ELEMENTS and franchisEssentials, an industry leader in integrated franchise marketing and development consulting, have formed a strategic alliance.

franchisEssentials President and CEO, Paul Segreto, and ELEMENTS President Jeremy LaDuque share a strong belief in leveraging the experience and expertise of both organizations to better their current and future franchise clients.

Segreto and LaDuque will continue to present webinars together on local search, online marketing and social media, specific to franchising. This includes CFE webinars as well. In addition, look for Jeremy to periodically visit the Franchise Today show, hosted by Paul Segreto, to share insight on technology and its effect on franchising.

The following is the first of many guest posts to be shared on each organization’s respective sites as both Segreto and LaDuque share similar sentiment about franchise success at all levels and strive to share information for the benefit of all within the franchise community.

Social Media – Before Diving In, Know How to Swim! By Paul Segreto

Very few of us like to admit failure. Especially when it comes to something that appears to be so easily done by others. But just because it appears easy, is that reason enough to dive right in? Certainly not!

I remember being six years old and spending a typical day at Coney Island. On this particular day my family left the beach and ventured into the Steeplechase Pool. I recall staring at the line of kids of all ages as they anxiously awaited their turn on the diving board. I watched as they bounced up and down on the board and finally made their exit from the board and subsequent entry into the water below. Quickly rising to the surface I marveled at how effortlessly they made their way to the ladder on the side of the pool, scampered out of the water and darted right back in line to do it all over again… and again.

It seemed so easy, and definitely so much fun. I gave it some quick thought and decided to join the action and dive right in. And, dive right in I did! Things didn’t go so well from that point as I vividly recall paddling like crazy, just trying to stay afloat. I remember what seemed like thousands of bubbles rising up all around me as I could barely see sunlight beyond the water line. For what seemed like an eternity, I tried to get to the surface and take a breath. Certainly, someone will notice me drowning, right? Or, will they only notice when I hit the bottom of the pool? Well, the next thing I remember was opening my eyes and seeing a bunch of people hovering over me discussing whether I was dead or alive. Others wanted to know if it was okay to begin diving again! Some just laughed.

Have you experienced something similar with your social media efforts? Thinking about how easy it appeared, did you just dive right in? After all, you’ve seen your teenage kids pounding away on their laptops or smartphones posting on MySpace and Facebook, claiming all the while that they have hundreds or thousands of friends. As you pondered this new world of social media, you heard words that sound like cartoon characters… How else can you explain your first impression of Twitter, Gowalla, Foursquare, Digg, Technorati, Tumblr or StumbleUpon? And, cartoons are simple, right? So, you rationalized that social media was simple, everyone was doing it, and if kids can do it, so can I. Watch out below as you dive in head first. Worse yet, watch out below as you lead your organization to the end of the diving board!

Alright already. Enough of the sensationalistic attempt at journalism. But, I know you get the picture.

So, what do you do if your social media efforts are missing the mark? Instead of giving up and quitting… regroup and prepare. That’s right. Regroup and prepare!

Preparing for Social Media Success

Define why you’re involved in social media in the first place. What are your objectives for doing so? What do you hope (expect) to achieve by your efforts? This is the exploratory stage.

Next, identify who you’re trying to target with your messages or who you would like to share information with. Of course, it would help a great deal if you knew where those targets communicated and congregated online. After all, you’re not interested in talking to yourself, right? This is the identifying stage.

Developing a plan on how to spread your message or share information is the next fundamental step. The plan should include how much time (resources) you’re able to dedicate to your social media efforts. Messages and information? What should I say? Where do I find information others will be interested in? Obviously, your plan should include these as well. This is all part of the development stage.

Taking action is next on the agenda as you execute your plan of action. Post, tweet, link, connect to your heart’s content… provided it’s in line with your plan that you painstakingly developed. This is where you’ll save precious time and not put you in a position to consider social media a major time suck. Stay focused on the task at hand. Tweak and revise along the way, always keeping your objectives in mind. This is the execution stage.

Last on the list is to establish benchmarks based upon your objectives, expectations and desired results. This is your scorecard and one that should be on the forefront of your mind every day. It is there for you to analyze your efforts and results. Basically, it’s your social media P&L. Did you achieve what you set out do? Why, or why not? This is the analysis and quantification stage.

There you have it. A relatively simple social media plan for success that I fondly refer to as Social Media e-IDEA which is an acronym for Explore, Identify, Develop, Execute, and Analysis. Try it. I believe you’ll like it and will find that it will keep your head above water in your social media efforts.

By the way, the most painful part of my near-drowning experience wasn’t from the water in my lungs, or from the hard pounding on my chest and back, or even from the embarrassment and humiliation I felt in front of my friends and family. No, it was the pain of my aunt pulling on my ear, while scolding me for doing something that I was not prepared to do!

The 51st IFA Annual Convention was a success… from the Technology Summit, the new mobile app, Roundtable discussions, to Ford Saeks.

