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3 Tech Trends Impacting Local Franchise Locations This Year

As a franchise location, your top priority is getting customers through the doors. The way you handle your local social and online presence dictates whether people will find and frequent your business — and technology can help your efforts to create a local impact. The following three tech trends are among those having the greatest impact on franchisees’ ability to reach their target audience, build community and create authentic connections with their customers.

#1: “Near Me” Search

Mobile search gave rise to “near me” searches, whereby people search for a business, product or service located nearby. If someone is looking for a pet store, for instance, they might type in the phrase “pet stores near me” or simply “pet stores” — and Google will suggest nearby locations. Even without the “near me” phrase included in the search, Google now knows people are looking for local places. In fact, it’s more likely that people will drop “near me” from their search, knowing that Google will serve up relevant search results based on a person’s geo-location.

Click the video below to see this process in action. Not only does Google pull up local search results, but it also shows online reviews associated with a location. Once you click over to the location you want, you can even tap to get directions and drive there on the spot (or, hey, grab a ride with Uber or Lyft!).

Make sure your business has a contact page on your website, plus a Google My Business listing.

According to Google, roughly one-third of all mobile searches are now location-based, as more and more people attempt to locate whatever they need in that moment — all while on the go. In fact, location-based searches have been growing 50 percent faster than any other type of mobile search.

The implications of this growing trend for franchises are huge in terms of driving local customers into their businesses. To ensure your franchise location shows up in “near me” searches, there are two important steps to take for local search optimization. First, make sure your website has a contact page with your address and phone number. Google likes to see a contact page in particular and will read the information in searches. Simple as that!

Next, set up a Google My Business profile, which will also ensure you show up on Google Maps(formerly known as Google Places). Your GMB profile is where all information related to your business will live in the Googlesphere — such as your name, address, phone number, website, location on the map, Google reviews and more.

Setting up your Google business page is a simple process you can get done in minutes. Add as much information as possible, including photos and videos, to make your business uber-searchable and to give customers a good glimpse into your location. In addition, ensure that your website is mobile-friendly so customers have a positive experience when viewing your site from their phones.

#2: Voice Search

A close cousin to “near me” search is voice search. With virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa and Google Home available today, not to mention microphone technology built into smartphones, many customers are now speaking their search terms instead of typing them into their browser.

The trend has been growing in popularity steadily over the past few years, with Google GEO Sundar CEO previously announcing that one-fifth of Google search queries are voice searches. Furthermore, 22 percent of people use voice search to find local information, according to an Internet Trends Report.

Because it’s faster to speak than type, queries may be longer and more conversational than typical search terms. Instead of saying “pizza places,” for example, someone might ask a question: “Which pizza places are open near me?” See below:

Voice search makes it easy to enter longer searches in the form of a question.

If you own a local business, that means you have a tremendous opportunity to be found via voice search. Just as you optimize your site for “near me” searches, do the same for voice search. Again, your contact page and Google My Business listing are critical to getting found, as are relevant keywords in your title tags, meta description, internal links and anchor text. These keywords can include phrases about your neighborhood, the names of nearby landmarks and institutions, and other hyper-local words.

Read more: How to diffuse customer complaints on social media

#3: Facebook Messenger

On Facebook, your customers can message your page directly with questions or comments via Facebook Messenger. With over 1.3 billion active monthly users, Messenger offers huge potential for connecting directly with your audience, creating community and turning prospects into loyal customers.

Consider the many ways to use Messenger, and you’ll quickly see it’s an invaluable tool in your overall marketing strategy:

  • Customer communication — Customers who message you via Messenger may be asking questions pertaining to your location, such as whether you have a certain item in stock. Respond to them quickly — just as quickly as if they had picked up the phone and called you — and you’ll generate brand trust and confidence that can equate to new customers and sales.
  • Reputation management — Similarly, customers may take to Messenger to voice their praise or concerns. Respond to these messages quickly, too, even though they are not public-facing. Unanswered complaints have the potential to turn into online reviews that everyone can see, not to mention the poor reputation you’ll be creating, so be prompt in handling any customer issues.
  • Employee recruiting — Find applicants, set up qualifying questions and allow candidates to apply directly online using Messenger. Using various bots, you can let Messenger prescreen candidates and send you only those who fit your employment criteria.
  • Sales — Configure Messenger to let customers purchase products directly through the app using chatbots and Buy Now features, and your live-chat experiences via Messenger can become sales opportunities. This breakdown from Neil Patel will help you configure Messenger to boost your ecommerce sales.

