The Most "Liked" Franchises on Facebook

Back in April at FranCamp 2012, I spent a fair amount of time beginning the conversation of the advantage Big Brands have over Small Brands on Facebook.

Over the summer,  I took some time to do a down and dirty analysis of Franchised Brands' relative rank in Facebook "Likes" compared to their overall size, based on world-wide sales.  I'm not a researcher so this nothing scientific and you could have done it if you wanted to invest the time.

So since I did invest the time, here are the results of simply looking at the top 100 Franchised Brands from the 2011 Franchise Times report and looking at the number of "likes" they have on Facebook.

Some quick observations that may not be very surprising:

1. Of the Franchise Times Top 100 Franchised Brands, 47 are Food concepts and they completely dominate the top "Liked" Franchised Brands.  
2. 43 of the Top 50 "liked" Franchised Brands on Facebook are all Food.
3. The Top "Liked" Non-Food brand is GNC with nearly 600,000 likes
4. The ONLY other Non-Food brands in the Top 50 "Likes" are Ace Hardware, am/pm, Snap On Tools, Curves and  UPS Stores

Now here's where it got interesting for me.  What's the delta between the brand's rank in the Top 100 (again, based on system-wide world-wide sales) vs. their rank in Facebook "Likes"? 

Note:  I did not include the Lodging and Real Estate Brands in this analysis because, quite frankly, they're a mess.  Most of them have so many different local properties and franchisees with pages that I couldn't come to a simple conclusion on their aggregated "likes" without a ton more time invested (wasted).


Here's my analysis

It's interesting to see the biggest deltas between the Sales rank and the Facebook rank.  These brands are the top ten overachievers:

• Krispy Kreme
• Jimmy Johns
• Five Guys
• Hooters
• Bojangles
• Buffalo Wild Wings
• Zaxby's
• Long John Silvers
• Baskin Robbins
• Steak N Shake 

Those restaurant brands that have opportunity to grow their "likes" based on their sales rank include:

• KFC
• Wendy's
• Burger King
• Tim Horton's

Since I started this blog post back in May and finished it in early August, I have another cut of the data that shows the growth of "Likes" for the top brands.   Generally, the growth per brand was between 5-8%.  Not bad for essentially 90 days.

What stood out was the growth that 5 brands enjoyed:

Chick-fil-A  -- Gained 1.1 million "likes" (+22.6%)

KFC  -- Gained 818,000 "likes" (+35.9%)
iHop --= Gained 581,826 "likes" (+33.3%)
Sonic -- Gained 496,962 "likes" (+33.4%)
Applebees -- Gained 592,000 "likes" (+23.7%)

and relatively small, but Red Robin added 164,985 new "likes", an increase of 44.1%

I wonder if the Chick-fil-A growth was due to its recent "Appreciation Day"?  But what about KFC??  Hasn't their marketing been more active recently?

Once again, here's my analysis including the growth.

All in all, this was an interesting project.  The leader of "Liked" Franchise Brands continues to be McDonald's with over 21 million "likes" followed by Subway with 15.6 million, Taco Bell (nearly 9 million), Buffalo Wild Wings (8.2 million) and Pizza Hut (8.1 million).

How's this compare to other brands?

The Top 5 product brands I was able to find are:

Coca-Cola - 46.5 million
Converse - 32.4 million
Starbucks - 31.2 million
Red Bull - 29.1 million
Oreo - 27.5 million

And to conclude, everyone pales in comparison to Lady Gaga who has over 53 million "likes".

If you would like a copy of the complete research, please email me at todd@toddleiser.com

And if you are working on your CFE (Certified Franchise Executive), we'll be sharing more about this at the ICFE Special Session on Social Media & Franchising, February 17, 2003 at the IFA's 53rd Annual Convention.

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Everything I know about Social Media I learned from NASCAR

Everything I know about Social Media I learned from NASCAR

This weekend, NASCAR and Twitter kick off a formal partnership that you can read about at the Google News Round-up.  Having been a NASCAR fan since 1991 when I lived in Charlotte, North Carolina and was exposed to the sport, I have been watching how the NASCAR community has adopted social media, and Twitter especially, organically over the past year or two.  NASCAR fans have migrated to new technology at a faster rate than the American population at large, according to NASCAR consumer research (as published in Fast Company).

