With the skyrocketing popularity of social media among consumers today, it is critical that businesses have a strong online presence to reach and interact with their customers and followers.
That said, managing social media effectively is easier said than done. It requires a lot of time and resources and for a franchise, this can add up quickly. Fortunately, just as accounting for franchises has been made simpler with franchise software and franchise management systems, there are a number of social media tools that make managing social media simpler and more efficient.
Before a franchise can start using any of those tools however, it is important for management to establish a policy manual and guidelines for social media that will steer the endeavor. The manual needs to include policies for usage, code of conduct and passwords. It will help to promote uniformity, a consistent brand image and adherence to company rules and culture.
Once the guidelines are set, it’s time to decide who will be controlling each social media account. Control can be centralized or it can be localized so each franchise location controls its own content within the guidelines. Some franchises may also consider an in-between route where each location can give input but approval comes from the main office.
With these basic guidelines in place, it is time to decide which social media management tool(s) will work best to facilitate the management of these accounts.
The following Social Media Management Tools for Franchises can help franchises run their social media more efficiently and in less time:
1. Expion (acquired by Meltwater)
Expion was created specifically for franchises and it allows owners to control posts for hundreds of locations simultaneously. This means that nationwide material can be posted to all location sites or the user can choose to drill down to select stores (e.g. for posting about regional promotions). Multiple users can be added which allows for local and store specific content.
2. VenueLabs
VenueLabs (formerly Valuevine) is another excellent social media tool designed specifically for franchises with physical locations. The platform is designed to handle hundreds or even thousands of social accounts with the ability to control everything from one platform and assign user permissions. Special features include the ability to set up location-based searches on Twitter and to measure user engagement.
3. Manalto
Manalto also eliminates the need to log into multiple social media accounts individually. With the click of a button, a user can publish content to all social media pages at the same time or even schedule in advance. There is also an elaborate filtering system so each franchise location can be tagged and filtered. Features such as a shared media library allow for consistent branding across platforms and accounts.
Awareness Hub offers one-click publishing across multiple social channels and the ability to manage all accounts and customer comments through one dashboard. Awareness Hub supports all major social media channels. Other helpful features include the ability to create social marketing offers as well as the ability to measure these campaigns with social analytics.
5. Spredfast (now Khoros)
Spredfast also groups all social media accounts into one convenient location and allows for accounts to be managed by location, region, etc. Team members can be added and permissions set so local store managers have access to their specific location.
6. Vitrue (acquired by Oracle)
Vitrue is a platform designed specifically for Facebook and Twitter and offers users some nice unique features. For one, the platform includes Twitter integrated pages so a business can catch a customer’s attention in 140 characters then drive them to a special page that is not restricted by number of characters in order to provide additional offers or calls to action. Vitrue also allows for the addition of members to the content management team so there can be local control of content strategy.
SUMMARY: Every business needs to have a social media presence to reach their online audience these days. Just like franchise software makes accounting for franchises simpler, these social media management tools will reduce the time and effort required to run social media campaigns for franchise owners.