Most franchisees will not have social media addressed specifically in their Franchise Agreements.  So, there is not much stopping franchisees from participating in social media web sites.  New franchisees are now starting to see company’s social media policies in their franchise agreements.What is the big deal with a franchisee setting up a Twitter or Facebook page?  Here are a few:

• A franchisee’s page is neglected and it reflects poorly on the brand.
• A franchisee posts a coupon on his Twitter page but isn’t clear that it is only valid at his store.
• A franchisee’s personality can become evident over time with social media – is this good for the brand, is it confusing?

In my opinion, from what I’ve seen with social media for 99.5% of restaurants – an proactive social media strategy is really on good for sending discount promotions to a ready pool of your customers.    You can sometimes get ‘buzz’ from online communities,  but the resulting increase in sales is almost always negligible.

The marketing function performed by most franchisors can mean the difference between a flat year-over-year sales, and 13% year-over-year decrease in sales.   For Pizza Hut’s largest franchisee, NPC, that difference in sales a massive amount of money.  Hypothetically, if the average Pizza Hut does $1.5 million in sales, then we are talking about a $195,000 difference per store.  With 1,150 stores, we’re talking about $22.4 million.  That’s a large distribution check for the owners to miss out on!

Burger King franchisees are suing their franchisor over being forced to price the double cheeseburger at maximum of $1.  Franchisees’ problem is that it costs more than $1 to make and sell.  I’m sure Burger King corporate response to the loss argument is that the total average sale involving the $1 double cheeseburger turns a profit, because on average people also buy at least a drink and fries.