June 27, 2019
New business owners often dismiss Social Media as millennial fodder and completely overlook a lucrative exposure opportunity. This is especially crucial for opening a business under an established franchise. You need to tell your potential customers know that you are in the area. An estimated 97% of consumers do research online before making a purchase decision. Plain and simple, your business needs to be visible.
There is a myriad of options available so how do you know where to start? A good rule of thumb is to start with claiming a Google Business listing. This ensures your business appears on map searches and also improves your ranking in Google searches for your specialty. Be sure you make a company Gmail address and use that to claim and post about your business. Google business has so many features that are free and improve your ranking. You can write a post, advertise a new product and add pictures (very important) of your Center in action, your staff and the interior and exterior of your building.
After you have Gmail business account, set up a YouTube Business account. Even if you only post the franchise promo video, you will be utilizing it in the future and it gives your franchise a boost of legitimacy.
A Facebook page is a business necessity. Use the same Gmail address you just set up so your social media becomes streamlined as you grow. The page is easy to set up, but be sure you have your eye-catching visuals sized to fit professionally. This can be done in Photoshop and other photo-editing software. The images you use should be in sync with the franchise’s image and they will most likely provide them for you. This is a great post about sizing images correctly and how they will appear. Bookmark this post, as it will benefit you many times over.
Three social media tasks have been discussed in this post. Take your time when setting it up and be sure to use the same business email for all the apps. Facebook is beast unto itself but in the next post we will add Instagram, Twitter and you will learn how to streamline posting to all three through third-party software and it is free.