Clear social media policies protect franchised brands
20th Oct 2010
Social media has forever changed the way restaurant guests find and share information, and savvy brands are developing strategies to embrace it. Franchises, however, face a unique challenge: How do you tell a franchisee — a business owner who has invested a significant amount of money into the franchise — that he can’t use every tool at his disposal to build his business locally? And if you turn franchisees loose, how do you maintain brand consistency in both presentation and online customer engagement?
In this opinion piece for National Restaurant News, published October 4, 2010, Brooke Hovey, SVP for Cohn & Wolfe Digital and Market Leader for C&W Austin, explains why governance of social media programs, including proper resourcing, training and employee policies, is critical. She goes on to provide some guiding principles for franchise organizations that want to leverage social media on a national and local level.
Article reprinted by kind permission of National Restaurant News.