As a matter of fact, my wife, also a NASCAR fan, hasn't watched a race in nearly a year without being accompanied by her Twitter account streaming on her iPad.  Her use, some of my own and observation,  has helped me understand some Best Practices that can be transferred to any one or any brand.

While drivers don't tweet from their cars while they are racing at around 200 MPH, their spouses, non-racing staff and others within their team will provide either inside information from the pits, transcripts of their driver radio communication, or simple comments that add context to what's happening on the track.


NASCAR has always been more transparent than any other sport:

1. Fan access to the Garage and Pit Road on race days (for select fans) which is essentially like being in  on the sidelines during a pro football game.
2. Two-way radio communications between the Driver and crew is open for anyone at the race with a radio scanner or at home on the web, to hear inside conversation and strategy within the drivers' teams.  You can eavesdrop in between the driver (athlete) and their Crew Chief (head coach) and their "Spotters" (offensive/defensive coordinators up in the booth)  
3. Even the NASCAR officials make their two-way communication available to the fans in the same manner as the teams.  You can hear "race control" (the referees),  track personnel (the ground crew) and even security/safety personnel.

So it's a natural for the NASCAR professional community (team owners, drivers, crew members, NASCAR executives and officials, and even the NASCAR news media) to use social media, and especially Twitter.  It's simply an extension of their transparency that has been part of the sport for it's 60+ year history.

 Here's a great example I shared at FranCamp.  Brad Keselowski, driver of the Miller Lite Dodge, tweeted a photo from inside his car while in a "red-flag" stop (cars stopped on the track) during the Daytona 500 on February 28, 2012.   He started the day with 65,000 followers.  A simple behind-the-scenes photo tweeted, picked up by others in the NASCAR community (including national television reporters/announcers)


By and by the end of the night Brad had over 200,000 followers.

And here's another key component.  It's the two-way communication that social media is all about.  In the past, the NASCAR communication channel within this transparency has been one way.  Great for the fans to passively see and hear what's happening, but now, the fans get to speak to the professional community...... and they respond!  Think of a radio call-in show where a few lucky listeners get to get through on air and ask a question of the guest.   Twitter provides an open channel 24/7 to the EVERYONE within the NASCAR professional community that has a Twitter account.  It's amazing to see the amount of response they provide to fans.

Major League Baseball, noticing what NASCAR has been doing in social media, is now encouraging their players to tweet during the All-Star Game next month.

Besides the personalities of the real people within NASCAR, as with any community, there needs to be spice.  In ancient times it was the court jester.  In today's NASCAR community there are a number of inanimate objects that tweet.  Typically their tweets are humorous and sometimes down right mean, but it adds yet another ingredient to the mix.

@theorangecone - The traffic cone that sits at the entrance to pit road
@jacquesdebris - Usually appears when the caution flag flies ("for debris on the track')
@nascarcasm - The sarcastic NASCAR tweep
@Sir_NASCARNAGE - Self-proclaimed master of mayhem and menace to NASCAR

Of course these are real people anonymously tweeting.  Think @FakeSteveJobs

Now, how can we all learn from this:

1. Inside information and behind-the-scenes transparency.  It's human nature to want to see what's not apparent to the public at large.  I made a point of this at FranCamp as a key component to delight (and gain) followers.   Just look at how celebrities are followed by fans to get a glimpse of what they might be thinking or doing that the cameras and press don't capture.
2. Show personality.  Part of the intense interest in NASCAR among fans is what many call the "soap opera" of the sport.  There are so many personalities, some of which get painted with white hats and black hats, that there's another natural human emotion of wanting to root for or against and follow along.   Add in the personality behind the personality and you really have a "one plus one equals three" scenario for engagement and traction.
3. Be timely.   Be in the moment.  While a lot is said of the generic inside information that comes from the NASCAR community, there is nothing like getting that inside information as it occurs during the race or practice session or press conference.  Surely you can find something with your brand that is timely.  The formula is:  Inside Information+Timeliness+Personality = Engagement

NASCAR may have been the entity that first really captured the essence of "community".  Twitter (and social media) is just the enabling technology that takes it to a whole new level, which starting this weekend, will become more visible and the entire community will profit from it.

