Scoop Soldiers Supports Franchisees’ Content Creation and Social Presence

Social media has a proven impact on buyer decisions. In fact, 50% of Gen Z and 58% of Millennials report being influenced by social media content when making purchasing decisions. Because of this, it is crucial that businesses have a presence on social media, but conceptualizing, creating, editing and posting content can be a lot to handle, especially for small business owners working to manage all other aspects of their business. Scoop Soldiers, the 40-plus-unit “pooper scooper” franchise, has incorporated content creation support into its larger franchisee support model to ensure franchisees are taking advantage of the opportunity to increase visibility and interact with potential and existing clients whenever possible.

“Our co-founder, E.J. McCoy, emphasized the importance and value of creating content,” said Ben Gonzalez, vice president of communications for Scoop Soldiers. “Media is the future in general, and Scoop Soldiers recognizes that and builds that value within our culture. We want to empower our franchisees to create and thereby add value to our industry by publishing informative and entertaining content. This is how we can continue to build the brand and gain awareness of the industry.”

While there is value in corporate-run social media accounts, Gonzalez emphasized the idea that the support structure is in place to encourage local franchisees to create their own content and publish content that’s reflective of Scoop Soldiers and the unique traits or influence they bring to their own local operation.

“Each franchisee is, in every sense of the word, a partner,” he said. “Every partner brings their own level of uniqueness with their personalities, skill sets and passions. The more we can openly talk about that and create content against it, we are showing our current and future audience the real ‘Scoop Soldiers.’ We are advertising the people that make this brand.”

Spotlighting the Soldiers

In every aspect of the brand, Scoop Soldiers focuses on the importance of human interaction. Account managers work to build relationships with the customers they interact with, learning the names of the dogs in the family and working as a team with homeowners to ensure they receive the service that is the best fit for their current needs.

Similarly, while the Soldiers are primarily focused on scooping in their everyday operations, they take steps to connect with the family, too. For example, once service is complete, the team sends a photo of the secured gate to the customer so they can rest assured that they not only received a great service, but also have a safe and secure pet.

What these technicians do each day is crucial to the Scoop Soldiers business model, and it’s important that they are spotlighted.

“After all, people want to trust and buy from people they can relate to,” said Gonzalez. “Our core offer goes beyond what we do. It’s who leads the way and who steps onto a customer’s property. The aim of our content is to build depth, and our franchise partners are every bit as important to making that come to life.”

Content on local Scoop Soldiers franchisees’ social media pages includes adorable dogs the team interacts with, photos of the technicians out in the field, technician spotlights, expert tips on effective techniques and tools of the trade, dog-specific tips and franchisee spotlights.

The Social Support Framework

Scoop Soldiers recognizes that not all franchisees come to the system with the same amount of experience with social media. Because of this, the team provides a framework for franchisees to start with. They are also available for additional support if needed, but there is flexibility for local teams to really personalize their creative efforts and do what feels true to them.

“We provide our franchisees with a one-sheet resource every month with a list of examples of trending content they can find on social media. This guides them to create content that is relevant,” said Gonzalez. “We also do our best to remove friction for those creating content by establishing a Google chat space where they can directly communicate with the marketing team and each other. They can ask questions, bounce ideas and generally interact with each other and the team that is publishing what they are creating.”

Franchisees can upload any content they create to this space, and the marketing team handles editing, organization and publication across multiple social platforms.

“That last piece is important,” Gonzalez emphasized. “We don’t want our team members to have to worry about taking the extra time to edit, create copy, publish and potentially monitor anything.”

While franchisees have total access to their location-specific accounts and are able to create, edit and publish their own content, having this team in place reduces the barrier to getting great content published so franchisees can stay consistent even if they don’t have time to dedicate to overseeing the entire creation and posting process themselves.

Having the support team to help with conceptualization and publication is a major help for the entire network, but the franchisor also knows that some franchisees may be entering the system with little to no experience on social media.

Early in a franchisee’s launch, McCoy and a media producer will actually go on-site to show franchisees the ropes. With advice from a media expert, franchisees can begin to build an understanding of what goes into content creation and the tips and tricks that will make the process easier for them.

“The biggest hindrance for less experienced owners is an insecurity regarding what others may think, how they will look on camera and even what they should say for a piece of content,” said Gonzalez. “Those are valid fears but nothing to be overcome by. We advise these owners to take some time to search for people and accounts in their area to look for patterns of successful content. We also encourage them to just start making videos.”

Franchisees don’t necessarily have to do anything with their first few videos, but taking the leap into the creation process can help with nerves and give owners and their team members some low-pressure experience in front of the camera. No one’s first video will be perfect, Gonzalez explained, but just getting started allows you to find ways to improve.

“We often say, ‘You can’t win if you don’t start, and you won’t lose if you don’t stop,” he said.

Media is only becoming more and more important, especially for business owners, and Scoop Soldiers offers a great differentiator to prospective franchisees by not only understanding this but taking meaningful steps to support its owners in taking advantage of the opportunity.

“The stigma that media is second-hand and doesn’t add to the business is alive in the industry. In terms of direct lead generation and conversion, maybe so,” explained Gonzalez. “But we are playing the long game. Establishing a deeper digital presence will continue to help us be an authority and make our future marketing dollars more effective. And, in this industry, the reality is that there is so much opportunity that has yet to truly be capitalized on.”

To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/scoopsoldiers