According to SOCi, Localized Social Marketing Is the Biggest Untapped Opportunity for National Franchise Brands

Originally published on Business Wire on February 19, 2019.

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SOCi, the leader in social media and reputation management for multi-location brands, today launched a new playbook outlining the untapped marketing opportunities national franchise brands have when it comes to localized social marketing. The Franchise Playbook for Localized Social Marketing shares extensive guidance and recommendations for both franchisors and franchisees on developing and refining a comprehensive local strategy.

“With 72 percent of brand engagement happening on local social pages, nothing today is more important for franchise organizations than the ability to maximize their local social presence. If you don’t already have or plan to create a localized social marketing strategy, you’re putting your business at a significant disadvantage when it comes to regional – and national – brand visibility,” said Monica Ho, SOCi’s Chief Marketing Officer.

For franchise brands, everything from official social page content and online brand mentions to ratings and reviews left for individual franchise locations can directly impact the brand’s national perception. SOCi’s playbook, available for download now, breaks down essential places to establish a localized social presence – platforms like Facebook and Twitter, along with local business review sites like Yelp and Google My Business. The guide also underscores the five essential steps to achieving localized social success:

1. Establishing goals
2. Building and maintaining a social presence
3. Managing customer care
4. Leveraging social for growth
5. Measuring performance and success

In the Franchise Playbook for Localized Social Marketing, SOCi also outlines some of the common pitfalls brands make when it comes to social media, like failing to centralize ownership of local business pages and over-complicating workflow. Perhaps the most critical pitfall of all, however, is ignoring comments and reviews. Almost 90% of consumers are willing to change a negative review based on how the business responds.

Added Ho: “Finding your place in localized social marketing doesn’t have to be daunting. When deployed correctly across platforms you can manage, a smart locally-focused social media strategy can expand the reach of your brand and create genuine connections to an engaged base of loyal customers. Nothing else today has the power to directly impact loyalty and, ultimately, revenue.”

For even more information on how localized social marketing is redefining meaningful social media engagement, download SOCi’s Q4 State of the Market Report. The special report, launched at the end of 2018, analyzes data from SOCi’s existing client roster to identify top social networks by audience engagement, quantify review volume and response rate, and provide overall social media best practices.

About SOCi

#60 on the 2018 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in America, SOCi is the leading social media and reputation management platform built to address the complex needs of highly visible Multi-Location businesses. An award-winning leader in the industry, SOCi has pioneered more than a dozen unique marketing tools to help multi-location brands oversee, maintain, and protect their brand at the national level, while simultaneously scaling presence across hundreds, sometimes thousands, of local pages. For more information on how SOCi can fuel the success of your social media channels while protecting what matters most – your online reputation – visit www.soci.ai.