Many franchisors are concerned with having their franchise locations or franchisees manage any social media accounts, but I believe that that is not always the right approach.
LinkedIn is a widely underutilized platform for both franchisees and franchisors
LinkedIn is interesting as the platform really promotes your personal brand and is far more effective in doing so than promoting most company brands. Using this platform effectively as a franchisor can help your brand stand out from the others, attracting the right franchisees who are already engaged with your brand, your story and your personal brand.
LinkedIn is a thought leader platform. Using LinkedIn to share more about who you are, what you stand for and what your approach to business and leadership is can be a complete game changer. In any situation, people like to do business with who they know and trust. LinkedIn can be a vehicle for getting to know more people and for building trust. As a franchisor, many of your prospective franchisees will be interested in who you are first, and what the business is second. During the earlier period or as the business is still small, the franchise prospect will want to know who they are partnering with and what type of leadership they are getting.
There are several reasons why more franchisors don’t focus on using this valuable platform for the health of their business. Many of the “reasons” fall into these three categories:
Awareness and knowledge
Ignorance is not a great excuse. Not being aware of how powerful it is or not wanting to learn puts some franchisors at a disadvantage. It is not complex, but it does take an investment of time to become aware and to understand the value of it.
Time
So often franchisors will be busy with operations manuals, franchise development, managing finances and so much more. I get it, I have been there. However, a strategic leader finds efficiency in administrative tasks (hello AI) and prioritizes these important things.
They choose to hunt not farm
Running ads, creating a strong franchise development department, focusing on how many leads are coming through the funnel and how to land them are examples of hunting. This is important but it is less effective if you are not also farming. LinkedIn, a strong presence in the industry, building relationships and focusing on your personal brand are great examples of farming.
Once you, as a franchisor, master LinkedIn and harness the power of it, you will attract prospective franchisees, team members for your support office, better vendors and of course, consumers. The super-power of doing this is the fact that you can then teach your franchisees to do as you do.
The super-power of doing this is the fact that you can then teach your franchisees to do as you do
Imagine, with 50, 75 or 100 locations being owned by over 40 franchisees, the power of that force on LinkedIn. Imagine, with 40 (using this example) franchisees lighting up the internet with their posts and high engagement, what happens as you combine that with another 15 head office support team members who are also posting.
The power is in your hands, literally. You are the leader, the strategist and the business coach. Own LinkedIn and harness the power of this social platform combined with your franchise network. The sky is the limit.
