Who’s driving the bus in the new year?

In this recent article for Franchise Times, iFranchise Group CEO Mark Siebert explains why he believes 2019 will be the year of user-generated content.

Who’s Driving the Bus in the New Year?

Last year for the first time, digital advertising dollars soared past television ad spend by nearly $20 billion. For marketers, this isn’t unexpected. They know that social media has taken over as the key path to their target audiences, who are showing up digitally each day in record numbers – 80% of Americans are on Facebook, a third of the country on Instagram. Traditionally, marketing campaigns drive messaging to the masses, but in a new world of likes, tweets and ‘grams, marketers aren’t in the driver’s seat anymore. But franchise consultants will remind Franchisors they are still able to navigate the wheel.

This article explores the changing dynamic between messenger and message recipient in the world of franchise marketing, and why franchisors should lean in and “listen” to what is going on online. Unlike television or radio ads, social media creates a path for two-way communication, good and bad, and both with the possibility of achieving a positive, lead-generating outcome. The fact is, marketers can learn a lot from social media behavior and benefit from it in a way they never could through other media messaging.

What is user-generated content anyway? Why should franchise marketers embrace it rather than distance themselves?

Here Siebert offers concrete examples of why it is more important than ever for franchise marketers to use the power of social media to connect with its audience in real time, and in a way that breaks through the massive amount of noise created by everyone else in the space.