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Tag: franchise marketing

Successful Franchisers Do These 5 Things to Find More Leads Online

Ok, so you finally made that leap of faith and decided to franchise your business. And why not? You have a proven business model that works. Your operational systems are tried and tested. You know how you want to grow and the best locations for success. It is equally important to build and protect your brand. Trust me, I have seen what can happen when you blindly give your logo to someone with publishing software without brand standards in place. You will end up with ads like this.

As a franchise owner, you may have already seen the difficulties with maintaining brand consistency across all of your marketing. Before pushing into online advertising, take a deep breath and then read this blog or view this SlideShare that provides five tips that will help you land more leads online.

April 21, 2016
5 Tips to Improve Your Franchise’s Online Display Ad Campaign

If you are a franchise business owner, you may have already encountered the difficulties that come along with trying to create brand consistency and improved user experience across all of the online marketing for your franchise businesses. If your primary goal up to this point has been to employ a streamlined strategy to ensure your online ads are yielding the most successful results, then you’ve likely already created quality content throughout all of your websites and set up a structure for your branded sites with consistent business location information across the Internet. You may have also gone the extra step to manage reviews and testimonials. Now that you’ve optimized your sites, you’re ready to apply your focus to online display ads to generate new consumer leads. If you’re just getting started, these five tips will help you set up the most successful display ads for your franchises.

1. Keep It Simple

With spending on online display ads projected to increase 90 percent between 2014 and 2019, it’s crucial to get ahead of the competition and get your franchise campaign set up properly the first time around. In short, creating a successful franchise display campaign involves reaching the right people with the right message at the right place. So you’ll want to focus on one service or product per ad and keep your message tailored to the consumer you’re trying to reach by making the content of your message relevant and easy to understand. Be sure to also include a clear call to action so the consumer knows what they get by clicking on your ad.

2. Use the Company’s Recognizable Look

One aspect of online display ads that can easily set you apart from the competition is the distinctive look of your brand. If your company uses the same logo, colors, and fonts across all of the franchise businesses, a consumer should see your ad and be immediately drawn to its recognizable look. When designing your ads, consider placing your logo at the top center for optimal results.

3. Use Contextual Targeting

Employing contextual targeting allows you to design your campaign so that your ads will be placed on sites whose content relates to what you’re selling. For example, if you are a frozen yogurt franchise with multiple locations, your ad might appear on a food blog or restaurant review site.

4. Use Remarketing Ads

Taking placement of online display ads to an even more sophisticated level, you may want to consider implementing a remarketing campaign. Remarketing lets you show ads to people who have visited your website or used your mobile app before. When people leave your website without buying anything, for example, remarketing helps you reconnect with them by showing relevant ads as they browse the web, use mobile apps, or search on Google.

5. Target All Desktop and Mobile Devices

As trends rapidly change and consumers rely more heavily on their mobile devices, it’s important to also target your ads across all desktop and mobile devices for maximum reach. Eventually, as you start measuring the clicks and leads generated from your online display ads, you’ll have a better idea as to what devices to spend more on. Make sure that you’re targeting by user and not by device for the most accurate results.

If you follow these five tips and continually make adjustments as the campaign progresses and you get measurable results, you should see how big an impact display ads can have on all of your franchises.

February 3, 2016
Continuity Is Key: 5 Tips for Syncing Up Your Multi-Location Franchise Marketing Plan

To the Small Business/Franchise Owner Interested in Growth:

You have started a business and are considering an expansion, which will include another location (or several)! In doing so, you’ve been able to achieve what many people only dream of doing. You’re reaping the rewards and ready for more, so what do you do next with this new intent to further grow your business?

You probably have hundreds of things on your business “to-do list,” but be careful not to lose sight of your online marketing efforts along the way. After all, 97 percent of consumers search online for products and services, according to SCORE, a U.S. Small Business Administration-supported nonprofit association. Although 51 percent of small businesses have websites, many are not built for success. Simply put, the success of a business can depend on the success of its online marketing strategy. Therefore, while you may be concerned with all of the logistics of expanding, you must remember to analyze your current marketing and understand how to evolve your strategy with regards to the changing business environment.

