June 27, 2019

New Benchmark Report Confirms the Power of Localized Social Marketing in Franchise Brand Growth

Top franchise brands that are succeeding in localized social marketing grow three times faster than competitors

Originally published on Business Wire on June 27, 2019.

NEW YORK—June 27, 2019— Today the Local Search Association and SOCi, launched the first-ever Localized Social Marketing Benchmark Report (LSM Benchmark Report). The collaborative research was designed to help marketers understand the impact of localized social marketing (LSM) to their respective businesses while providing good examples of what effective LSM looks like to help set a benchmark of success for practicing marketers. The project examined the top franchise brands and their performance in LSM and concluded the top 10 brand performers are growing three times faster than their category peers based on a 5-year trend of each brand’s revenue growth rate. The research report was developed by the Local Search Association, the leading global association helping marketers and agencies realize the full potential in local marketing and SOCi, the leading platform for social and reputation management for multi-location brands. Now more than ever, localized social marketing is a key driver in consumer behavior. According to Social Media Today, 78% of purchase decisions are influenced by social content and more than 75% of brand engagement is happening on local pages. Further, while ratings and reviews have always been important, consumers now consider these as the number one influence on their purchases-- 71% of consumers read reviews before every purchase and this increases to over 80% for consumers ages 18-35. What these consumer behaviors and the key findings from the LSM Benchmark Report make clear, a localized social marketing strategy needs to be a core component of any franchise brands’ overall marketing strategy. “Over the last decade, social media has quickly become an integral part of our daily lives and its evolution has provided businesses a vehicle to truly interact with fans, followers, and customers on a more personalized and local level. This vehicle provides brands the opportunity to personally engage with each and every consumer and create true brand advocates,” said Monica Ho, CMO, SOCi. “To keep pace with this trend, social media platforms are providing a growing list of features and functionalities, such as reviews, social conversations, and local Business Pages that now enable what we have come to call Localized Social Marketing. Our new benchmark finally enables marketers to understand the tactics and strategies that lead to an effective LSM presence and why this matters. Even more so, the Benchmark ensures marketers are able to better understand the true impact of there social media marketing investments on businesses’ overall revenue growth.” The LSM Benchmark studied three key areas of Localized Social Marketing including the brands’ localized presence, customer care in the form of local ratings and reviews, and local community engagement. The result is a clear understanding of what success looks like (or benchmark) in LSM for the franchise marketing category overall and by specific industries. Based on the research results, the top 10 brands in Localized Social Marketing today are as follows:

McAlister’s Deli
Courtyard by Marriott
Culver's
Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers
Holiday Inn Express
The Camp Transformation Center
Blaze Pizza
Crunch Franchise
Planet Fitness
The Learning Experience Academy of Early Education

“Localized Social Marketing is the key for multi-location businesses to compete and win in a world dominated by e-commerce and Amazon. We know the first thing a consumer does to find more information about a business is a local search and three out of four brand engagements are happening on local pages. Thus, it’s critical brands manage these pages to create a consistent and interactive experience,” said Greg Sterling, VP of Strategy & Insights, Local Search Association. “When done effectively, localized social marketing can propel brands to the top of organic search results, build and maintain a highly engaged base of loyal customers and drive increased traffic and, ultimately, sales to local businesses.” The research studied a total of 163 Franchise brands included on The Franchise Times Top 100 Largest Franchises List and/or appeared on Entrepreneur's list of the 100 fastest growing franchises. Covering ten industries including food and beverage, hotels, retail (general), business services, auto parts, home services, real estate, education, personal care, and retail (convenience), each franchise was ranked on a 100-point scale. Scoring was determined by examining a random selection of locations for each brand on top LSM platforms including Google My Business, Facebook and Yelp. As a result, the research evaluated 16,000+ individual locations and a total of more than 50,000 local pages. To download your copy of the LSM Benchmark Report, visit this link. About The Local Search Association (LSA) The Local Search Association (LSA) is a not-for-profit industry association of media companies, agencies and technology providers who help businesses market to local consumers. LSA has about 300 members in 20 countries and the Association helps these members realize the power of local marketing and commerce through conferences, consulting, insights, advocacy and more. The Association offers industry news and perspective on its blog, LSA Insider, as well as resources on its SlideShare page. Follow LSA on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. For more information, please visit https://www.thelsa.org/lsa/. 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.