4 Easy Content Ideas for Franchisees

Franchise owners are busy. From day-to-day operations to strategic planning, they’re inundated with time-intensive tasks that don’t always leave room for content production.  But a local content strategy doesn’t have to be a time suck. Today’s technology makes producing quality content a relatively quick, easy process. Here are four content ideas that your local team can start creating today.

NOTE: Franchisees should always adhere to franchise brand guidelines and use discretion when producing local content.

Explainer Video

Video marketing is a proven winner and should be a priority in any content strategy. It increases engagement, brand recall, and sales. And the jump in smartphone technology means franchisees and small business owners no longer have to outsource production to a professional company that will cost too much and take too long.

With just a tripod and a phone mount, franchisees are all set to create an explainer video – a 60-90-second video that solves a problem for their target audience. The best explainer videos present a common problem right off the bat. Users are looking for answers to their problem, not necessarily information about a brand or product. Franchisees should show, not tell, how their business successfully solves the problem presented at the beginning of the video.

FAQs

Franchisees often hear the same questions from customers. While that can be frustrating and time-consuming, consider these questions a free guide to content creation. These questions can be turned into an FAQ section on a franchise location website.

Make a list of the most common questions heard from customers or potential customers. These can be gathered from sales teams, customer service reps, and social media. As consumers continue to ask questions directly on mobile devices, having content that answers these questions not only solves their problem – it potentially drives them to your location.

Success Stories

Testimonials are great, but a video success story is even more effective. Using the same technical setup as the explainer video, a success story can be as simple as interviewing a satisfied customer.

Come up with a list of questions that takes the satisfied customer through the entire purchasing process. Remember that every story has a beginning, middle, and end. Avoid yes/no questions. A few examples:

• What problem were you trying to solve?
• How did you find our service/product/business?
• How did our service/product/business solve your problem?

One of the main advantages of producing video is the ability to share it quickly and easily on most of the major social channels. Where a blog post can’t be published in full on someone’s News Feed, a short video can be consumed directly without the need to redirect the viewer.

Live Stream

We’ve discussed the benefits of video marketing, and several social media networks, including Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, now allow users to broadcast live videos. These videos have shown high engagement numbers as they’ve piqued the curiosity of the public.

Part of this curiosity comes from the spontaneous nature of the medium. That said, we don’t recommend simply winging it. Prepare a specific format or an outline of topics to cover. We recommend setting up a Q&A session with your audience, where you can take questions directly from those streaming your video. Consider this type of content if you want to project authenticity or highlight what your business does behind the scenes.

Creating content at the local level can be intimidating, but franchisees shouldn’t worry about writing the next War and Peace. Short videos and FAQ sections are quick, simple projects that can have a big impact on a franchise location’s relationship with their community.