Episode 36: How to Scale Social Media Content Across Hundreds of Franchise Locations

Key Takeaways

• TikTok and YouTube Shorts are becoming important search and discovery channels for multi-location brands
• Employee-generated content (EGC) and user-generated content (UGC) outperform polished, brand-produced content
• Dynamic baseline posts, local templates, and custom post requests — allows franchises to scale content while keeping it locally relevant
• LLMs and AI search engines are giving preference to original, locally relevant content
• Facebook still delivers strong results for multi-location brands, especially through multi-image gallery posts and local SEO benefits.

Scaling social media content across hundreds of franchise locations is one of the biggest challenges multi-location brands face today. Post the same content everywhere and you lose local relevance. Leave it entirely to local operators and you lose brand consistency. Finding the sweet spot between the two is where the real results happen.

In this episode of the Local Marketing Beat podcast, host Christian Hustle sits down with Melissa Telsrow, President and Co-Founder of Hiper, a multi-location marketing agency based in Minneapolis, to explore how franchise brands can build scalable content systems that still feel authentically local — from employee-generated content and social search strategy to a three-pronged publishing framework that keeps every location covered.

Timestamps

00:00 – Christian welcomes Melissa Telsrow and introduces the franchise content topic.

01:37 – How consumer behavior is changing with AI and social search.

03:56 – TikTok and Shorts as search and discovery channels, and the new locals feed.

06:00 – The breakdown between For You page views and search-driven views on TikTok.

07:14 – Which verticals benefit most from social search content.

08:48 – AI-generated content vs. original content: the trust and authority question.

10:10 – Employee-generated content (EGC) and behind-the-scenes strategy.

12:28 – Empowering local operators and why original content is the differentiator.

15:52 – How to scale content across hundreds of locations with a three-pronged system.

18:12 – Common mistakes franchises make with content, including waterfall content and over-polishing.

Social Search Is Reshaping How Customers Find Local Businesses

"We're really leaning into social search insights and how that informs our content calendars to kind of meet customers where they're spending their time, which is oftentimes on their phone." — Melissa Telsrow

The way consumers discover local businesses is shifting. According to Melissa, near me searches remain paramount for categories like coffee shops, but the search journey increasingly starts on platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts. TikTok is skewing toward a slightly older demographic, between 25 and 35, and its algorithm surfaces content based on interest before a user even searches — giving brands exposure to new audiences who may not yet know they exist.

Melissa explained that Hiper tracks TikTok performance at the post level, separating views from the For You page versus views from search. While the For You page still dominates, search-driven views account for roughly 15 to 20 percent of traffic. That percentage is growing and becoming a bigger part of their strategy. TikTok's recent release of a locals feed — a dedicated stream of locally relevant content — further reinforces how the platform is thinking about local discovery.

This content also feeds into traditional search. Melissa noted that TikTok videos and YouTube Shorts now appear directly in Google search results, meaning a strong short-form content strategy on social platforms can also improve a brand's visibility in Google search.

Why Original Content Beats AI-Generated Content For Trust And Authority

"We kind of have this sacred bubble around content creation and that it is original, it's real. We are not producing content from AI for that reason — for trust and authority." — Melissa Telsrow

As AI-generated content floods social feeds, Melissa said that consumers are having a harder time trusting what they see online. Her agency has drawn a clear line: content creation stays original and real. Hiper uses user-generated content, content collaborators, and employee-generated content rather than AI-produced imagery or video.

That does not mean AI has no role. Melissa explained that Hiper uses AI for research — understanding top-performing hooks, analyzing what content works within a vertical, identifying patterns and frameworks — and then applies those insights to original content. The creative itself, however, remains human-made. The goal is to present something that feels real and approachable, which in turn builds the trust and authority that drives customer engagement.

This approach is also aligned with how AI search engines and LLMs are evolving. Melissa pointed out that LLMs are giving preference to local and original content, wanting to recommend something unique to a user’s preferences. Brands that invest in authentic, locally relevant content will pull ahead in this environment.

Employee-Generated Content: The New Behind-The-Scenes Strategy

"People are just looking for an understanding of who are the people behind the brands. Who is actually making this, producing that? Who is the social team? It's that behind-the-scenes look that is really resonating in a similar way to UGC." — Melissa Telsrow

Employee-generated content, or EGC, is an extension of the behind-the-scenes content trend that has been gaining popularity on social media. Melissa described how Hiper builds EGC directly into content calendars for clients. One example she shared was a tiny mic series for one client, where a staff representative has built a name for himself within the organization as the go-to person for event interviews.

The key, according to Melissa, is giving employees guardrails — a framework within which they can create content and have fun — while building that into the overall content culture. When employees are empowered to participate and enjoy the process, the resulting content tends to be the top-performing material. It feels genuine, and audiences respond to that authenticity.

Melissa also referenced a recent Gap campaign that combined an official campaign launch and teaser with behind-the-scenes content from the social media team reacting to the campaign and participating in a related trend. This layered approach — official content plus employee content — gives brands multiple touchpoints with their audience.

A Three-Pronged System For Scaling Content Across Hundreds Of Locations

"We make sure that every location has relevant content regardless if the local operator submits something or not. Having that marketing kind of framework that they can work within — it just becomes a system." — Melissa Telsrow

Scaling social media content to hundreds of franchise locations without simply copying and pasting the same post everywhere is a core challenge for multi-location brands. Melissa outlined the three-pronged approach that Hiper uses to publish thousands of posts per month.

The first layer is a dynamic baseline. Using a tech platform on the back end, Hiper inserts community names, custom fields, and local URL links into captions through one workflow. This means every location gets locally relevant content automatically, even if the local operator does not submit anything.

The second layer is templates. Each month, Hiper provides editable templates aligned with the editorial calendar. These are not finished graphics — they include prompts like "add your five photos here" or "add your video here" so that local operators can personalize the content with their own assets and schedule it for publishing.

The third layer is a custom post request system. When a local operator has a special use case — for instance, a collaboration with a neighboring business — they can submit a request and Hiper’s managed service team handles the rest. The local operator does not need to be a content marketing expert; they just need to flag what is happening locally.

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Common Mistakes Franchise Brands Make With Social Content

"If they would just let the data help inform their content mix, they would see that that's what is resonating with people." — Melissa Telsrow

Melissa highlighted several mistakes she commonly sees among franchise brands. The first is waterfall content — where a parent brand's national content automatically cascades down to every local store page on Facebook. While convenient, this approach removes local relevance entirely. Worse, comments from one page can get cascaded across the entire ecosystem. Melissa recommended using tools that push original content to every page and turning off waterfall content.

Another mistake is undervaluing Facebook’s SEO benefit. Even for brands whose core channel is Instagram, Facebook pages frequently appear as the second or third result on a Google search page. Treating Facebook purely as a content channel and ignoring its local SEO value is a missed opportunity.

Finally, Melissa pointed to over-polishing content. Professional photo shoots can come across as ads that people scroll past, while less polished, native-feeling content — selfies, phone photos, real moments — draws more engagement. She cited a stat shared by TikTok at a recent conference: UGC on TikTok performs 55% better than polished content.