Iowa Interstate All Battery franchisees, Matt and Nancy Breen, helped Al Roker of the Today Show deliver much needed batteries to a youth center facility in Des Moines, Iowa. This contribution was Interstate All Battery Center's part in providing products to selected charities for the "Today's Lend a Hand" tour.
There are plenty of franchise opportunities in the cleaning services and maintenance sector. They vary by many aspects including investment level, commercial vs. residential services, the amount of support the franchisor supplies and several other factors...
Take a look at our annual Top Franchises Guide for 2010! We are proud to announce 133 franchise companies - out of over 500 brands surveyed this year - that are doing things right and putting their franchisees first.
Last week, I listened in on a teleconference with David Meerman Scott, Author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR, among other highly successful books. It was a very fitting conference to attend because his insight into using social media for B2B deals coincides with our current Frantelligence Webinar Series, hosted by Gini Dietrich, CEO of Arment Deitrich, and Paul Segreto, President & CEO of FranchisEssentials.
Both David's conference and our webinar series have given, I believe, a lot of people - myself included - the information they need to begin this somewhat overwhelming process of utilizing social media for more than just keeping up with old friends and posting pictures from So-and-So's 30th birthday party. As someone who experienced the birth of Facebook as a college networking site, and Myspace as a hip profile page, I was skeptical (and a bit nervous) to start using social media for the benefit and success of my company. However, I took on the challenge, have done a bit of homework, and with the help of Gini, Paul, David and others, can now see just exactly why businesses are thriving using this free, up-to-the-minute form of exposure.
Here is a bit of what I have learned:
• LISTEN before you do anything! Social media happens so quickly that sometimes we forget to stop, listen and think before posting, blogging, or responding. If you take a moment and listen, it could save you from potentially reacting too quickly.
• WHO is your target audience? Are you aiming to connect with potential franchisees on Twitter or simply reach out to your current franchisees to relay 120 characters of information? If you identify that early on, it becomes much easier to get your message to the right people, and they will take notice.
• Narrow down which site(s) are best for you and make it PERSONAL! Even if it's for your business - Possibly the most overwhelming part of social media is deciding the top two or three sites you want to use. You can obviously use more than three, but if you start with the quality-not-quantity mindset, and focus on a few sites to spend time on at first, it helps you become comfortable managing your presence.
• WHAT is it you want to accomplish by using social media? Is it that you want to make sales? Form brand awareness? Discuss breaking news? Prospect? You decide, but choose just one at first!
• Be CREATIVE! Think of social media as an outlet - the more creative you are, the more attention you will receive.
• Finally, maintain PRESENCE. If you start a Twitter page, tweet often. You don't want your audience thinking you have gone away, or worse, given up. Social media takes time and effort, but if you do even a little a day, you will maintain interest.
I feel as though I could keep going, but you get the preliminary jist... Mostly, don't be afraid to try it! Be open to it; if I can do it, you can.
Happy Tweeting, Facebook-ing, and, of course, Franchising!
All my best,
Kyle Stites
Marketing Coordinator
Franchise Business Review
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Posted by Gini Dietrich on 09:06:33 AM on September 30, 2009
Kyle,
Great first blog post! You're definitely taking what you're learning and putting it into practice!
The only thing I would add, for someone starting out in social media, is that people want to connect with people. They don't engage with logos or mouthpieces. If you are the CEO of a company and you want to tweet, you'd better do it yourself.
A Cone survey showed the 93 percent of Americans EXPECT companies they do business with to have a social media presence. Find ways to connect and engage with your customers, with your prospects, with your talent, and with other stakeholders. Your business will thrive in this environment if you are you and not some robot or PR person behind the curtain.
Gini