The above methods are just a few of the ways Messenger can help you stay engaged with your customers and build authentic connections in your community. Don’t overlook it as a way to further your franchise location’s local impact.

A Word About Online Reviews

Another critical element of your Google My Business page is your online reviews. As people use “near me” and voice searches or look you up on Facebook, they’ll be reading reviews to decide whether to visit your location. They’ll also be looking at how you stack up against the competition that’s showing up in those search results. The more five-star reviews you have, and the greater your response rate, the better you appear to potential customers.

That’s why you need to make sure every review has a response from your business. Whether a review is positive or negative, it’s important to take a few minutes every day to acknowledge your customers and make sure any concerns get resolved.

With positive reviews, a simple “Thanks for your great review, Jim! We look forward to seeing you again soon!” goes a long way toward building customer loyalty and goodwill. With negative reviews, best practice is to be polite, avoid getting defensive and offer to remedy the situation — sometimes, taking it offline is best rather than hashing things out online.

Even positive reviews deserve a response from the business, like this reply from our client Massage Heights Midtown Houston.

Keep in mind that your online reviews are available for anyone to see. That means the customer searching for “pet stores,” or your particular product or service, could land on your Google page, come across your reviews and make a buying decision without ever coming into your store or having a conversation with you.

In addition to Google reviews, be sure to monitor those appearing on Facebook and Yelp. Claim your pages on those platforms so you have control over responding to comments and reviews. Keep in mind that Yelp may penalize your business for requesting reviews from customers in exchange for credit, gifts or other incentives.

Instead of offering free gifts, consider incorporating a reputation management tool into your overall marketing strategy — such as our Revv app, which invites customer feedback and makes it easier to 1) encourage positive reviews on Yelp, Google and Facebook, and 2) take negative feedback offline.

Read more: Not responding to your online reviews and engagements? You need to read this

Conclusion

Technology can be your BFF if you know how to use it to your advantage for your local business. If you could use some help navigating your online reviews, Google My Business and other tech trends impacting your franchise, turn to the experts at Rallio and we’ll help you create an impactful local presence that sets you apart — not only in search results, but also in the competitive playing field.






Categories
Social

GaryVee’s Top Tips on Franchise Social Media Marketing

When Gary Vaynerchuk speaks about social media marketing, it’s best to sit up and listen, especially if you feel like your brand could use some help maximizing its online reach. The CEO of VaynerMedia was among the featured guests on a recent episode of MODRN Business Podcast, hosted by Rallio’s own Ryan Hicks, Vice President of Business Development.

In the episode, which was recorded before his keynote at the 2019 International Franchise Association Annual Convention in Las Vegas, GaryVee offers several tips to help franchisors and their franchisees get started in social media marketing. Read on for a look at a few of his top tips that any franchise system can undertake to make an immediate impact on social media.

Give More Than You Take

“People are often self-serving on social media,” says Gary, and that approach doesn’t do anything to win over your target audience. “Your content needs to bring value to the audience at no cost so they can go and do something with it.”

The most successful social media accounts serve up content that either informs and educates or entertains rather than going for the sale, says Gary. He adds, “There are no accounts doing well on social media that don’t do one of those two things.

Pro tip: Don’t over-promote. Promotional posts have their place, such as when you’re paying to boost a post or you have an exciting offer to share with users. You can’t post them every day, however. Keep the focus on them, not you, with the majority of your posts, and they’ll be more receptive when you share a special sale or promotion. If you need more ideas for daily content, see our post, 31 Days of Social Media Ideas.

Read more: Why Your Franchise Location Needs Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/532340386932497/photos/a.655440264622508/1130776187088911/?type=3&theater
Rather than pushing a sale, this post from Pet Supplies Plus in Naperville, Illinois, puts the focus on community engagement through highlighting Hugo the dog.

Make Local Content

Franchisees need to be producing local, engaging content like the post you see above. Why? “Because they want their business to grow,” quips Gary. “If you’re not making contextual content, you’ve lost.”

By contextual, he means that simply pushing out the same corporate content across all locations isn’t effective in terms of broadening your local reach. If you want to do business with people who actually live in your area and are likely to frequent your establishment, then you need to speak to them directly.

The “Hugo” post above from Pet Supplies Plus in Naperville, Illinois, does double duty by pushing out a locally focused post featuring a “neighbor’s” canine companion. By also asking its audience to post pet photos of their own, the post invites engagement and, because Facebook’s algorithm favors this type of content over generic posts, is more likely to be seen in newsfeeds.

