In the last decade, the existence of internet gives a big influence in the development of a brand, including franchise brands. It is important for franchisors to pay attention to consumers’ interest. APJII (Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association) reveals that Internet users in Indonesia reach 71.19 million in 2013. In addition, internet users today are not only dominated by the people in the major cities, but have also expanded to minor cities in Indonesia, where many franchise outlets spread out. From the survey conducted by Alvara Strategic Research to 1,550 respondents in six major cities in Indonesia, we can also learn that the digital consumers would first look for information about a product’s features and prices on the internet before deciding on the products they want to buy. To cope with this, franchises have to be sharp in reaching the hearts and minds of consumers to finally be able to stand up in the highest position over competitors who are also getting more aggressive.

In this case, flexibility becomes very important because content marketing is strongly influenced by the unique characteristics of local consumers. The needs of customers in a city can be very different from the needs of customers in other cities for the same franchise brand. In this case, a localized content marketing strategy is very important.

At the end of 2013, Fortune PR and Waggener Edstorm, an international affiliate partner of Fortune PR, launched a report entitled Content Matters, the impact of online brand storytelling to see general behavior of consumers in Indonesia that affects the decision making for a brand. From the report, it is known that the majority of Indonesian consumers are users of social media, 69% of which use Facebook as the most widely used social media platform. This means most of your consumers might use facebook every day and diligently follow various brands that actively communicate there.

Well, based on this information, we need to evaluate, do you actively communicate your franchise brand on facebook? For our clients, we always pay attention to several things, such as types of content to attract consumers, level of engagement that is created on facebook as the impact of the content, consumer responses on their Facebook accounts, and competitors’ activities in the same platform. We also closely watch on customers’ moods and emotions toward the content spread by the client’s brand and competitors’ brands. Well, have you done these things on facebook, in case your customers daily visit the site?

From the same survey, we also found out that Indonesian consumers faithfully follow their favorite brands on social media, especially mobile brands (93%), consumer electronics (77%), food / beverage(70%), personal care products (70%) and healthcare (65%).

Consumers who follow brands online are apparently willing to pay more for the brand. In terms of food and beverage, the amount of expenditure for brands they follow actively on social media even reaches 90% higher than the brands whose activities they do not follow on social media. It is crucial to be observed by franchisors.

Looking at this trend, it is important for franchisors to start building effective content marketing strategy to increase customers and consumers’ interest in our brand. Start now to develop social media accounts in accordance with local characteristics in which the franchise is located, refering to the general guidelines of franchise brands established together, and conduct content marketing locally to create emotional intimacy with consumers and customers.

Good luck in building content marketing for your franchise success.