Small businesses have great potential to benefit from localized advertising and franchise marketing. Several factors are to be considered when expanding your marketing strategy across multiple locations with regards to SEO for small business, Internet franchise opportunities, and more.

Timing (Is Everything)

As with your decision to open a new franchise location, the timing of your release of marketing initiatives is crucial. If your marketing efforts are out of sync, you can easily confuse potential customers about your brand and the logistics of your new operation. Here are a few questions you should ask yourself about the timing of your Internet marketing efforts:

•Are your locations on different schedules?

•Is the seasonality of one business different than another? For example, if you work in retail, will one store have a stronger focus for the holiday season?

•Does one location exist in a space where certain holidays or events are celebrated that have lesser (general) importance? For example, if you operate a clothing store in Baton Rouge and want to open a new location in New Orleans, you have to consider adding merchandise and respective advertising for events like Red Dress Run, White Linen Night, and of course, Mardi Gras.

Implement Franchise Social Media at the Local Level

Whether it was a part of your previous local business Internet marketing efforts or you’re new to promoting your business on social media, it is important to create and maintain a social media strategy as your business grows and you build more locations. From there, you can manage your growing business and make sure the right people are seeing you throughout their daily routine on their platform of choice, and you can investigate the Ads Managers available to your business. Keep these questions in mind while you consider what role social media plays in franchise SEO for your business expansion:

•Do your multiple locations all warrant the same type of social media coverage?

•Do you have to create a new Facebook page for your new location, or can your posts promote all of your locations at once with the same content?

•Is one platform suited for all of your audiences, or does your new location/venture speak to a different client base that may be better reached another way?

Consistency Across Platforms

In addition to social media, it is important to make sure you provide marketing coverage for your business across all of your existing channels. Maybe your new location is something you want to push a little harder, so you might decide to purchase an outdoor advertising package or a television ad spot! No matter what marketing channels you use, do not lose sight of your original message. Don’t get so caught up in your expansion that you lose your brand and unique identity. Make sure that, no matter the platform, whether it’s traditional or digital media, you are consistent in your output.

Content Marketing Strategy

During this tumultuous time that could possibly make or break your brand, it is crucial to produce fresh, up-to-date content with a consistent message across all of your media channels. More eyes will be on you during the first few weeks (even months) of your new location, so soak up that limelight and wow them with fresh and captivating content! Keep in mind “content relevance.” For example, if your new location attracts a different type of customer, even a slightly different type, think about the sort of content that will spark their interests the most. Research the latest trends in your industry and see what they’re suggesting you write about or how you present yourself. Always remember: the medium is the message!

Build Solid Relationships

You’ve done it from the very start of your business, and it continues to be important as your business grows. Networking never goes out of style. As your business grows and you expand your marketing across multiple platforms, remember to keep spreading the word about your brand! Of course, if your brand is well-established already, people may be excited enough that they will come to your additional location without question. But some may require more convincing. Therefore, don’t neglect the relationships and connections you’ve made throughout the life of your business, as they can prove useful in helping to promote your newest venture.

Want to make sure you attract customers online for your expanding business or franchise? When it comes to online marketing solutions for multi-location businesses and franchises, trust the experts at Search Influence. For example, a Search Influence franchise client with more than 160 locations saw a more than 85 percent increase in total website traffic and an increase of more than 135 percent in total organic (unpaid) website traffic. This website traffic increase resulted from just two years of online marketing efforts. To translate that to dollars, revenue generated from organic website traffic increased by 65 percent. If you would like to see these results across your own business, contact us today to get started with a new, successful strategy to online marketing with Search Influence.