Pro tip: Find your unique voice. Specifically, find a voice that exudes casual friendliness. Social media is not the place for business speak, stodgy words and sales pitches. The very term “social media” gives you a clue as to what kind of voice you need to have. You’re just a bunch of friends chatting it up.

Read more: 5 Tips for Improving Your Writing on Social Media

“That whole concept of vanilla from corporate doesn’t work,” Gary continues. That’s a tough lesson to learn for many new franchisees, who often join a franchise system because of the perceived structure. They may think that corporate will handle everything for them, including their local marketing, when in reality that’s a task they must undertake just as an independent entrepreneur would.

Adds Gary, “The reason so many people lose in the franchise world is that people think they’re in the turnkey business and they’re not.”

When corporate content doesn’t generate any engagement, leads or sales for them, they may think social media simply doesn’t work for them as a marketing medium. However, the solution is not to abandon social media, but rather embrace local, location-specific content. That is, original content that’s contextual to your five-mile radius is always going to disproportionately outperform generic content that isn’t meaningful to your local audience. “Like, you know the pothole on your street — that’s the joke you should be making,” says Gary. “The hot new yoga studio [in town], the principal in town who just celebrated her 50th anniversary — that needs to be your post.”

Pro tip: Don’t be a social media hater. The conversations are happening with or without you. Additionally, on social media, you have an opportunity to let your personality shine, inspire confidence in customers, entertain and educate your audience, and build customer loyalty. Lastly, you can better serve customers. Nowadays, when people have a complaint about a company, they take to social media to vent. The more engaged you are in the conversations happening about your brand, the more responsive you can be to their needs.

Read more: Why Your Franchise Location Needs Social Media

The key takeaway? Customers want to see that there are real humans behind the local social profile. Again, ask yourself if a post either informs or entertains. If it fails that litmus test, then it’s not providing value — and it’s probably not going to get any online engagement.

Furthermore, pay attention to what happens after you post. If people are asking questions, commenting, liking, sharing and leaving online reviews, you need to be involved in that conversation. When they engage with you, they expect to hear back — and quickly — especially if they’re voicing a complaint. Be polite, be engaging and be present so your customers know you’re listening.

By responding promptly to this positive Facebook recommendation, Honest-1 Auto Care South Elgin showed they are listening and care about customer feedback.

Pro tip: Respond to both positive and negative online reviews. In either case, it’s important that a customer feels heard. With positive reviews, thank them for taking the time to leave a review and mention something specific about the customer if you can, such as, “It was great seeing you as always, Jessica, and we look forward to your next visit.” With negative reviews, be sure to acknowledge the concern, address it without getting defensive, and take it offline if necessary. An owner’s response to a review has the ability to either generate trust in a brand or demonstrate lack of concern.

Read more: Not Responding to Your Online Reviews? You Need to Read This

Pick Your Platform

With so many different platforms, from Instagram to LinkedIn, how do you know which one will give you the best return on your marketing investment? While you don’t need to limit yourself to one platform, you can take a look at your demographics to see where they are spending their time the most, but don’t ignore other opportunities to branch out into other platforms. “LinkedIn has helped me quite a bit because it’s broadened my reach,” says Gary.

Pro Tip: It’s called “social” media, so be social. Your audience doesn’t want to see stock photos. They’ll scroll right past them! Instead, include snapshots (with permission) of your employees, customers, office environment and other real-life photos. Include not only special events such as birthdays and holiday celebrations, but also simple “day in the life” photos showing what happens in your office.

Read more: Franchise Social Media Best Practices: a Roundup of Our Best Tips

Bonus Tip: Get Your Employees Involved

A common barrier for franchisees is they lack the time and/or desire to post to social media, engage with their audience and respond to their online reviews. One solution is to let someone else do the work.

That might mean employing an agency such as the Rallio Local division to handle posting custom, local content and responding to comments and reviews. Not only does our team bring life to local pages, but they also help boost locations’ online reputation by ensuring timely responses to their online engagements.

You can also empower your employees to be brand advocates. Did you know that most employees are already posting comments, images and videos about their employers? Rallio technology allows you to give employees limited access to your mobile social profiles so they can do some of the legwork to snap great local photos and upload them to our platform.

Does your franchise use social media marketing to make a local impact? Why or why not? Drop your comments below.

Marketing experts and executives interested in being featured on the MODRN Business Podcast may reach out to Hicks at ryanh@www.rallio.com. To be featured or for guest blogging opportunities on the Rallio blog, contact karen@www.rallio.com. Additionally, for product or service inquiries, contact ryanh@www.rallio.com or support@www.rallio.com.

About Rallio: Rallio is a powerful combination of social technology and local agency. The Rallio team empowers local operators to ignite their social presence, with easy-to-use mobile technology that turns employees into brand advocates. Rollup analytics provide brands with complete control over their local social media and reputation presence and clarity into which locations and operators are performing the best.

Categories
Content Marketing Social

Franchising Social Media Best Practices: a Roundup of Our 12 Best Tips

It’s no secret that social media is here to stay, and franchise brands that embrace the medium are seeing significant results. If you’re a marketing manager or otherwise responsible for your brand’s social media marketing, today’s roundup of our 12 best tips will help you jump-start your social outreach efforts.

Continue reading “Franchising Social Media Best Practices: a Roundup of Our 12 Best Tips”
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Best CEO? Yeah, We’ve Got That

As Rallio’s first employee, I’ve had the pleasure of working with our CEO, Chuck Goetschel, for over six years. What began as a side hustle turned into a full-time hustle, and we’ve gone from sitting on cardboard boxes in a shoebox-size office to enjoying the twists and turns of a rapidly growing enterprise located in the heart of Orange County.

Yesterday, I also had the pleasure of announcing that Chuck has earned a Best CEO award from Comparably.com, a compensation, culture and career website, in its annual Best Places to Work ranking of CEOs and their companies.

Comparably Awards are based on sentiment ratings from employee participants who anonymously rate their employers. Following the year-long eligibility period that ended in November 2018, the best CEOs were identified based on approval ratings that employees gave their chief executives.

All questions were assigned a numerical score and then compared to companies of similar size across the United States. Additional weight was given to scores at companies with more participation from their employee base. The final data set was compiled from nearly 10 million ratings across 50,000 U.S. companies on Comparably.com.

Among small and mid-size companies — those with fewer than 500 employees — Goetschel earned a score of 99/100, placing Rallio in the top 5 percent of U.S. companies with 11 to 50 employees and in the top 5 percent of other companies in Los Angeles. “The most successful businesses are led by amazing CEOs who serve as a visionary, positive example and support system for their teams,” said Jason Nazar, Comparably CEO. “The chief executives on Comparably’s Best CEOs list were the highest rated by employees for their inspiring, transparent, and engaging leadership.”

 


In response to earning the Best CEO distinction, Goetschel was quick to point to his team. “This award speaks volumes about the talented team and creative, inspiring culture we’ve created together at Rallio,” said Goetschel, who is also an author and a speaker. “Just as we strive to provide the best products and services for our clientele, we are dedicated to building an elite workforce with a focus on innovation, teamwork, and a sense of purpose and ownership in our work.”


Rallio recently rebranded with a new logo reflecting its mission of “rallying” around brands to help them build a local community, share experiences and drive local business through social media. The profitable SaaS company more than doubled its staff headcount in the past year and is poised for rapid growth in 2018.

In September 2018, Rallio was named one of three top finalists at the OCTANe High Tech Innovation Awards competition for Outstanding Emerging Technology. In addition, Rallio earned a spot in the inaugural ranking of Top Franchise Suppliers by Entrepreneur magazine. This ranking put Rallio in an elite position in its space as determined by Entrepreneur, identifying the companies that provide behind-the-scenes support for franchisors and their franchisees.

[bctt tweet=”ICYMI: Read the USA Today article about the Comparably winners https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2018/12/11/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-ranked-best-leader-us-comparably/2206490002/?fbclid=IwAR2XsrmPVzV_BZp0zF3DVzRVHGhdENnAYqYFELglQmaK8y5yRksgEb0twTg” username=”rallioHQ”]

Rallio has an undisclosed number of investment dollars from various private venture capitalists and angel investors. For more information or to arrange an interview with Goetschel, contact Karen Spaeder, Vice President of Communications, at karen@www.rallio.com. For product and service inquiries, contact Ryan Hicks, Vice President of Business Development, at ryanh@www.rallio.com. The full release about Rallio’s Comparably award is available here.