1. Fans will get more insight and transparency
2. NASCAR will get more exposure to new markets they are actively trying to expand into
3. Twitter will get more traffic from an audience that many wouldn't think would be big adopters, but have been on the forefront more than most realize.

With this, everyone is enriched.  Some via information.  Others via $$.

What are you doing to really enrich your followers?  Watch the NASCAR race this Sunday at 1pm:  "The Pocono 400 sponsored by Hashtag NASCAR" on TNT.  Watch it on TV and simultaneously on Twitter and see what how NASCAR is innovating and what you can learn!

Here's a link to my NASCAR Pinterest Board

Update:  Here's one of the several 15 second TV commercials created and aired during the race on Sunday, featuring  @Keselowski:

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FranCamp 2012 Follow-Up

Ooooh there's a brand in my stream...

At FranCamp 2012, during my presentation on "Building the Perfect Social Media Campaign",  I posed a few questions.

1. Is there such a thing?
2. If so, how do you recognize it?
3. Do small brands have the same opportunity in social media as big brands ?
4. Do people really want brands marketing to them in their social media streams?

In future blog posts I will try to open up the discussion on these questions in more detail with the hopes of getting your thoughts and creating a discussion.  

But I want to start with the last question:   Do (normal) people want to hear from brands?  And if so, when, how often, in what form, etc?

My conundrum is that all the research would indicate that people don't want to be marketed to in their social medium streams.  They joined Facebook, Google+, Twitter and others to primarily communicate with their family and friends.  

Here's a link to a simple infographic showing some of the research.

But if consumers say they don't want to be marketed to, then why do brands like these have some many followers and likes?

At FranCamp, someone asked the question if this is self-reported data.  It appears so and we all know that self-reported research and actual activity don't always match up

My takeaway and thesis is that there are characteristics that will cause a brand to be followed or liked.  The consumer has to:

1. Really "love" the brand to be liked or followed.
2. Have been incented with a coupon or discount (and the follow-up communication from the brand has been meaningful and/or valuable to the consumer to avoid drop-off)
3. Had a long relationship with primarily BIG brand (which I believe have an advantage in social media)

If you're not Coca-Cola, Red Bull or Starbucks, you should focus on the following:

1. Have realistic expectations for the number of likes, fans, followers (you don't need 20 million "likes").
2. Focus on creating meaningful content always with a focus from the consumers' perspective.
3. Leverage your traditional marketing to grow your social media consumer engagement.

Next blog post we'll dive into some specific big brands mentioned at FranCamp and what we can learn from their activity and results.  

What do you think??  Leave a comment.

Here's the video of my FranCamp 2012  presentation:

And here's the link to all the FranCamp 2012 presentations.

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FranCamp 2012 Pre-work

By Todd Leiser


Listen to the April 19th discussion of the "Perfect Social Media Campaign" on Social Geek Radio.  Hear how the Dr. Pepper & White Castle social media campaigns tie into the Pepto-Bismol Social Media Campaign both socially and in reality!

Listen to internet radio with Social Geek Radio on Blog Talk Radio

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Ahead of my presentation at FranCamp 2012 on May 4th -- "Building the Perfect Social Media Campaign", throughout the month of April, I will be posting some elements that will be helpful for attendees (and non-attendees) to review prior to the event:

Since FranCamp is in Atlanta, the home of many iconic companies, I'm going to highlight some that are deeply committed to figuring out how to leverage social media, for many different objectives.

Probably the most impressive strategy and transparency to that strategy, is Coca-Cola.  Take the time to watch these two short creative videos and see how they are incorporating social media as part of a plan to double the size of their business.

Part One:

Part Two:

Delta Airlines took their own people and taught them about social media rather than hire an outside firm and teach them about their business:

Here's a link to the slides referenced in the above video.

And also this is a really good short 4 minute video that shows Delta's Social Media strategy in action. Creating a customer for life is very cool:

UPS presents how they use social media for customer service (sorry the audio is poor).   

And be sure to register for FranCamp today

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