There are a few really important points I need to share coming out of IFA 2012:

Seriously though, IFA continues to be a really important event for us to get face-to-face with both franchise corporate officers and individual franchise owners. Each year we learn more about what challenges they face and how we can provide better solutions, along with new industry trends. A few thoughts in sum:

There is a lot of excitement around digital media, but the general mindset is still focused on basic analytics and search. There is an increasing awareness of the importance of maps, mobile and localized solutions. Hot topics included Google+ business pages and increased use of video. Franchise owners are also becoming more aware of the benefits of using a single digital marketing partner instead of having an SEO firm, a PPC firm, a video production partner, etc., however adoption of all media channels as part of an integrated campaign remains slow.

The franchise space is very interested in social media, but in a way like a shy middle school boy is interested in girls. They think they like it, but are afraid to go near it, and if they do go near it, its very awkward. I’d say based on my conversations, 20 percent of franchise owners are are excited and ready to go with social media, 60 percent are unsure but interested, and 20 percent won’t touch it.

We saw that there are two ways corporate officers tend to deal with managing social media across hundreds or thousands of locations. The first method is to just let things play out and trust the franchise owners to post or engage however they choose without centralized strategies or regulations. The second method is to seize control at a corporate level and not encourage owners to get involved in any form of social pages or local content engagement. Neither of these methods are optimal. Giving thousands of people free reign to post without a strategy or framework dilutes the brand and can lead to errors in individual judgement. On the other hand, having a strict corporate line with little or no localization doesn’t take advantage of the amazing opportunities for customer engagement social media provides. By using syndication and tracking tools such as Facebook’s Parent-Child option and MomentFeed, it’s possible to have the best of both worlds: localized social media content that conforms to brand values.

One thing we heard loud and clear from individual franchise owners was a sense of relief from just attending the show and learning that other owners face the same problems they do. Franchise and multi-unit businesses have unique challenges and a big part of gathering together at a conference like IFA is to share what works, what doesn’t and what’s coming in the future of this growing space.

Also, it was a good opportunity to work on my golf swing: