Essential Social Media Tips for Franchisees from Danny Brown, Award-Winning Blogger and Director of Retention and Social Media at Jugnoo (Q&A)

Jugnoo is a Toronto-based Internet media technology company. Meaning “firefly” in Sanskrit, the technology behind Jugnoo is designed to help small to medium-sized businesses fire up their presence on the social web.

JugnooMe (pronounced joognoo me) is the first in a collection of proven social marketing tools designed to make the social web simple, accessible and monetizable. Currently in open beta, it is a social marketing and engagement platform that addresses the barriers many business owners face when promoting their business and brand on the social web. This all-in-one, cloud-based platform brings together everything they need to understand and successfully implement their own social marketing, engagement and commerce program.

Danny Brown, the Director of Retention and Social Media at Jugnoo, is a 20-year marketing veteran who works with businesses of all sizes, from start-ups and small and medium-sized businesses to national Fortune 500 organizations, including RIM, IBM, LG Electronics, Ford Canada and more. Danny is a multiple award-winning marketer and blogger, with his blog being recognized as one of the leading marketing blogs in the world.  He is also the author of The Parables of Business.

It was a real treat to interview one of the world’s top social media thinkers!  This is one interview I’m really proud of, and I hope you all take advantage of the specific, actionable advice that Danny shares.  Thank you, Danny!

Franchise Chatter (FC):  What is social media and why should franchisees learn how to use it?

Danny Brown (DB):  At its simplest, social media is just another toolset to use with your other integrated strategies. It can cover marketing, customer service, sales, lead generation, customer behavior and much more. The great thing about social media is, from a financial viewpoint, it can be less expensive than more traditional forms of marketing or advertising, and have a lower cost of customer acquisition because of this. There is still the man hours to think of though, so it’s important to not make the mistake that social media is “free”.

FC:  What are some concrete examples of how franchisees can use social media to increase their revenues and bottom line?

DB:  A lot depends on the goals of the franchisee, and the autonomy they have from head office. For instance, a fast food restaurant’s needs are going to be different from a mom and pop clothing store being run from home — each have different audiences and need to market that way. But some of the ways to use social media that everyone can benefit from would include:

• Use as a listening tool to gather information on customer pain points. Customers rarely tell vendors about their true issues; but they do talk to their friends about them. Set up keyword tracking to monitor your brand or products, and improve features of offerings based on what you hear.

• Use as a time-sensitive offer platform. Advise that for anyone following on Twitter, for instance, you’ll tweet special offers exclusive to Twitter. Use a special URL link to drive traffic to, and monitor how successful that is versus print ads, etc.

• Customers like to connect with brands where they’re comfortable. Social media allows you to speak with them on their terms, and platform of choice, and again this allows you to really see inside their wishes and provide a better service offering.

By respecting your customer this way, as well as being able to really dig deep into what’s working for you versus what’s not, you save time and costs. Which you can then re-invest back into your business to make it even more effective and successful.

FC:  What are the most common mistakes that small business owners commit when it comes to social media?

DB:  Probably the biggest two are thinking it’s the golden bullet to all their current “woes”, and that it’s free. It’s true that social media can offer a greater reach to customers than traditional advertising, but it’s when social media is fully integrated into the business strategy (from sales to marketing to customer service, etc.) that it’s at its most effective. And while joining social networks is free, there are still the man hours needed to make it work, along with social advertising costs and optimizing sites, etc., for social and mobile traffic. So, a lower cost entry but definitely not free!

FC:  How much time and money should franchisees allocate to their social media efforts in relation to their overall marketing strategy?

DB:  Again, it really depends on goals, resources and how much you can adequately give (both in time and money). It may be that some franchisees need to be on social media more than others, based on their industry. Consumer-facing and service industries, for example, make more sense to be active versus small niche B2B businesses.

So, to get started, audit your current spend and see what’s not working. Then allocate that to social media, after taking stock of where your customers are. Surveys (in-store or online) can help you here, as well as using tools to help you track keyword mentions, which will help show where your customers are most active on social media. Start small, focus on your key targets, get yourself established and then look at other platforms once you’re comfortable with both results and resources. You’ll know yourself how much time you can allocate, and the budget should be part of your bigger spend.