August 13, 2015
The Write Stuff: Search Influence’s Freelancer Community

Search Influence’s mission is to help businesses succeed online, and one of the ways we do that is by delivering high-quality content, from engaging blog posts to specialized website content and more. Talented freelance writers are a vital part of our content creation process. In fact, we’ve developed some great tools for managing our entire content creation process as well as an internal team of editors to ensure our freelance community is diverse and vibrant. Now it’s time we shine a spotlight on our talented community members and offer a look into what it’s like to work as a freelancer for Search Influence.

Who Can You Find Freelance Writing for Search Influence?

Saying that the Internet is diverse would be an understatement, so producing quality content means having a diverse team. Our community includes professional freelancers, students in undergraduate and professional programs, stay-at-home parents, world travelers (as I write this, we have freelancers spending time in Chile, Indonesia, and Italy), and more. We are always thrilled to match the right content with the right writer, whether that means a journalism student getting the chance to write a press release or an aspiring comic taking a crack at Twitter posts or blogs.

Developing a Diverse Writing Community

Over time, we have learned that our writers’ particular expertise is their greatest asset, so we’ve spoken to freelancers to identify the biggest challenges to leveraging that expertise to produce quality content. We have adjusted our grading scale to prioritize original and in-depth work, in order to encourage writers to focus on producing informative, natural content. Meanwhile, although our editorial team ensures all writing meets our standards for quality, we don’t penalize writers over minor technical mistakes. These changes encourage our freelancers to write content that improves our clients’ online presence by conveying valuable content to their audiences.

We have also taken steps to make sure our freelance community benefits from these changes. First, we raised our pay rates to ensure our writers felt how much we value them. Then, in Spring 2015, Search Influence created a new position, the Freelance Community Coordinator—that’s me—to develop our freelance community by providing valuable training to all of our writers. Before coming to Search Influence, I worked as both a writer and a writing instructor. I taught college writing courses and published articles and a book about Eastern Europe. I also worked as a freelance editor for international corporate and governmental clients, so I’m familiar with the freelancer perspective. In the coming year, I’ll be using that experience and insider knowledge to help Search Influence’s writers develop their freelance writing and professional skills.

Matching Talent with Content

Our freelancers come from many walks of life, so we don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach to workloads. We’ve developed a new software system in-house that allows writers to select their own tasks. This way, writers can select the assignments that best match their skills and interests. They can also take on as much or as little work as they want, based on their schedule.

This means that, at Search Influence, freelancers can decide to take on full-time workloads or only occasionally grab work when they need it. According to Mary S., that’s made a big difference: “The change in the system which allows writers to choose jobs from a list has been a huge improvement … Because of Search Influence’s system, I’ve been able to continue working at a slower pace and dedicate more time to my family.” Joel F., who freelances full-time, also sees the new system as a big improvement: “As a bonus, I like the modern task selection system, which allows me to schedule my work week according to the volume I can handle.”

Why They Choose Freelance Writing for Search Influence

Rather than telling you how our writers feel about writing for us, I’ll let them give their own review of freelancing for Search Influence:

Katie D. enjoys having a writing career that gives her the freedom to make her own work schedule. “I decided to seek out projects independently. I love the diversity of assignments. I also appreciate the flexibility, especially with a family,” she said. It only took her a few months to prove she’s an exceptionally well-rounded writer who’s dedicated to her work.

Over 10 years of freelancing, Mary S. has built up an impressive list of clients. She appreciates the variety of topics and media she can write at Search Influence. “The flexibility and variety of jobs is important to keeping my motivation strong … Having a variety of topics and clients helps keep things interesting and presents new challenges with each job.” Freelance writing for Search Influence has also made Mary incredibly adept at capturing the tone and message of specific clients—so much so that we’ve even had clients specifically request her work!

For Joel F., who has experience in everything from content production to graphic design, freelancing is about preparing for the future. “To put it simply, freelance writing is a fantastic way to practice. Formal tone, business style, marketing tactics, every one of these genres is explored regularly … My goal is to hone my marketing skills in writing so that when I eventually want to promote myself and my own businesses, I have all the skills already finely sharpened.” Joel has diligently developed time-management skills that have made him one of our most productive writers.

We are proud to count Katie, Mary, and Joel among the talented freelancers writing for Search Influence. As our freelance community continues to grow, we will continue to refine our system to provide them with valuable training and the flexibility to set their own schedules and develop their own specialties, all while continuing to deliver high-quality content that helps businesses succeed online.

Interested in a freelance writing gig for Search Influence? Apply online today!

August 7, 2015
More Locations, More Problems? Optimize Your Franchise SEO—Part 2
In part two of this two-part series about how to successfully optimize your franchise SEO, you will find three more winning strategies and steps for multi-location or franchise SEO.

It’s All About Location

The effort to have each location found in its own market is often perceived as the most challenging part of multi-location SEO. In part one of this series, we discussed the importance of building the central brand. Now we will tackle how to deal with individual location information, and the ways your franchisees can help to best optimize your franchise marketing and location SEO.

1. On-Site Location Pages

Now that you have built up your central brand, it is time to focus on your individual franchises. Each franchise location should have its own location landing page on your company’s website. Taking extra care to create separate location pages allows search engines to better understand that you have individual locations in specific geographic areas. It also gives you an opportunity to tell users about the unique products and services offered at each different location.

Here is a list of the necessary elements for an effective location page for Internet franchise opportunities:
- My Map to Google+ page
- Unique content for the specific location
- Directions to the location from different landmarks, highways, surrounding cities, etc.
- Photos of the location
- Reviews of the location (probably best to have a separate page for these)
- List of products and/or services (should link back to the main products/services pages)
- Schema MarkUp to the name, address, and phone number
- Link to the individual location’s social profiles
- Link to staff member profile pages
- Strong call to action
As with all web pages, it is a best practice to implement unique, compelling content on your location landing pages. Users expect a rich experience when navigating your site, and bland content may turn them away. At the same time, content that is too dense with information or full of keywords may deter users from your web page. To keep site visitors interested, give them valuable information using bullet points in case they are in a hurry. Some multi-location businesses leave a portion of these elements to be completed by the individual franchise owners and managers. In an ideal world, this would be an effective solution, but knowing that these kinds of franchise marketing requests are often put on the backburner, it is best to have a solitary stakeholder in the corporate office responsible for these tasks.

2. Citation Building

Citation building is perhaps the most daunting exercise when approaching multi-location SEO. As it is with SEO for single-location businesses, consistency of name, address, and phone number in your online business listings is key. You will often see name formats including the location, such as “Company Name – Lakeview Location.” However, this is not a best practice for SEO purposes. Instead, remove the location information, and keep the business name exactly the same for all of the locations. The different addresses and phone numbers for each location will be enough to differentiate them for both Google and your potential customers.

Each location should have a unique business description written for its online listings. This task may be best completed by individual franchisees, as it might be difficult for any one individual to write multiple, unique descriptions for essentially the same business.

On the other hand, you should choose the same categories and logo for every location. Adding unique pictures of each location and its staff would be a nice touch, as well, but it may not be worth the trouble if you have upwards of 10 to 15 locations. Some directories will offer more fields than others. It is in your best interest to provide as much information as possible.

Rather than taking on the incredibly time-consuming task of doing this for each individual business directory for every single location, consider using Moz Local. This tool makes pushing out each location’s name, address, phone number, categories, business descriptions, etc., to major directories as easy as a simple click of your mouse.

As you can see below, the major online data feeds and directories share their information with each other, which should allow Moz to take care of most of your citation building and cleanup. Just 90 days after you submit the listings to Moz, go back and see where you stand. Some manual cleanup may be required.

Expanding your search for niche directory opportunities for your company’s industry and each franchisee’s market is also highly recommended. By getting listed in these hyper-specific and hyper-local directories, you are giving search engines that much more information about what you offer and where your business should be found.

3. Enlist the Help of Your Franchisees

Enlisting the help of your franchisees may be a time-consuming task for some, which is why everything preceding this recommendation can be taken care of by one single source.

