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How Franchise Brands Can Use Instagram Live to Stay in Front of Customers
As franchises in every segment pivot to off-site services, Entrepreneur offers a few tips for brands new to social media.
If you follow any brands on social media, open up Instagram right now and see how many of them have active stories. Chances are, close to all of them do, and if your franchise brand doesn’t, you’re falling behind.
Even before the coronavirus crisis forced franchises to close their brick-and-mortar stores and pivot to online services, social media, and Instagram in particular, was becoming an increasingly important tool for franchises to engage with fans and remain top-of-mind among consumers. Now, after more than two months of social-distance orders and a dramatically altered consumer landscape, a robust social media presence is nothing less than essential.
Still, even for franchise brands eager to make the necessary changes to their operational and marketing models, Instagram represents a new frontier, and it’s hard to know how to make the most of the platform. In a guest post for Entrepreneur published Monday, Nick Wolny, the founder of Hefty Media Group, shared his best advice for brands just dipping their toe into the Instagram Live pool.
To start, Wolny says you need to free up your wifi. That means hardwiring your social media set up so that your phone is connected directly to your router via ethernet. “This minimizes the chances that you’ll experience interference, a pixelated feed or a blip in internet connection that short-circuits your stream entirely.”
Next, posters should start playing around with the split-screen live feature, which allows users to host guests, conduct interviews and create more dynamic live experiences with multiple people.
Brands should also be sure to use “story highlights” to make sure their content doesn’t disappear after 24 hours. “Don’t let a low number of live viewers discourage you,” Wolny advises. “The majority of viewers watch your replay, not your actual live stream, and your content will reach a larger total audience when replays are available.”
Finally, Woly recommends that social media posters always remember to put their phones in Do Not Disturb mode before creating any content to avoid embarrassing, unprofessional mishaps, like calls interrupting a stream.
Perhaps most importantly, any franchise brand looking to make their first attempts at marketing and engagement through Instagram Live, or any other social media platform, need to let go of their fear and lean on the credibility and goodwill they’ve already engendered among fans.
Live streaming can be scary at times — don’t let fear or gear stop you from sharing your expertise with your community, especially when they’re stuck at home and unable to consume your services in person. Use this time to learn the ropes, and you’ll have a new strategy for your future marketing toolbox.
