How to Market Your Franchise Opportunity Part 6: Using LinkedIn/Social Media to Support Franchise Development

Social media has become an ingrained part of our culture. In the United States, a whopping 82% of the population reported having a social networking profile as of 2021, according to Statista. 

With so many people sharing their personas online, social media makes an excellent tool for franchise development — if you know how to use it correctly. 

“Social media, especially LinkedIn, is a very big part of the franchise development process,” said Chris Davenport, VP of franchise development at Buzz Franchise Brands. “Not just from a connection standpoint, but also from a research standpoint.”

LinkedIn offers brands a unique opportunity to connect online and verify key information on potential buyers. Other networks, such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, can also be helpful tools in reaching a wider audience and learning more about franchisee candidates. 

With new platforms popping up all the time and algorithms changing daily, it can be tricky to know how to get the most out of social media. Here are five ways you can start maximizing your accounts for franchise development. 

Identify Your Audience 

One of the first things to determine when using social media for franchise development is who you are trying to reach. Financial qualifications and background aside, there are other qualities your brand may be looking for in an investor. Social media offers the chance to target that specific group or demographic. 

“The most important thing for us to think about when we're putting anything out there in terms of content is remembering who we're trying to reach and really identifying who that is and tailoring the content to them,” said Bridget Rawls, director of digital marketing at Buzz Franchise Brands. 

Test Different Methods

One of the great things about social media today is that there are so many options. However, some may be better than others for franchise development.

Test different messaging across various platforms to find out what resonates with your audience the most. Rawls noted that what works for one brand may not work for another, even within the same system. 

“We’ve seen some things work a little bit differently with Home Clean Heroes* versus Pool Scouts*,” she noted. “So it's important to keep an open mind about what is going to make the most sense.” 

Be Clear and Concise

Attention spans are getting shorter and shorter all the time. That’s why it's important to keep messaging as concise and to the point as possible. 

When it comes to imagery, make sure what you're presenting is accurate in the description. If someone is confused by what they see, they might just scroll right past it instead of inquiring further. 

Additionally, keep text easily digestible and make use of links that people can click on to learn more. 

Encourage Employee Engagement

Make sure your corporate team is leveraging its social network. You never know who in your following might be a potential customer or investor. 

“My team will typically post something once a day on their individual pages,” said Davenport. “Whether that's a corporate post provided to us by marketing or something that they come up with organically that speaks to franchise development.” 

Utilize LinkedIn’s Tools

Becoming a Premium member of LinkedIn will cost you, but it comes with a handful of helpful resources you may not know about. The membership gives you access to features including webinars, detailed business insights and recruitment tools. 

“Paying attention and absorbing all of those learnings [provided by LinkedIn] over the last couple of years has been super helpful for us to narrow in a little bit further on who we're trying to target in different ways,” said Rawls.