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What’s New at Rallio

“If we’re growing, we’re always going to be out of our comfort zone.”
– John Maxwell

We have a lot to celebrate from the past several months here at Rallio. For starters, we were honored to be included as one of three finalists at the OCTANe High Tech Innovation Awards dinner in September. It was a rigorous process even to get to the finalist position, and our CEO, Chuck Goetschel, did an amazing job of connecting with the judges and pushing Rallio to the top of the list. Although we didn’t come home with a first-place award, we are confident that this award was just the start of what will be many future awards and honors to come!

New Accolades

In addition to the High Tech Innovation Awards nomination, Rallio earned a spot in the inaugural ranking of Top Franchise Suppliers by Entrepreneur magazine! This ranking puts us in an elite position in our space as determined by Entrepreneur, identifying the companies that provide behind-the-scenes support for franchisors and their franchisees.

Through their own independent research, Entrepreneur connected with over 300 franchise brands to identify the best of the best in each of seven different categories. Rallio landed in the Marketing category as a top supplier of social media marketing and reputation management services among other companies that provide all types of marketing support. Only three of those companies are specific to social media, including Rallio. As a side note, the top non-social media company listed of the 15 marketing-related companies is one of our resellers!

“At Entrepreneur, we’ve spent 40-plus years covering franchising, but we’ve rarely shined the spotlight on the service providers — ‘suppliers,’ as the franchise world usually refers to them — who contribute to the success of so many franchisors and franchisees. Now it’s time to change that,” writes contributing author Tracey Stapp Herold in the September issue of Entrepreneur.

“The Rallio team is honored to be recognized as one of the most trusted marketing partners in the world for franchise organizations,” says Ryan Hicks, Certified Franchise Executive and Vice President of Business Development at Rallio. “Our team has a tremendous passion for and understanding of the franchise business model. We focus relentlessly on developing cutting-edge social technology for the modern franchise. But we package it in a way that helps franchisors rally even the most ‘technology-challenged’ franchisees.”

Development Updates

The Dev team has been hard at work developing and deploying new features to enhance both our Rallio and Revv users’ experience using the apps. If you’re not familiar with Revv, we developed this app to allow our clients to easily send customer surveys to get feedback about an experience with their business. One of the most significant efforts was the deployment of Revv 2.0 on Oct. 29 with new mobile-friendly features that allow for greater ease in sending surveys, plus more robust analytics and data downloads. This new and improved version of Revv is the result of enormous efforts over the past several months, and the Dev team should be proud of their work! Kudos!

Spotlight On: Anton

Call him the Water Champ, call him leader of the Hydration Nation, call him the H2Ultimate fighter, or call him current reigning holder of the AquaBelt. Just don’t call him ordinary, because he’s anything but. In this, our inaugural Team Member Spotlight, we’re introducing you to Anton Emmerton, who creates content for Pet Supplies Plus as part of our Rallio Local division, which works with many different brands in different industries. Oh, he’s also great at reminding everyone to stay super hydrated!

Anton stepped seamlessly into his role in August 2018 and hit the ground running, working alongside Grace Emmerton, Director of Rallio Local (who happens to be his sister!), to manage the successful implementation of a pilot with 56 PSP corporate-owned locations. By working closely with store locations, creating awesome content and always maintaining a friendly, helpful attitude, Anton helped to secure the support and buy-in of the entire PSP brand.

Before coming to Rallio, Anton managed the ecommerce and shipping/receiving departments for a company that specializes in creating merchandise for bands. In his new role, Anton enjoys the camaraderie among his team members and the challenge of ensuring location owners’ success.

“The best part of my job now is the team,” he says. “I feel that we do everything as a group effort and that no one is left behind. I am greeted every day with a smile and positive attitude, which is more than I could ask for!”

Anton is a pleasure to have in the office and an integral part of Rallio Local. Congrats to Anton for making such a huge impact in such a short period of time!

Welcome to our newest team members!

High-fives all around to our new hires, from left: Giuseppe, Joe, Sabrina and Amy! As part of our Rallio Local division, they each have an assigned brand for which they provide social media content, inbox and review monitoring, advertising support and strategic services.

By working closely with individual location owners, they’re able to ensure they’re getting the most of out Rallio and continually growing their engagement, traffic and sales. Watch for future spotlights dedicated to these four!

 

About Rallio: Rallio is more than a social media management technology. It’s a smarter, simpler way for brands to maximize social marketing efforts. Rallio technology provides a complete social media ecosystem allowing manufacturers, corporate brands and their locations, employees and customers to build a local community, share experiences and drive local business. The Rallio Local division also provides agency-style support services to help franchise locations manage their online reviews, advertise on social platforms, and grow their social media following.

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Social Uncategorized

Step Up Your Instagram Game: Pro Tips, Tricks & Ideas

If you’re new to posting on Instagram, you might be a little overwhelmed at the prospect of growing your following, creating great content, converting followers to customers and making the best use of your sponsored-ad dollars. This article roundup is your starting point to making a real impact on this popular social platform. So without further adieu, let’s dive in to the top tips and tricks!

The Instagram Rules: The Good, the Bad, and the Very Boring

This one’s about Instagram-worthy pictures, frequency of posting, filters, hashtags, likes, selfies and more. Is it beautiful, awesome, hilarious, amazing, inspiring? That’s your first question. Now stick to the rest of these rules, and you’ll instantly step up your Instagram game.

hayley bloomingdale's instagram rules / photo: @hayleybloom

hayley bloomingdale’s instagram rules / @hayleybloom

The Instagram Rules: The Good, the Bad, and the Very Boring

Why Instagram Captions Are the New Blogging

Take a cue from The Rock, and get a little long-winded in your Instagram captions. It might seem counter-intuitive to tell all on a platform that’s seemingly minimalist and mobile-focused on the surface. But ‘grammers are increasingly turning to Instagram as a place not only for their filtered selfies, but also their deepest musings. Note: Some of the original photos highlighted in this article have been removed from Instagram (and, therefore, this article), but the premise is still intact.


Why Instagram Captions Are the New Blogging

18 Times Blake Lively’s Instagram Captions Were Borderline Genius

When you find a celebrity crushing it on Instagram, sit up and take notice. Take Blake Lively, for instance. Her captions are consistently funny, likable and authentic … in other words, everything you want in a social media post. Inspire your inner genius by reading through some of her very best work.

18 Times Blake Lively’s Instagram Captions Were Borderline Genius

25 Funny Captions to Use For Your Selfies That Will Make Your Followers LOL

“Selfie” is now officially a word in the dictionary, and it’s no wonder: Scroll through your Instagram feed, and you’ll find dozens of them. The key to standing out among a sea of brunchin’, flexin’, yoga-posin’ peeps? Add a funny caption, of course. Get some inspiration from the quotes in this article, but remember to add your own unique flair so it doesn’t sound canned.

25 Funny Captions to Use For Your Selfies That Will Make Your Followers LOL

How to Write Good Instagram Captions: 8 Bookmarkable Tips for Perfecting Your Copy

As you know, the hard work doesn’t end once you’ve taken that beautiful photo and added your favorite filter. Your caption gives a voice to your content, and it’s also a place where you can include a call to action, memorable quips, and just the right verbiage that delights your followers and inspires them to double-tap. These go-to tips will keep you on the right track as you craft an awesome caption for that perfectly staged and edited photo.


How to Write Good Instagram Captions: 8 Bookmarkable Tips for Perfecting Your Copy

How to Use Instagram Stories Like an Expert

Introduced in August 2016, Instagram Stories allow you to tell your story in multiple frames using a combination of photos, videos, captions, gifs, music and more. These stories stay on your profile for 24 hours at a time and appear at the top of users’ Instagram feeds, making them ideal for highlighting a snapshot of your day that you don’t necessarily want to live on your profile page. Like telling a story in real life, these Stories are fresh, hyper-relevant to your current goals, and fun to watch. Here’s your definitive guide to getting it done like a true storytelling pro.

How to Use Instagram Stories Like an Expert

What other tips would you add to this list? Include a link to some of your best captions, and we’ll feature the top submissions in a future blog post.

Rallio now has a mobile app that lets you post from your dashboard to your Instagram profile! Get more details via support@www.rallio.com.

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Twitter suspended your account? Here’s what to do

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: You’re humming along consistently with your social media postings, and all of a sudden one day you hit a speed bump. Maybe you get a terrible review from a customer; maybe you forgot your login information.

Or maybe you discover your entire Twitter account has been suspended.

via GIPHY

It could happen to you

Thousands of locations utilize the Rallio platform daily for social publishing without any problems. However, Twitter is making a big push for accounts to publish custom, individualized content. Why? Twitter, in its efforts to crack down on the pervasive issue of bots and spam, is using duplicate content to help identify potential spam accounts. Unfortunately, it also flags legitimate accounts in that process.