Allowing each of your locations to manage its own social presence can be both empowering and helpful for your visibility in search engine results. To help manage the challenges that may arise, you should create a clear social media policy outlining what is and what is not acceptable. Make your branding and the content of the posts a top priority when creating this social media manifesto. You will also want to make this a working document just in case someone finds a loophole that needs closing.

Each location should also be responsible for collecting positive reviews and testimonials from their customers. I would highly recommend incentivizing this effort and coaching your managers on the proper way to approach their customers. Written testimonials on the website serve as phenomenal selling tools. Reviews on Yelp, Google+, and other third-party review sites are even better.

Getting everyone on the same page with webinars can also be advantageous to the cause. Some topics that you will definitely want to cover include social media branding, social media posting, social media interaction, and how to ask customers for reviews. Break each of these up into bite-sized chunks, and keep your focus on the industry’s top three social media platforms. Side note: record all of your webinars, and make them available to your franchisees at their leisure.

Get Started!

As you can see, there is plenty of work to be done in order to achieve success with multi-location SEO. As your franchise grows and brings on new franchisees, use the above recommendations as a checklist for each new location. You can get most of this done within a week’s time for each new franchise location. Doing so will save you a lot of trouble down the road. It may be in your best interest to contact Search Influence for your online marketing needs, especially including the complicated maze of managing multi-location SEO and franchise marketing.

Image source:

Local Search Ecosystem image
May 11, 2015
More Locations, More Problems? Optimize Your Franchise SEO—Part 1

Do you ever feel like your efforts to market your business with more than one location are ineffective? Do you live with the constant doubt about whether or not you did as much for one location as you did for another, or if your franchisees are doing something counterproductive that will painfully squander your efforts? You may also be wondering how to get users from all of your markets to find their corresponding local franchise business. How much is too much when it comes to overstuffed keywords for franchise SEO and duplicate web pages with franchise marketing?

You don’t need to be an industry professional to know that comprehensive search engine optimization (SEO) requires a balance of more than a dozen simultaneously active elements. From consistently monitoring your targeted keywords to constantly generating new, compelling website content, maintaining high search engine rankings proves to be a multidimensional effort. It seems like all it takes is one surprise update or manual action from Google, and your entire SEO strategy can collapse like a house of cards. For multi-location businesses and franchises, this balancing act becomes even more complex, which is why Search Influence is here to help you not only maintain, but maximize the results of your Internet marketing and digital franchise efforts.

In this two-part series, you will receive a five-step guide that should answer all of your questions about multi-location or franchise SEO. This first piece will focus on building the corporate brand—a frequently forgotten necessity in effective franchise marketing for any business, regardless of the number of locations.

Build Your Brand

This may seem logical, but many times, webmasters and marketers get so caught up in the challenges that come with the individual locations that they forget they have a brand to promote. These recommendations have nothing to do with location-based information; however, they are just as significant to your franchise SEO and Internet marketing success.

1. Focus on the Main Pages

When I refer to the main pages, I am referring to the homepage, the “about us” page, your blog, and your products and services pages—in other words, any page that contains content that is applicable to the brand and its offerings.

These pages need to contain the best content on your site, as they will likely be the most visited. Depending on how many locations you have, you may want to include each location in the title tags of these pages, but I would avoid this practice if you have more than three, as title tags should not appear forced or spammy.

The blog, on the other hand, can be more versatile with regards to the content that you create. Your blog should be focused mainly on industry-specific topics, but it should also have a touch of personality. Things like showcasing your community involvement or a franchisee’s achievement are both great blog topics. Search engines love active blogs, because they show that you are keeping your site up to date by offering the latest and greatest industry knowledge in a timely fashion.

Having a mobile-friendly site is important to your franchise’s digital marketing efforts, especially with our heavy reliance on smartphones today. As Google rolled out one of its most significant algorithm updates in April 2015, your site could have been practically wiped off the map if it was not mobile-friendly, and the same is just as true today.

