This is the second post in a series of posts dedicated to the Quick Service Industry (QSR). I previously wrote about 5 excellent reasons to get on board with franchising in 2012. Today, I’m discussing pinning your hopes on social media. Enjoy!
It’s not enough in today’s culturally and socially aware market to provide customers in the QSR industry with a superior product; they want more. Consumers in today’s day and age want deals, coupons, and they want the best possible product for the least amount of money they can possibly spend. They also want their opinions to be heard and treated with respect.
It’s true that’s how it’s always been in the QSR world but the only difference is that QSR franchise owners of yesteryears didn’t have to worry about their business or product being panned or badmouthed on the World Wide Web through various social media outlets.
One day we lived in a world where Facebook or Twitter didn’t exist; next we shifted into living in a world where we can’t go a day without being logged into our Facebook or Twitter accounts. That’s just how quickly social media blew up!
The thing is that if you play your cards right and monitor what’s being said about your company through Twitter feeds or Facebook pages you can use that to reach a very large audience and potentially lure new consumers to your QSR franchise who see your company as being tech savvy and with the times.
[Related: People are 71% More Likely to Purchase Based on Social Media Referrals]
If your QSR franchise is already using Twitter or Facebook to reach people instantly on the web you should then focus your attention to the latest social media trend: Pinterest. For those of you unaware of Pinterest it’s a social network that lets users “pin” interesting online items onto “boards.” Basically, Pinterest is all about using visuals instead of texts to share what they’re into.
Facebook and Twitter came out of nowhere and so too has Pinterest, to the tune of almost 12 million unique monthly visitors; users are on Pinterest more than Twitter and other social media outlets other than Facebook and Tumblr, according to comScore research.
If you’re a QSR franchise owner and haven’t set up a Pinterest account yet you should highly consider it as you can use it to let fans of your QSR franchise interact with you and other fans about such topics as favorite products, where the best location of a particular franchise is, what qualities they want in their products and so on.
You need to stay on top of your social media accounts because it builds up brand awareness and any positive awareness of your QSR franchise can only lead to good things. Of course you have to be active and engaged on your Pinterest account for it to be buzzworthy so make sure you’re not one of those lame corporations that starts a social media account only for it to be dormant. If you use the social media tools at your dispersal to your advantage then you can look forward to a thriving and hip QSR franchise.