[bctt tweet=”Twitter is making a big push for accounts to publish custom, individualized content. #accountsuspended” username=”rallioHQ”]

Twitter states: “Most of the accounts we suspend are suspended because they are spammy, or just plain fake, and they introduce security risks for Twitter and all of our users. These types of accounts are against our Twitter Rules. Unfortunately, sometimes a real person’s account gets suspended by mistake, and in those cases we’ll work with the person to make sure the account is unsuspended.”

There are many different reasons an account can be suspended. Today we are focusing on our multi-location clients who utilize the Rallio platform to syndicate content out to multiple locations. When the same post is distributed across many locations, it can start to look like spam in the Twitter world.

[bctt tweet=”When the same post is distributed across many locations, it can start to look like spam in the Twitter world. #spam” username=”rallioHQ”]

As per Twitter’s terms, one of the factors that Twitter takes into account when determining what conduct is considered to be spamming includes the following: “If you post duplicative or substantially similar content, replies, or mentions over multiple accounts or multiple duplicate updates on one account, or create duplicate or substantially similar accounts.”

What to do if your account is suspended

Twitter may prevent you from tweeting for a specific period of time, or ask you to verify certain information about yourself before you may proceed. If your account becomes locked for security purposes or because it may have violated Twitter’s rules, walk through the steps that apply to you in this link. For suspended accounts, Twitter states: “We may ask you to complete certain actions before we start the countdown on your limited state. These actions may include verifying your email address, adding a phone number to your account, or deleting Tweets that are in violation of our rules.”

If you are cannot get your account unsuspended using the steps above, you may appeal the decision. Log in to the suspended account, and then open a new browser tab and file an appeal.

Additional resources

  • Click here for the complete guide to managing your suspended Twitter account.
  • Click here for the complete rules and policies for publishing content on Twitter.
  • Read a description of local content in this post I wrote earlier this year so you can begin publishing custom content that doesn’t look like spam.

Reach out to us at support@www.rallio.com if you’re a current account holder in need of assistance with your social media platforms or if you need ideas of ways to manage and grow your local presence. We’re here to help!

About Rallio

Did you know Rallio was recently ranked as a top franchise supplier by Entrepreneur magazine? In a first-ever ranking of companies that provide franchise support services, Rallio has been named a top supplier for franchises in 2018. The inaugural franchise supplier ranking identifies companies that provide behind-the-scenes support for franchisors and their franchisees in each of seven different categories. Rallio landed in the Marketing category as a top supplier of social media marketing and reputation management services among other companies that provide all types of marketing support.

See the ranking here.

Rallio is more than a social media management technology. It’s a smarter, simpler way for brands to maximize social marketing efforts. Rallio technology provides a complete social media ecosystem allowing manufacturers, corporate brands and their locations, employees and customers to build a local community, share experiences and drive local business. The Rallio Local division also provides agency-style support services to help franchise locations manage their online reviews, advertise on social platforms, and grow their social media following.

 

Categories
Uncategorized

Not responding to your online reviews & engagements? You need to read this

One of the divisions at Rallio is called Rallio Local, wherein our customers entrust our team with managing their Facebook ad campaigns, as well as responding to their social media engagements and any online reviews that appear on Google and Facebook. I happen to be the person in charge of the “inbox/review monitoring” portion of things, so my team and I see all of the social comments and reviews that get dumped into each client’s “inbox” on our platform.

We always let our clients know when there’s a review in need of their attention so they can address it personally. Whether it’s a positive or negative review, it’s important that a customer feels heard. An owner’s response to a review has the ability to generate trust in a brand. So, let’s say Sally leaves a glowing review but no one ever says “thank you” to her for taking the time to leave feedback. Or maybe Sally leaves a negative review and no one ever takes the time to acknowledge and resolve the complaint. Either way, it reflects poorly on the business.

It’s About Reputation

Both of the above scenarios contribute to a brand’s reputation either positively or negatively. Here’s an example of a review response for one of our Rallio clients, Pet Supplies Plus. As you can see, the review was positive, but we still recommend posting a reply to say “thanks” for the review.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the other hand, it’s not uncommon for a customer to write something negative (or even outlandish) about a location that leaves the owner feeling baffled about what may or may not have happened to cause this customer to leave such a review. In the below review (names withheld for privacy), my team reached out to the owner to ask how he’d like to respond.

Oftentimes, the owners ask us how we recommend they respond to these types of reviews. I always recommend that owners stay professional, courteous and matter-of-fact when responding to negative reviews. Sometimes we’ll write the response for them or help them polish up their response prior to posting.

