The definition of social media is ‘a type of media that is based on conversation and interaction between people online’. Essentially itÍs another way for us to communicate with each other, share thoughts, opinions, recommendations, ideas or simply update our peers on mundane activities in our daily lives – I had a slice of toast for breakfast, and the like.

There is no way anyone could have predicted the impact that social media would have on the internet and how it is changing the way that we converse with each other and how brands communicate with their audiences. In Australia there are over 7.9 million active users on Facebook and almost 0.7 million people on Twitter, not to mention all the people engaging on YouTube, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Digg, blogs, forums and other websites.

So why has social media become such a powerful entity in our everyday lives? It’s because we are social animals that crave a sense of belonging and desire to develop relationships with others. Social media emulates and builds upon how we behave in real life, collecting friends and networks, searching for advice and recommendations, and expressing our views on life. In short the social media world has become our second life, our online life.

It’s hard to believe that social media began just seven or eight years ago as a way for students to interact online. Now, the age range with the highest percentage of engagement in social media is from 35 to 44 – a core demographic for a majority of franchise businesses.

What social media can mean for your business
Only a small selection of Australian franchise businesses are dipping their toes into social media, primarily retail food businesses, and only a handful executing this really effectively. The most important reason for jumping on the social media bandwagon is to have a clear objective and plan of how this is going to impact your business – not just creating a Twitter page because everyone else is doing it.

Taking into consideration the audience online, there is huge potential for franchises to get involved and tap into these communities. Most companies don’t realise that targeting an online audience is important for all types of business; the principles are the same it is just the execution that needs to be tailored.

Having a presence in social media is already assisting businesses in increasing brand awareness within target audiences and recruiting a loyal following that is continually engaging with the brand. Consumers engaged in social media can provide strong word of mouth recommendations for your business and also become a community to undertake research.

So what about the bottom line? This is where most franchise businesses fall down as it is difficult to measure whether social media activity is making an impact on sales. The only way to truly measure this is through analytics on an e-commerce platform and reviewing how many followers click through to order your product.

However, it is important not to forget how valuable other measurements can be and most social media channels have free analytics tools that can measure volume of followers, engagement levels, sentiment of discussion and also provide some insight to the audience you have online, as this may differ from a business’s offline audience.

Getting started in social media
Conversations are occurring online about people and businesses, whether we want them to or not, and the general advice is to ‘join the conversation’. However, where do you start?

It is best not to jump in and hope for the best, as with every new business venture, clear objectives should be set out up front and a strategy developed. The general rule with social media is that there are four steps to get started:

• Listening: this is a research gathering phase that requires monitoring of all social media channels to get some insight into what people are already saying about the business, who is saying it and to work out where the opportunity lies.
• Analysing: next take all the information you have secured and conduct an analysis to develop a robust strategy that will clearly meet the objectives of the program.
• Recruiting: once the channels for communication have been established there is a need for a strong recruitment phase that can include online and offline components to spread the word about the social media activity.
• Engaging: this step runs simultaneously with the recruitment phase, as it is essential to begin interacting with customers as soon as the channels are established. This is when you start to build your loyal community and you need to keep the dialogue with the audience going.

It is important to keep revisiting these stages to ensure the content is fresh, of value and provides a strong source of interaction with your audience groups.
 
The most significant issue is the loss of control, the fact that you can’t stop the negative comments from disgruntled customers. But it is the way these issues are dealt with that can make or break the relationship between the business and its followers, often ending in an overwhelming positive response.

Customers are usually understanding if they can see the business is providing strong customer service, listening to its followers and making positive changes. Before embarking on a social media program it’s a key recommendation to put together a strong issues management plan, which is often a tailored version of the customer service manual, in preparation for negative feedback.

Social media and the franchise network
This loss of control can also apply to allowing franchisees free reign to explore social media. Any savvy small business owner is going to investigate new communication methods and it’s best for franchisors to give franchisees the best possible opportunity of getting it right.
 
Some franchisors will provide franchisees with a series of guidelines in getting tarted in social media, which includes a smaller version of the four steps and providing them with content ideas and details about the brand personality to ensure the voice is kept consistent. This can work well within franchise networks as long as there is strong support from the franchisor.

Social media should not be seen as a scary communication tool as long as the reasons for diving in are justified and a strong strategy is put in place – it can provide a strong return for a franchise business. The online world is not a phase and it is only going to get larger and more influential in marketing practices.

Rebecca Stalker is an account director at Keep Left PR