Just like business owners, franchisors have to be responsible for the messages that are conveyed about their business. From advertising campaigns, marketing and PR strategies, all the key messages promoted must be the same and consistent to the eyes of the audience.

This includes social media – platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter Ð have become one of the most important tools in advertising, marketing and PR campaign drives. However, many businesses have
spoken out about the negative aspects of allowing their employees to have access to social media, which results in boycotting the platforms completely.

Franchisors would want to create an equal balance in the control you have over the franchise and the control your franchisees have in their store. One of the most important aspects of owning a franchise is maintaining the consistency and repeatability of each location, but at the same time also cater to each location’s individual needs.

So the question lies – how would you utilise social media in your franchise business? As a franchisor, you have to make the executive decision on whether to allow franchisees to use social media for their franchises, create one corporate platform that all franchisees can use or ban it completely.

Choosing to ban social media

If you choose to ban social media completely from your franchise, you have to think of ways to enforce your decision as well as monitor all platforms to ensure no franchisees are using their personal platforms instead. This can be quite a delicate process since social media is part of many people’s daily lives.

As the franchisor, you would need to sit with your franchisees and explain why you are banning the use of social media and talk through any issues or questions that would be raised. You must then discuss any
legal issues and get every franchisee to sign a written document agreeing they will not use social media for business purposes.

Even though this seems like quite extreme measures, social media is a powerful medium. In order to enforce boundaries there are specific things you must do to ensure all rules are followed.

If you do decide to ban the use social media, keep in mind that this decision can cause the most internal and external problems and create a lot of missed opportunities.  What if one of your franchisees holds a great social media following? What if one location finds social media to be the best marketing or advertising channel?

Before making the final decision, take the initiative to discover the benefits of each social media platform, research your franchisees social media history, ask questions and always take into account how they may
react.

Choosing to allow Franchisees to use Social Media

If you decide to allow your franchisees to have complete control over their own social media platforms, you have to think about how this would affect the overall message of your franchise business.

Allowing franchisees to have free reign over their social media platforms means you also give them free reign over the messages they send out. As long as your franchisees are familiar with your brand and know the type of messages to convey then there shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

However if your franchisees are new to the industry, or new to running their own franchise, you would need to educate them on the types of messages you want them sending out.

A good way to help educate inexperienced franchisees, as well as keep all messages in line, is to have your legal contact write up a social media policy outlining the do’s and don’ts. The policy should highlight
potential issues such as sending out personal content via the professional accounting, what they should do if they would like to give an opinion, the types of disclaimers they may have to place on their personal accounts and even what will happen if they decide to move on from your franchise.

There are a lot of legal aspects you would have to consider if you choose to allow your franchisees to have control over their own franchises social media platforms. Social media is still a growing medium and
it would be a good idea to seek legal advice before making this decision.

Choosing to have one Corporate Social Media Account

Many businesses choose to separate their employees personal accounts from the organisation by
creating a corporate account. This concept can also be used in a franchise business.

A corporate account allows key social media spokespeople, from each franchise location, the ability to send out personalised and franchise specific messages through the one social media platform. This not only allows your franchisees to have the ability to engage with their audience online, it also lets you have control on all the messages being sent out.

As mentioned before, it would be a good idea to have a social media policy written up and signed by your employees in order outline what messages and behaviour you expect from them and what is and isn’t acceptable.

Like everything, social media has its positive and negatives. As the franchise business owner, it is your responsibility to look in to each franchise location and weigh up these positives and negatives.

When used properly, social media and franchisees can be a great mix. It allows consumers to engage with their franchise and learn more about the business and value of your services and products. This social media relationship can lead to creating a better brand image and a more intimate brand experience for your franchise business.