You know, not the kind where you post photos of how adorable your puppy looks. But rather, the ones that yell out to potential franchisees that you are looking for a franchise owner.

That kind of blog.

It turns out that in Singapore, food and blogging goes hand in hand. A quick search at Ping.sg yields 8975 posts on the term ‘food’ alone. In addition, the more prolific food-centric blogs, both commercial and non-commercial, tend to rack up a decent amount of press mentions.

Sure, there are tons of hype revolving around the idea of connecting consumers and forging communities around brands through leveraging on blogging and other forms of social marketing, but for a food franchise, let’s be honest - the consumer is more interested in what is being served on their platter than the business implications behind.

There are however, much more compelling motivations for franchisers to engage in blogging - Let me try to give a more realistic view. When integrated with your traditional website, the blog can serve as a low-cost online tool where you can add a personal touch to humanize your franchise and might make the reader more interested in your business.

You can start by sharing the story of your franchise concept and documenting the incremental growth of your business – to showcasing your knowledge and expertise by providing vital information to prospective franchisees of your system. Better yet, you can offer tips on anything from guides to staff training and how-to-guides on selecting the right franchise.

But why should these matter? By relating to and connecting with potential and existing franchisees, your blog can serve as the platform for sharing experiences amongst franchisees and help generate the much needed point of differentiation in the saturated food franchise arena – a point to which prospects can set your franchise apart from others.

That said, blogging may not always yield immediate results but according to Debbie Weil, a corporate blogging consultant and author of “The Corporate Blogging Book”, they can be part of a “halo effect” that ultimately gives businesses a bigger online presence.

The bottom line is that a blog is a great way to differentiate yourself from the multinational franchises and can greatly enhance your ability to communicate with your market and find new sources of leads. It also offers one of the greatest opportunities around to cultivate relationships with your franchisees.

Kind of makes you want to start blogging, doesn’t it?

(published in Optimum Magazine, Astreem, January 2009)