In this case, the owner took some time to talk with his technician and then got back to me, and we worked together to craft the response you see above. It’s fact-based and respectful, and it offers to resolve the issue in a way that goes above and beyond expectations. Although I do not know the outcome of this issue at this time, it shows good business practices for this customer as well as anyone who happens to come across this review.

What About Former Employees?

In other cases, an oddity will pop up where a disgruntled former employee decides to unleash their venom via an online review. This is a trickier situation because each platform handles these situations differently.

On Facebook, anyone can report a review, but that doesn’t mean Facebook will take it down. On Google and Yelp, there are more checks and balances that give owners some recourse to try and have the review removed. For example, Google‘s policies disallow the posting of content about a current or former employment experience. You are able to flag the review by following the steps outlined here.

Take It Case By Case

Each review is going to be different, and your responses should be just as unique depending on the situation. If you’re unclear on how to handle a review, feel free to reach out to us at support@www.rallio.com and we’ll be more than happy to assist!

 

 

 

Categories
Content Marketing Social Uncategorized

Social media best practices: What is local content?

With Rallio’s recent launch of the Rallio Local division, we’ve created an in-house agency that helps our clients create and execute a local content strategy on Facebook and other social media platforms. One question that comes up frequently is what exactly local content is and why it matters. If you’re asking that question for your own business, today’s post will help you learn what types of content will get you the best results on social media.

The algorithm

Social media is increasingly shifting its focus in favor of local businesses, with Facebook leading the way in terms of how its algorithm serves up content to various audiences. The right type of content, combined with targeted ads, allows businesses to reach customers in their local area, especially those who are using their mobile devices to find businesses in their communities. In addition, the rise of platforms such as Yelp and Google reviews has made it essential that businesses have a local content strategy to reach the people who are likely to do business with them or buy their products or services.

So what is the right type of content? Encourage your visitors and followers to stick around and become a part of your online community by including the following in your social media posts.

Real-life photos from your office and staff

Include not only special events such as birthdays and holiday celebrations, but also simple “day in the life” photos showing what happens in your office. Here’s a post from one of our Rallio Local clients, Pet Supplies Plus Greenfield, with a cute picture of a dog and a great caption:

Spotlights about a star employee or customer

Give props to an employee of the month. Include a photo along with a caption explaining why they rock! You can also highlight customer testimonials and thank customers for their business, feature before and after photos if that makes sense for your business, or simply feature a repeat customer who brightens your day. Here’s a post one of local clients, Pure Barre Anaheim Hills, created to feature a customer testimonial and which we boosted with ad dollars. To date, the post has reached 645 people and has earned 28 likes and loves.

Pointed questions that elicit comments, likes and shares

A question like “Would you rather sleep in on a Saturday or get up and go for a hike?” will get more responses than “Do you like hiking?” You know how they say you have to ask for the sale? The same is true for comments. Quite literally, you can say “Comment below with your response” and it will be more likely to earn engagement.

Videos

Explain a how-to topic, offer helpful information, or feature an interesting aspect of your business or the people behind it. People love to watch short videos and often will watch those as opposed to reading a lengthy post on a topic.

Meat and potatoes

Infographics, blog posts and guides on topics your audience wants to know about are the backbone of your business, the “meat and potatoes” if you will. Prove you’re the guru in your field by creating assets that show off your expertise.

Promotions

Include only occasional posts about current promotions and contests. Stick to the 80/20 formula where just 20 percent of your content promotes your brand and the other 80 percent is dedicated to topics that interest your audience and engage them in conversations. Here’s an example from the same Pure Barre client where they do a nice job of including promotional details within the caption of an inspirational post describing the studio’s “20 in 31 class challenge.”

In general, posts that include more personalized information about your location tend to perform better than general posts. They are more aligned with Facebook’s current algorithm, thus improving your overall reach. If you need a hand creating your local content strategy, click over to Rallio Local.

To learn more about the recent Facebook algorithm change, see this article.

 

Categories
Social

Friday 5 Weekly Social Media Tips: Social ROI and the Marketing Ecosystem

Welcome to the first edition of the Friday 5, a weekly look at important things to know in the world of social media marketing. Today, our Director of Business Development, Avery McCaslin, offers deeper insight into how different marketing channels work in conjunction to improve your overall return on marketing investment. Happy Friday, all!

Social ROI and the Marketing Ecosystem

What are your favorite marketing mediums, and how do you use them together for the greatest return?

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