The buzz this year was about how franchises can leverage social media, local search and mobile apps. However, it was very promising to see that no one lost sight of the primary goal behind these tools: bring in local leads for franchisees.  Saeks said it best when he said “your website is your social proof.”

Franchises clearly see that a comprehensive approach, from website to social, is needed to take advantage of online marketing.

Below are ELEMENTS, Inc’s top 8 takeaways from the 51st annual IFA convention.

1. While at the previous year’s IFA Convention franchises were most interested in how to drive traffic, in 2011 those same franchises are now more interested in how to convert that traffic into leads or sales thereby creating a positive impact with their already existing traffic.  This is a direct reflection of how franchises are tightening their belts in these tough economic times by making the most of what they have already have.  Rather than spending time and money generating new traffic that will effectively be thrown at a wall to see what sticks, spending time on conversion optimization through variant testing and data driven improvements can lead to a significant increase in overall leads both in the present & future.
2. Franchises are generally interested in a three step process for online success which begins with find-ability (how easy it is to find their brand online), usability (how easy it is for consumers to engage your brand) and profitability (how easy it is to convert leads into customers).  If any of the links in this chain are broken the franchise risks never being found by potential customers, never converting those potential customers into paying customers and not being able to retain existing customers nor create brand loyal fans.
3. Another thing ELEMENTS noticed is that by and large franchises are becoming savvier in the realm of online marketing.  Instead of franchise decision makers questioning whether they should have online marketing campaigns consisting of social media, pay per click advertising and search engine optimization, they are now asking how they can best utilize those campaigns for maximum profitability.
4. When it comes to social media, franchise companies are beginning to consider ROE (return on engagement) more appropriate measure than a typical ROI.  This is a new way to look at social media where the end result isn’t merely net sales or leads but can be measured instead by other factors including reach after reposts, number of subscribers and positive or negative sentiment.  Social media campaigns judged merely on their conversion numbers look bleak, but by engaging customers in an open environment franchise companies can improve customer service which leads to improved customer sentiment and the creation of brand loyal fans.
5. Another point of interest with franchises that was noticed at the 2011 IFA Annual Convention was how effective your store locator is. Franchises have realized that not only can their locators help a potential customer find a local franchisee place of business but they can be much more than that today.  Locators can be integrated into a franchise website, have maps and directions and also work seamlessly across both websites and mobile devices. We also saw conversations around exterior locators like a Facebook app or Google Places.
6. While at the previous year’s IFA Convention franchises were mostly overwhelmed with local search and search engine optimization, there seemed to be a better understanding that local search is not a store locator nor is it searches done solely on Google Maps.  There was a general understanding of local search and the importance of it in Google’s new merged ‘Everything’ results that often place local results above national search results.
7. Mobile apps and mobile optimized websites were another big topic of discussion at the recent convention.  Most franchise companies want a way to direct mobile users to their local franchisees which is exactly what the ElementsLocal™ mobile locator app does.  Other franchises want their websites to be optimized to fit on a mobile device should one be detected.  As mobile traffic continues to increase franchise companies want to make sure they are positioned to take advantage of this fluid demographic.
8. Perhaps the most important thing ELEMENTS took away from the 51st IFA Annual Conference was the testimony of corporations and noted speakers alike who claimed that success in all areas, including social media stems from a good & valuable web property… “your website is your social proof,” as Ford Saeks said.  Without having a useful, easy to navigate, attractive website at both the local and corporate level none of your mobile apps, pay per click marketing or social media campaigns are going to be as effective as they could be.

ELEMENTS met a lot of great people at this year’s IFA Annual Convention and we got a feel for how much their companies are currently embracing online marketing and what needs they have in order to make their franchise’s online presence more of a success.  We are going to take that knowledge and continue to improve our ElementsLocal™ platform so that it continues to be the best solution for franchises looking to market online at both the local and corporate level.

We just wanted to remind you in you are in the franchise business that ELEMENTS will be attending the IFA convention next week.  You can find us at booths 647-649 and we’ll be handing out refreshing bottled ELEMENTS water.

We still do have some room on our schedule to set-up a last minute meeting.  So if you would like some one on one time with our company, please click here.

ELEMENTS kicks off our free monthly webinar again March 1st at 10am PST. This webinar will be focused on how franchise companies can best localize their online marketing campaigns which leads to more local leads and more franchise sales.

Specific items we will be covering include:

• Increase local marketing effort
• Improve local search engine rankings
• Reduce pay-per-click advertising

Make sure you sign-up now as seating is limited.

Click Here to go straight to the webinar sign-up page.

We’ve been really busy here at ELEMENTS the last couple of months which is great, but it has also meant that we are not updating our blog with relevant articles on franchise marketing, online CMS systems and SEO tips and tricks as we normally do.  We hope to get back on schedule next month after the IFA convention.

Speaking of the annual IFA convention, we are already ramping up our preparation for the event.  We are excited to meet new friends and old and discuss how ElementsLocal technology can boost local leads and help franchises on a national level.

If you would like to meet with us please get us your information so that we can schedule a meeting.

Click here to set-up a meeting with ELEMENTS.