Franchise Update Magazine Issue IV, 2011 | Page 49

from 55 percent in 2010 to 62 percent in
2011. Not a good sign. He also found the
number of visitors submitting lead forms
dropped from 1.9 percent in 2010 to 1.3
percent this year.
One conclusion that can be drawn from
the Web.com survey: franchise recruitment websites need fresh content that
provides answers and is updated regularly.

Grow Market Lead

For the first time, this year’s study
evaluated brands on how they
are using social media.
Jon Carlston found there’s
much room for improvement.

Social mystery

For the first time, this year’s study evaluated brands on how they are using social
media in their franchise recruitment efforts. Jon Carlston, vice president, social
development at Process Peak, evaluated
each of the 110 brands. He examined how
brands are providing opportunities and
information through social media tools
such as LinkedIn and Facebook. He found
there’s much room for improvement.
“Despite LinkedIn being the social
network that most franchisors believe
has the most direct application to franchise development, 59 percent had never
updated their profile,” he says. (Kudos to
the 41 percent who did.)
He also found that more than half of
the brands he looked at don’t mention
franchise opportunities on their Facebook
pages. “Given that Facebook represents
the world’s biggest online audience, we
were surprised to find that franchisors
were not taking advantage of this to grow
their systems,” he says.
Franchisors must be more active in allowing Facebook fans to “take action and
inquire about a franchise,” he says. Also,
he recommends that franchisors should
take advantage of the tools Facebook
provides. “Facebook allows you to have
custom-built applications on your pages
to display franchise micro-sites, collect
leads, and frame in map locators—all at
no charge.” Can’t beat that! Stay tuned
for next year’s results. n
Franchiseupdate Issue I V, 2011 

47