Case Study: Content Creation & Social Media Performance
As a digital marketing agency, we have the opportunity to work with a wide range of clients in a variety of industries. This includes working with businesses that operate on a franchise or co-operative model. Developing a marketing strategy for these types of businesses is unique in that we are often representing the head office, while also creating content for smaller franchises or member businesses under the corporate umbrella. There is a head office content calendar and a calendar created for the franchisees or members to use that keeps their social media aligned with the overall brand without having to create their own content in-house.
In some circumstances, the independent franchise owners or member companies seek unique opportunities to work with us directly to create customized content and manage their digital marketing. What we have seen emerge is a significant difference in performance for those businesses. For social media specifically, the franchisees who work with us get a calendar tailored to their business rather than utilizing the more generic corporate content. When we work directly with the franchise owner, we have the ability to customize their marketing strategy and speak directly to their customers, creating familiarity and opportunities for engagement. It often ends up being the same amount of content with similar messaging to the corporate content, but with a more specific focus on the franchise location, customer base, and services.
So, what’s the difference between working with us directly and working with us through a head office partner? Keep reading to find out.
Customized Content
As part of the head office strategy, we perform semi-annual photo and video shoots to keep the content fresh. This is a huge benefit to the head office business accounts, but can often fall flat for the franchise accounts. Think about it: sometimes these companies are representing a significant number of franchises or member companies in different geographical locations. In this particular instance, there are approximately 30 member companies across Ontario. How would head office imagery with models and high level information deeply resonate with the customer base of all 30 of these businesses? It’s incredibly unlikely.
With our franchise management packages, we encourage business owners to choose the option that includes photo and video production, especially if their brand library hasn’t had a refresh in a while (or ever). These are a huge benefit to local businesses. Why? Photoshoots with smaller local businesses gives us as the agency the opportunity to create content that specifically highlights their team. Showing a familiar face allows customers to identify the team and builds trust. It also gives insight into what this particular company actually offers, rather than the services they could potentially offer. We’re not simply talking about them being part of a 30 year old organization. We’re showcasing that as an independent business that joined this organization, they have been serving their local community and providing outstanding service for nearly 50 years. Customized content for this member gives them the ability to share their unique stories, highlight their experience, and build a community of trust with the people they serve. The results are pretty amazing. But we’ll come back to that.
Location Tagging, Hashtags and Keywords
When we work on the head office accounts, we try to spread the love to ensure that all member or franchise locations have equal potential to reach their audience. But, with 30+ member companies, that means cycling through locations, hashtags and keywords. When we have the ability to work directly with a member or franchise owner, the ability to customize content and reach their desired audience becomes much more straightforward.
A business that operates exclusively in a particular area should take advantage of location tagging, local hashtags, and local keywords in their content. And we know… there are some people that believe hashtags are out the window, but they still provide value for organic search engine optimization (SEO) and have a place in the digital world. Facebook and Instagram will suggest content that’s relevant to your audience, both in-feed and in the explore page. Local hashtags and keywords will help you show up in these places and support you getting your content in front of people who may not be supporting and following you, but are in your geographical area.
There is also the case for using local hashtags and keywords if you are in tourism. For example, we have a client with a tourist destination in Cabo. If someone is looking for a place to stay in Cabo and is using hashtags and keywords relevant to the area to find places to stay or things to do, our client will start showing up in their search results. It’s an easy way to attract new people to your business page and improve your visibility.
What about if you’re an e-commerce business? Are location tags, hashtags and keywords still relevant? 100%. If you’re trying to attract people in an interest group to your product or you’re trying to expand your business into a new location, being strategic with tagging will be a huge benefit to you.
The Results: A Case Study
When the individual businesses within a franchise or co-operative based business structure focus on creating their own content and managing their accounts at a local level, they perform better online and convert more customers. In the case of a Woodbridge-based HVAC business, we saw some incredible results.
