Defining the role of social media as a contemporary local area marketing technique in franchising

Literature on Local Area Marketing (LAM) and social media engagement techniques for franchise businesses is scant, with Direct and Online Marketing the primary focus. It is important for franchise businesses to have a qualified understanding of social media to integrate its use as a LAM technique in their business. Problems facing franchise businesses include confusion over how social media functions within local area marketing strategy, a unified perception over how social media can be used to develop their business, and the lack of a basic theoretical model for social media engagement and LAM guidelines. This chapter examines the role of social media in LAM. It explores the franchise business attitude on new technology adoption including the use of social media. It presents a coordinated framework for the application of social media to increase awareness and enhance franchise business success, providing an important contribution to the franchise industry sector.