Social media is no longer a mystery for everyday users. While most people think of personal use and B2C, we are now seeing the true power of social networks for B2B companies! In today’s digital age, having a presence on social media is no longer optional for businesses. However, being active on every platform isn’t necessary for all companies. For franchisors, it’s an incredibly powerful tool for recruiting franchise candidates. Discover our tips on how to find franchise candidates using LinkedIn.
B2B and B2C: each network has its target market
Hold on! If you’re here, you probably already know the difference between B2B and B2C — but did you know that each social network has its own target audience and tone? Instagram and TikTok are ideal for B2C, while for B2B, LinkedIn — the professional social network par excellence — is highly recommended. LinkedIn is a world of its own. If you’re in B2B, your clients are on LinkedIn; in B2C, it’s your suppliers or distributors who are there! This network is full of opportunities, especially because not everyone is active daily, making it easier to stand out.
In franchising, it’s essential to communicate effectively with your target audience. LinkedIn is the go-to network for businesses: with over 800 million professionals and 57 million company accounts, it has become the professional social network to use. According to LinkedIn Business, for B2B marketers, 80% of leads generated from social networks come from this platform — highlighting the importance of integrating LinkedIn into your social media strategy.
LinkedIn, a goldmine of tools
First of all: a free B2B database
If you want to reach professionals — whether they’re future franchisees or fellow franchisors — there’s simply no better place than LinkedIn. The users of this platform are looking to connect with like-minded professionals, apply for and recruit candidates, and stay up to date with the latest news from companies and influential people around the world.
When you understand how LinkedIn members and brands use the platform, you’ll gain valuable insights into how you can integrate LinkedIn into your social media strategy.
From the outside, one might think LinkedIn is just a network for job seekers — but that’s not true! Everyone is there for different reasons: personal branding, keeping up with the news of a brand or company, looking for opportunities, and even finding clients! Everyone markets themselves in their own way. The advantage of LinkedIn is that you can truly create a page that reflects your identity. The B2B database is therefore huge, with plenty of prospects on the lookout for their next opportunity.
LinkedIn, a search engine.
LinkedIn is indeed a professional social network, but it is also a search engine — a place where people seek to make connections and expand their network. It works through a ripple effect: A is connected to B, who is connected to C. C sees that B has reacted to an offer or a post from A, so C wants to connect with A. In this way, the reach of posts can be infinite — and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.
The first thing to know is that LinkedIn is not a sales network. People go on LinkedIn to get informed, network, and exchange ideas — not to buy. On LinkedIn, you work on your visibility, brand image, and positioning. It’s the best place to establish yourself as an expert in your field.
The search engine is ideal for growing your community. You seek to connect with people who are interesting, who share common points, with whom you can propose opportunities or exchange experiences to learn and grow. All of this happens through the search engine. To achieve that, your LinkedIn page must be properly filled out with the right information. You need to appeal both to the algorithm and to the people visiting your page — so they stay and engage.
To achieve this, you need a catchy headline, a banner that reflects your visual identity, an “About” section that summarizes your value proposition and mission, and a direct link to your website. On LinkedIn, you should speak to your client indirectly — by showing how your offer meets their needs, particularly through storytelling. LinkedIn also allows you to post images and videos to illustrate your message.
When someone finds you, they’ll want to get in touch — make sure your franchise contact landing page is easily accessible!
Useful tools
LinkedIn is full of little tips and tricks to use without moderation. Here are a few of them:
On each profile, you can see a “similar profiles” column on the side — a particularly useful feature when you’re looking for specific types of profiles, for example when recruiting in a particular region! It’s a great tool to make cold outreach easier.
You can create engagement on your posts through polls, and on a regular post, if you use CTAs, you’ll encourage interaction — which in turn helps your post get better visibility.
You can reach out to your network when you’re looking for a location, a rare talent, a specific supplier, an investor, or even feedback on a topic — the network is generally happy to share opinions or offer help in the comments.
The profile title is important. For example, on the profile of the person handling recruitment for you, it should be clear what they offer and what your value proposition is. Users are much more likely to click than if the person simply lists their job title as “recruiter” within the company.
How do I prospect on LinkedIn?
Best practices
If you’re looking for specific profiles to recruit, you can write posts or make videos about that type of profile, and then mention that you’re currently recruiting for those roles. Be subtle, of course — the best way to recruit is to give before you receive. Talk to your audience about themselves! Don’t hesitate to share testimonials, vary your formats, and create recurring content. But above all, be consistent.
Moreover, comments are extremely powerful on LinkedIn — your entire network can see what you’ve commented on and can, in turn, react to it. Don’t hesitate to comment on articles related to your business or topics that interest you. As mentioned earlier, capillarity is the key to success and allows you to grow your community quickly. You’ll be able to interact with other professionals in your field about key industry issues, but you’ll also be able to humanize your franchise. You’re offering free, valuable content — such as webinars, freebies, or articles about your company’s latest news.
Finally, to prospect effectively, you need to know exactly which profile you’re targeting and understand your personas inside out.
To find franchise candidates, your page needs to be attractive. Visitors should be able to understand who you are and what you offer at a glance. The navigation should be smooth enough to naturally guide them toward your website or your franchise recruitment contact page.
What not to do on LinkedIn
It’s understandable to feel a bit overwhelmed when you first arrive on LinkedIn. The flood of inspiring posts, opportunities, debates, success stories — and even resignations — can be a lot to take in! There’s every kind of post imaginable. With topics being endless, it’s hard to say exactly what you should do. However, we can certainly share a list of things not to do on LinkedIn.
- Mass-inviting people without specific targeting
- Writing heavy, impersonal messages focused only on your commercial offer and offering no real value to the prospect.
- Sending constant follow-ups.
- Wanting to jump into every debate — stay focused on your target audience.
- Not proofreading yourself, neglecting syntax, and misspelling your texts.
- Forgetting the call to action.
- Not being consistent.
An additional recruitment tool.
LinkedIn offers powerful tools for recruitment.
Ads are part of it: each job offer can be sponsored, and posts or articles can also be promoted to strategically target certain users on their homepage. There are best practices available, all of which can be found on LinkedIn.
Another format exists and may be quite relevant for recruitment: sponsored messages. You need to identify the person who will represent your company and then engage your audience through LinkedIn messaging, offering them something aligned with your goal (e-book, testimonial, product demo, business event invitation). Finally, to choose the message format, determine whether you want one or multiple CTAs.
Message Ad campaigns achieve higher engagement than traditional email marketing. Combine them with a Lead Gen form to quickly generate quality leads. Use Conversation Ad campaigns to offer multiple calls to action directing your prospects to a Lead Gen form or to various landing pages. Thanks to the engagement statistics generated by your posts and ads, you can continuously improve your performance.
A management software to improve the recruitment process
A smooth recruitment is a successful recruitment. While the process may feel a bit tedious for the candidate, a good management software will help make it much smoother and keep the candidate engaged until the end. With a management software, you can streamline and improve the entire process thanks to the tools integrated into your platform.
Our web platform allows you to create a personal online space for each candidate. From the very first exchanges, the candidate is immersed in your brand’s universe and can envision their franchise project coming to life.
A real time-saver: you can collect all leads and track their progress automatically, thanks to our partner. Applications coming from other websites are also retrieved.
Finally, for even more personalization, configure your candidate journey by fully customizing the steps. Adapt the process based on the documents you want to send and collect, invitations to events or webinars, and save money on signing the DIP and other legal documents.
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