FC:  What are your top 3 actions steps for franchisees to create an effective social media campaign?

DB:  Research, research, research. 😉   Seriously, you need to know if social media is even right for you before jumping in because you’ve been told you need to. So, first, make sure you understand why you’re jumping into social media and have identified goals for what success will be. For some, it may (initially) be just brand awareness, so qualified connections and followers will be classed as a success. For others, it may be that you want to use it to offer a better customer service experience, so fewer complaints would be seen as a success metric. So define your goals and how you want to class success.

Then, as I mentioned before, start slow and understand the nuances of the platform you’re choosing. Twitter, for instance, is very fast-paced and better suited for quick, punchy conversations. Facebook is great for focus groups and offers, while Google+ can help with being more visible on search. LinkedIn is great for more professional connections, and help you find partners to add to your network. Once you’re on social media, adapt and learn from your early mistakes (don’t worry, we all make them and continue to do so!). Admit to times when you get it wrong, and be both reactive at resolving issues and pro-active at implementing processes so these don’t happen again. And make sure you measure all the key things you’re trying to achieve, so you can make changes where needed.

FC:  What is Jugnoo and how can it help franchisees with their social media efforts?

DB:  Jugnoo is a Toronto-based Internet and media technology company, whose goal is to make the social web simple, accessible and monetizable for everyone. We have a family of connected platforms launching throughout 2012, the first of which is JugnooMe, our social web marketing dashboard. While there are some great platforms already on the market, generally you have to use multiple options to take full benefit. JugnooMe brings everything under one roof — all-in-one Twitter dashboard, social marketing video creation tools, Facebook promotions, analytics, social search for monitoring your brand and more. We also provide best practices, tips and strategy through our Social Advisor solution, which helps our users get up-to-speed fast on how to best use social media for their specific needs. JugnooMe is currently in open beta, with a full public launch expected in May 2012.

FC:  Can you walk us through how Jugnoo actually works?  What are its most important features?

DB:  The JugnooMe platform makes it easier to really build your online presence, due to our all-in-one dashboard and the ability to use multiple social accounts within the dashboard. By installing our social plug-in, which displays a social media bar on your website, this allows your visitors to share your content, connect with you online, contact you directly and more. Some of the features we feel are key are the integrated Twitter Feed, which allows you to update and manage multiple Twitter accounts; Global J-Post, which lets you update multiple networks at the same time; and our analytics and Social Search options, that help you monitor your brand mentions, your customer pain points, and see where your social media campaigns and web marketing is working, and where it needs work.

FC:  How much does it cost to use Jugnoo? What is Jugnoo’s business model?  How do you plan to make money from the service?

DB:  Currently, JugnooMe is free to use for everyone. The dashboard and plugin is ad-supported, with a small pop-up ad displayed through the website toolbar, which visitors can minimize. However, we are also looking at premium options that will allow users to dig into deeper customer behavior based on analytic reports, for example, or the sentiment around your brand and how you can reach out to your most loyal customers to reward them. Our main goal is to allow the option that the JugnooMe user prefers, whether that be ad-supported or premium.

FC:  Any final advice to franchisees who think they are too busy to carry out a comprehensive social media campaign?

DB:  I won’t lie — being on social media and using it effectively for your business will eat up time. However, you have to ask what’s most important for your business — continuing to ignore social media, or finding effective ways to manage your time to allow you to be successful both online and offline. We really believe that JugnooMe’s approach makes that decision easier for you.

FC:  Is there anything else you wish to share about Jugnoo?

DB:  As I mentioned earlier, our goal is to make the web simple, accessible and monetizable for everyone, but especially those that — until now — haven’t had either the budget or the time/resources to make this happen. We’re a very hungry company with a great track record in meeting our goals, and a very experienced team to help our users meet theirs. We’re also always listening to user feedback, to make Jugnoo the company that people think of when they need a solution to their problem, from JugnooMe’s social media solutions to our future products. That, and our genuine desire to make the social web simple, means we’ll be making sure our products back up our vision for our users and community.