How to Get People to Engage With Your Brand

In May of 2012, we launched 1851 at the FranConnect user conference. Sitting at a table with a few friends, the site went live. I giggled in joy as we took the first step toward creating a voice in franchising. Issue No. 1 was “Young Ones to Watch,” featuring Sean Fitzgerald, now 1851’s very own.

Four years later, a lot has changed. But perhaps the biggest leap forward came in March of 2015, when we launched our first technology product after a successful lead awareness test campaign with Philip Schram of Buffalo Wings & Rings.

Today, we have a tool that engages with our audience. We have a system that includes you (duh, because you’re reading this right now). We have executed on a concept and turned it into a reality by creating real content that relates to you—whether you’re in the franchising community now or looking to enter it in the future.

Getting people to engage with our brand was not easy—and it continues to be a turbulent journey. Why? Simply put, some people in the franchise industry don’t like disruption and they don’t like when someone challenges a process. They choose to declare 1851 as shady or unethical—not because it is, but rather, because of their fear of the unknown. They don’t understand how we created a concept and turned it into an engagement tool.

Rather than getting mad about the high school name calling (did I just name call by calling them high school?), I am actually quite flattered. Why? Because they are engaging with our publication, reading our content, telling their friends to go see what’s going on at 1851 and growing our readership.

That’s engagement.

Think about Hooters as a brand. The word—even though it is connected with an owl—is not a kosher brand name. When connected with women wearing very little clothing, the meaning takes on new shape. However, their brand awareness is huge; they have sustained the test of time and have continued to grow as a brand, and at the end of the day, not everyone likes the brand. But, at the same time, it gets people talking. Again, that’s engagement.

Engagement doesn’t always have to come from a controversial place. It can come from simply being better and trying to create a true point of differentiation. Many brands struggle to find this footing and positioning. Instead, they choose to build a product just like every other brand that currently exists.

To create engagement, you must standout.

When a brand like Toppers Pizza* decided to challenge the norm of delivery pizza brands, do you think those brands were pissed that Toppers was stealing market share in their market? Of course they were. “How dare they put ‘We Come Fast, No Apologies’ in their windows,” they would scream. But, that screaming fueled the fire—not just in perception of customers willing to try it, but in Toppers willing to stop at nothing to find success. That’s ultimate engagement.

To gain engagement, you have to stand out. You have to be willing to take the name calling, the beatings and the cry-babying because that’s how you create something new, powerful and growth focused.

In the beginning, being told you are not allowed to be on the inside is expected. As time goes on, especially when on mission to be disruptive and great, you will create the inside and then those who name called will be asking to be on your team. That should be the end goal of engagement—to engage, convert and sustain your audience.

That’s our focus at 1851. Not cocky—confident.