Here’s an article that was posted on Franchise Note on October 2, 2009, by Business Blogger and Webpreneur, Ivan Widjaya. Thank you, Ivan, for including some very flattering comments about my social media activity within franchising.

What Do Franchises and Franchise Experts Do On Social Media?
by Ivan Widjaya

Franchises are getting along well with social media. Although I cannot present you with analytical data and stats, I can see that franchises are taking benefit from the social media, in term of brand awareness and franchise information (including promos, events, polls, etc.) Eventually, all of those will be translated into more customers and revenue.

With various strategies, plans and purposes, it’s enlightening to learn and observe what franchising people are doing in major social media. Let’s do our brief exploration in three social media behemoths – Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Franchising on Facebook

Facebook offers franchises and franchise experts opportunities to build and engage network that will buzz your franchise businesses and services, creating a strong awareness on the Net that could very well get franchises more business.

Let’s take the people I connect with (a.k.a. friends) from Franchise Note’s Facebook account.

As for franchises, I consider WingZone Franchise as one of the better franchisors’ account on Facebook (WingZone also has other Web 2.0 presence, namely Twitter, MySpace and YouTube.) It is full of interesting updates, giving us the example of what franchises can do with Facebook.

For example, WingZone post a notification of free chicken wings in a certain area of operation – Of course, this will create buzz, as well as brand awareness, and eventually send people to Wing’s store to get some free wings (and buy some other stuffs.)

As for franchising experts, I consider Paul Segreto’s Facebook account to be interesting. He is using a mixture of updates, ranging from personal updates (e.g. posting a video about a dog helping one of his canine friends in need) to professional updates (e.g. informing about his another webinar series in October.)

Franchising on Twitter

Twitter is the fastest growing social media that is predicted to exceed Facebook in popularity. The appeal is on the 140-character ‘tweet’ that allow Twitter users – Including those in franchising – to share info quickly.

From my Twitter account, I usually follow those that I know, was recommended or think they are interesting. I read those I follow (for franchising topic, I recommend Joel Libava’s) for several times in a day (in fact, I check and re-check my Twitter account dozens of times a day.) The updates are basically a comment with a link to the source or reference (and yes, about 50 to 60 percent of the tweets I received are either for Internet marketing purposes or promotional efforts.)

If I can’t seem to follow the updates I like, I read franchising updates in the form of Twitter’s search widget from Franchise Note sidebar (somewhere in FranchiseNote.com’s right column.)

Similar to Facebook, but in 140 characters or less, Twitter updates you with short blurbs (That’s why Twitter is called a micro-blogging platform) of those you follow. It’s nice to see those franchises and franchise experts are having a chit-chat, allowing you to see a hint of their focus, vision and characters.

Franchising on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is pretty similar to Facebook, but to highlight, the ability to present a resume-like profile page and endorse your contact is what making LinkedIn stands out. Professional recommendations are powerful tools in getting you the buzz and new clients, especially if you are providing professional advices (i.e. franchise consultant)

If you are into franchising (or at least, want to learn about franchising) I suggest you to join one of the LinkedIn group for franchises, Franchise Networking (more than 2,800 members), where you can read articles and follow/participate in discussions on franchising topic.

You can learn more about the background of the franchise owners and experts you know or follow from the profile page – Take Paul Segreto’s profile as an example: You can learn that he attended college at Wagner College and 12 people have recommended him so far. If you are interested in his services, reading his profile page is pretty much giving you an idea or two why he is one of the authoritative voices in US franchising.

And yes, reading through Paul’s LinkedIn profile makes what’s inside my LinkedIn profile looks insignificant.

Any thoughts to share? Please share yours by commenting to this article.