YoungConference Preview – Telling a Story through Social Media
Last month at the annual Franchise Springboard conference in Philadelphia, a group of panelists consisting of franchisors and social media experts convened to preview an upcoming event – the first annual Franchise YoungConference. The YoungConference will take place next month on November 4th and 5th in Miami Beach, Florida. It will be a place for young and young-minded go-getters in the franchising community to gather, network, and share what they know and what has made them successful.
The preview panel at Springboard was an example of the type of panel, and the caliber of expertise, that a YoungConference attendee can expect next month. The topic of discussion: social media.
It’s easy to think of social media as just another marketing tool, one that we all know how to use and leverage. After all, it is quite simple to cross-publish advertising pieces in print, online, and on your social media platforms. What the YoungConference panelists made clear, however, is that social media is much more than just a channel to post advertising. Most importantly, it’s an avenue to share stories.
“Story” was a word that was repeated countless times during the YoungConference panel. Though each of the panelists had a different approach to social media, what they all had in common was the emphasis they put on their brand’s story.
The panelists spoke to the dying day of “vanilla” messaging. A customer or prospective franchisee cannot connect to a photo of man in logo-branded apparel in front of a logo-branded van. Nor can a customer or prospective franchisee connect or relate to cold statistics (i.e. “100 units sold!” or “26 years of customer service!”). Neither of these forms of advertising tells a story.
The panelists had many creative ideas for how a story could be told through social media. Examples include sharing videos of customer experiences, sharing testimonials from existing franchisees, selling merchandise with branded catchphrases that customers can’t resist posting to their social media, etc. The list goes on, but what is certain is that success with social media means telling a story at every opportunity, whether it be the story behind the brand, the story of an individual customer, or the story of an individual franchisee.
To be exposed to content like this (that will cover a range of topics far more expansive than just social media), consider attending the Franchise YoungConference next month. Click this link for more information. www.franchiseyoungconference.com
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