2. Off-Site Authority for Your Brand

Since Google’s more recent Penguin updates, the link building game has changed. Instead of worrying about getting links to your website and becoming keyword obsessed, we need to be thinking about building authority and a stronger overall presence for the brand.

The simplest way to do this is by creating social profiles for your brand. This is not to say that franchisees cannot or will not create their own individual pages, but you should own the brand and its voice by claiming and being active on the major social channels.

What are the major social channels, you ask? Google+, Facebook, and YouTube are all surefire winners here. But why Google+ and YouTube? One, they are both owned by Google, and you always want to make friends with the decision maker. Two, YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world. By regularly posting content to these profiles, search engines will get a better sense of what you offer and, in turn, what you should be found for. Note: you will have to rely on your franchisees to help you verify their individual Google+ listings.

Listing your company in categorical directories can also help the cause of brand building. If there is a relevant directory for the product or service you offer, your business should be listed, along with all of the details of your offering. In this scenario, becoming a part of industry associations can have as much of a benefit online as off.

There is nothing that can beat real, newsworthy press. Whether it be a press release, a magazine article, or a blog post, when your brand is mentioned online, Google is going to recognize it and correlate the content around it to your website. A link back to the site in these cases can prove helpful as well.

Now that you have a better sense for basic brand building, stay tuned for part two of this blog series, which will explain how to manage the optimization of all of your individual locations. At Search Influence, we are best equipped to help you succeed with your franchise marketing plan and franchise SEO efforts. Contact us today with any inquiries regarding how we can guarantee a successful online marketing strategy for your company.

May 6, 2015
Five For Friday: Do You Like Your Friends, Busting SEO Myths, and More

1. You’re Doing It Wrong: This App Tells You If You Actually Have Friends – Tech Crunch

Ever wonder if you actually like your friends? There’s now an app for that. The app, called “pplkpr,” monitors your heart rate through a wristband and sends you text message updates about your relationships. It even helps you schedule time to hang out with people it deems “better friends.” So next time you want to bail on plans to sit around and watch Netflix, just say “My app thinks I shouldn’t hang out with you.”

2. Is Google Making You Dumber? – Mashable

By keeping your browser homepage set to the default page, usually Google, you’re missing out on the opportunity to see something new every day. Changing your homepage to a more engaging site could allow you to learn a new word every day or to expand your horizons through photos. There are no limits on what page you set it to, and this article offers some great options if you’re looking for a daily knowledge boost.

3. …But When Will I Get My Robot Butler? – Tech Crunch

When Siri plays Hall & Oates instead of finding the nearest Walgreens, it makes me wonder if it’s even possible to build functioning, humanoid robots. Though constantly portrayed in popular culture, robots that mimic humans might never be a reality. Issues with artificial intelligence and voice recognition hold us back from being able to send a robot to take the trash out. Till large advances are made, it looks like I’m still going to have to do my chores myself.

4. A Special Set of Skills: How to Not Let Your Phone Get “Taken” – CNet

Though you might not need Liam Neeson to get your device free, hackers are taking phones hostage at alarming rates. By hiding ransomware links or apps, hackers can threaten to encrypt your device or lock your phone entirely unless you pay up. If you keep to reputable app sites and stay away from sketchy links, you can avoid having your phone “taken” right in your very hands.

5. Myths Busted! 5 SEO Myths That Need to Be Debunked – Search Engine Watch

SEO is always changing and updating (with the help of “P” named animals). With such a fast-paced industry, misconceptions easily find their way into common thinking. These myths can encourage unrealistic goals and set impossible standards. By demystifiying these myths, we set ourselves up for greater success and more satisfied customers. After all, the best place to hide a dead body is on the second page of Google results…

Image Sources:

Bye Felicia Image

January 23, 2015
Think Before You Post: Facebook, Chris Owens, and My Grandma

Chris Owens: from burlesque to the NFL.

