Seen by your Fans


Posts:                                 Seen by your Fans in   their newsfeed


Sponsored Stories:    Seen by your Fans and their Friends

Franchise King – Become a Franchise Owner!

Joel Libava

 

If you’re in Franchising and are heading to the IFA Convention, here’s a last minute tip for your trip: go download Joel Libava‘s new book Become a Franchise Owner! for the flight to Orlando. 

The Franchise King!


While I’m sure Joel, “The Franchise King”, wrote the book for entrepreneurs and future business owners, I am recommending this work for everyone working the franchise space including marketers, operations, sales, and especially suppliers. While most of these folks will never buy a franchise themselves, Joel lays out fantastic inside information on how this industry works and answers questions that they may have not known to ask.

I myself have been working with franchise system brands, CEOs, and CMOs for a decade or so and found myself thinking, “oh, that’s how that works,” or “ah, that’s why they do it that way…”

And, it’s a fun, honest read by a guy who is not afraid to hold back!