This client was posting content provided by the head office to promote HVAC products and services. While there was consistent branding and frequency in content, there was nothing to differentiate this business from the other 30 independent owners in the co-operative group. We were utilizing photos and videos captured for head office. These assets improved engagement for head office, but was not supporting engagement and brand recognition for this particular business at the local level.
Our recommendation was to maintain the frequency of posting to platforms like Instagram and Facebook, but lean into the local area and leverage the team. We also introduced consistent posting to the company LinkedIn page as a way to maintain the client’s professional network. The client opted to start with a completely organic strategy with emphasis on highlighting the team, community, and their specific service offerings.
The Process:
For this client, we wanted to leverage what makes them unique from not only the other 30+ member companies, but also other HVAC competitors in the area. We started with a full photo and video production on location at their showroom in Woodbridge and a home with their installed equipment. We captured images of the team, interviews with the owner, and action video clips that demonstrate the type of services they offer, as well as the personality and care that goes into what they do every day. With this production, it was all about storytelling for this specific member company.
With photo and video assets from the production, we developed a series of social media content including reels, posts, and stories with the goal of showing the people behind the brand. It’s much easier to trust someone coming into your home to service your furnace if you’ve seen them represent the business outside of the service call. It creates a sense of trust and familiarity when the people you see online are the same ones to show up at your door.
These assets also supported the storytelling of the business’ history. They are part of a co-operative that has been around for over 30 years, but their local story goes beyond that. Instead of simply saying “we’re local” from the head office content, we were able to highlight that they specifically service Woodbridge and the surrounding areas, and that they have been supporting their local community for nearly 50 years. Focusing on these key pieces help give the business more credibility in a highly competitive landscape. Working directly with this member allowed us to highlight events taking place in the local community and ensure the business is woven into the community. For instance, instead of posting a generic Happy Canada Day image, we highlighted Canada Day events taking place in Woodbridge. This helps build connections within their geographical area.
Location tagging and industry/local hashtags were an important part of the strategy and process for this client to support their organic SEO on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. If you were to search “Woodbridge HVAC” or “HVAC services Woodbridge”, their content shows up in your search.
Overall, we maintained the consistency of posting that they were receiving from head office, but tailored the messaging, storytelling and imagery to be specific to the Woodbridge location. With the introduction of consistent posting to LinkedIn, we were also able to leverage an additional platform to improve visibility to the professional network and support growth on a different channel.
The Results:
In the first month, we saw an incredible increase in metrics across all platforms. There was higher brand recognition overall and the analytics showed an increase in non-followers viewing content on the Instagram account. With the introduction of consistent posting on LinkedIn, rather than sporadic reposting of head office content, the analytics jump significantly, and remain consistent in the months that have followed.
There has been higher levels of engagement on content that highlights team members because as we know, people get excited and want to interact with content that features people they know. The ability to showcase unique services and offerings of this location has differentiated the Woodbridge location not only from others in the co-operative, but competitors in the same geographical area.
So What?
The major shift we implemented for this client was pivoting their content to be more specific to their team, service offerings, and location. This shows the power of customizing content to reflect your team’s unique story, rather than relying on content from head office. While we agree that having head office marketing material does support visibility mainly through consistent posting, you can’t beat the outcome of having your own custom content to share your brand’s story.
We’ve seen outstanding results for numerous clients when tailoring their marketing strategy to prioritize custom content. It’s not limited to co-operative or franchise-based businesses either. In today’s digital space, where algorithms on platforms like Instagram are favouring original content, it’s more important than ever to ensure your brand library is stocked with photos and videos that tell your story.
Your audience wants to share local content. They want to be part of your community and engage with the people and businesses they know. Prioritize authenticity, maintain your brand identity and show your audience that you’re more than a business. You’re there to create relationships that last.
We're Here to Help
If you’re ready to level-up your social media strategy and stand out from the competition, reach out to us at hello@thesmallsocial.com to book a discovery call. We will work with you to craft a custom content strategy that will help you see consistent growth and outstanding results.
You have goals, we’ll help you achieve them.