I had an unexpected conversation with my Grandma on Christmas Day. You see, a while back my parents got her an iPad, and she uses it to get on Facebook pretty much every day. This has been a really great development for her, as it allows her to instantly see pictures of my cousins in Texas and keep up with family friends across the US.

My Grandma figured out how to declare that the Bee Gees are her favorite band on her Facebook page pretty quickly, but what I just discovered is that Facebook is a primarily innocent place for her. She hasn’t watched the site go from pokes to likes to pictures to drunken pictures to sarcasm to the Notorious IPO to one giant platform for ads like the rest of us have.

It made me realize how much fun Facebook was way back in 2007 when I first encountered it. This was back in a time when nobody could link Twitter to their status, Mark Zuckerberg didn’t care which movies you like to watch, and people were pretty much on point with their status updates — even though they all started with the dreaded “is.”

But above all that, I realized that when you are producing content for any online source, you have no idea who is going to read it and how they might react.

Would the Real Chris Owens Please Stand Up

Now, to understand the nature of my Grandma’s Facebook status misadventure, you first need a lesson in French Quarter Royalty. For as long as anyone can remember, a local singer, dancer, burlesque performer, and all around entertainer named Chris Owens has had a strong presence on Bourbon Street.

Every Easter, Owens leads what can only be described as the most sensational and fabulous Easter parade on the planet. She also holds court regularly in her eponymous club on the corner of Bourbon and St. Louis Streets. The woman is a living legend. She is also older than my grandmother, but that doesn’t seem to slow Chris Owens down one bit.

Now, imagine my surprise as I was watching an otherwise disappointing New Orleans Saints game versus the Atlanta Falcons when the name “Chris Owens” was suddenly all over the screen. It turns out the Falcons have a 26 year old cornerback named Chris Owens. He happened to have a very good game against the Saints that day (which I still hold against him), so the announcers kept saying the name “Chris Owens” again and again.

My initial thought was “My God, is there anything that woman can’t do?” and I posted as such on my Facebook wall. Little did I know the effects that would follow.

Sarcastic Facebook Status Updates

My friends and I tend to alternately vent our frustrations and shout our exultations about our beloved yet downtrodden New Orleans Saints during every game. This season started off with complaints about the replacement refs and ended in a mixed chorus of “next year” and “I hate Roger Goodell.” In the midst of all of this, I posted my status alluding to how amazing it is that a burlesque performer who got her start in the 1960s is also an NFL player, intentionally blurring the lines between the two very different people.

Now, when my Grandma read that, she didn’t take it that way. She agreed with me that Chris Owens the performer is amazing, and went on to say that she has been performing since my Grandma was a little girl. I thought that was a great comment, so I liked it.

Then my friend Christian came along and pulled a “Leave Britney Alone!” defense of Chris Owens. My grandmother, not accustomed to the level of cynical sarcasm, snark, and pop culture references that permeate Facebook status updates, thought she had offended my friend and was quite distressed. So on Christmas Day, I had to explain to my grandmother that no one was offended, and how no one means exactly what they say on Facebook. But how do we draw that line?

Watch What You Say

This brings me back to my central point. What started off as a small bit of humor to fill the void of a crappy Saints season ended up with my grandma scared that she had offended a friend of mine by talking about an octogenarian burlesque performer. (You want to move to New Orleans now, don’t you? This is normal here.)

It reminded me that no matter what your intention, and no matter what you say, you will probably offend someone somewhere. When writing online content for absolutely any outlet, your prime concern as an online content producer should be to sound as neutral as possible while still reaching your client’s intended audience.

This is not as easy as it sounds, and Facebook status update fails are only the tip of the iceberg — so be careful what you say and how you say it. A simple joke can end up being offensive, and that’s usually not what the client is looking for. While my incident didn’t make waves, a personal Facebook update can tarnish your professional reputation, and it’s even more important to watch out when you’re writing in the voice of a client. This isn’t to say that you can’t embrace divisive topics and provoke discussion, but as with most things, absolute clarity is the primary goal.

What is your favorite Facebook status misfire?

December 27, 2012