🚀 Want the full picture on how AI, automation, and local marketing will shape franchise growth next year? 👉 Download the Free 2026 Franchise Marketing Guidebook to explore 10 major trends and insights from 15 franchise leaders.
Your best “storefront” might not be a literal storefront or your website. Nowadays, 54% of consumers research products on social platforms before purchasing. On 2026’s terms, it’s highly likely that your customer’s first impression of your brand will look be something like:
A TikTok filmed between classes
A Reel featuring a franchisee mid-laugh
A 12-second clip that feels real, human and fun
As Jami Stigliano, the Founder and CEO of DivaDance, puts it in Flamel’s 2026 Franchise Marketing Guidebook:
“Franchise brands will evolve beyond polished graphics and pivot almost entirely toward short-form, personality-driven content.
TikToks and Reels will become the new storefronts—places where authenticity, humor and storytelling drive brand loyalty.
The future of franchise marketing will belong to brands that humanize their teams (and franchisees!) and turn everyday moments into shareable, story-driven entertainment.”
Her thesis is simple: The franchise brands that win won’t look the most polished, but they’ll feel the most human.
Why Polished Franchise Content Alone Doesn’t Cut It
For years, franchise marketing has optimized for:
Perfect graphics
Brand-safe templates
HQ-approved visuals
But short-form platforms reward something else entirely, placing priorities on:
Faces over fonts
Energy over perfection
Stories over slogans
This shift is already happening. Short-form video on social media (TikTok, Reels, Shorts) is one of the highest‑impact formats for driving engagement. In fact, it generates about 2.5X more engagement than long‑form video on social platforms, and around 66% of marketers say short‑form delivers the highest engagement rate of any content type. As a result, authenticity has become a real competitive advantage for all brands. And franchises’ multi-location social profiles put both zees and zors in a unique position to authentically connect with their own communities and potential customers.
The “New Storefront,” Explained by Jami Stigliano
In the 2026 Franchise Marketing Guidebook, Jami’s insight breaks down into three practical pillars franchises can apply immediately.
Franchise Marketing Pillar #1: Personality > Polish
Customers want vibes, not visual-consistency demonstrations.
Over-produced content signals “brand.” Personality signals a potential for belonging, which is critical when building a small, community-focused business.
Franchise Marketing Pillar #2: People Are the Brand
The most trusted faces people see on social media are:
Franchisees
Instructors
Front-desk staff
Coaches
And customers!
People are dramatically more likely to make a purchase when they see a recommendation from someone they can relate to and trust. Consumers are up to 80% “more likely to purchase” when they see content and recommendations from real people they actually know and identify with.
Franchise Marketing Pillar #3: Everyday Moments = Content Gold
You likely feel like this is true, but data proves it! Audiences strongly prefer authentic, “imperfect” short‑form video over heavily staged, polished content and that this authenticity drives higher engagement and purchase intent. Stats show that videos under 90 seconds can hold around 50–70% of viewers’ attention to the end, especially when they feel like real moments rather than ads.
So what can these ultra-attention-retaining videos look like?
Behind-the-scenes clips
Day-in-the-life videos
Small wins
Testimonial-style clips
Community moments
So get inspired by your staff! Encourage customers to share their experiences! And ultimately, think of your TikTok and Reels strategy as being story-driven entertainment, rather than simply “posting for posting’s sake.”
Why Short Form Video Matters Specifically for Franchise & Multi-Location Brands
Jami’s perspective is especially powerful because she’s scaled a people-powered brand. DivaDance’s franchise marketing approach blends community-driven storytelling with tech-forward localized marketing strategies.
You can’t scale community-driven storytelling by controlling it from the top down, because no two communities are the same. Every franchise location is shaped by different owners, teams, customers, neighborhoods and rhythms of daily life. When franchisors try to force one voice, one script or one “approved” version of a story, the result feels flat and disconnected from the people it’s meant to reach. The brands that scale successfully understand that community relevance doesn’t come from tighter control, but from trust.
By empowering franchisees to share the real stories of their own businesses, customers and local moments—within clear brand guardrails—franchisors unlock marketing that feels authentic everywhere at once.
That’s how community-driven storytelling scales: Through many human voices telling one shared brand story.
Practical Takeaways: How Franchises Can Create Engaging Short-Form Video in 2026
First, reframe your thinking. While it may feel risky to allow franchisees to create and share their own video content, keep in mind that:
Low-energy content is riskier than imperfect content.
Silence is less effective than experimentation.
Customers forgive messiness, but not invisibility.
Inspired by Jami’s insights and Flamel’s Franchise Marketing Guidebook, franchise brands can move fast, retain brand control and feel human at the same time. Embrace simple strategies like:
🎥 Building simple short-form frameworks (not rigid scripts)
🧍♀️ Spotlighting real people weekly
📱 Designomg for vertical video (keep captions on and keep videos under 60 seconds)
🤖 Using AI for editing and ideation, but keeping humans in the loop
🧠 Training franchisees on storytelling, not “content rules”
If you want some inspiration on how other franchise brands are doing this, check out our guide 5 Franchise Brands Absolutely Crushing It on TikTok (And What You Can Learn From Them).
2026 Belongs to Authentic Brands, Only
AI can generate content. Automation can scale distribution. True connection, however, will always and only come from the real people across your franchise network.
Feeling excited to upgrade your franchise marketing in 2026? This post is part of a larger series highlighting insights from leaders featured in the 2026 Franchise Marketing Guidebook, including our recent piece inspired by Lynn Blashford, CMO of White Castle.
👉 Download the free Guidebook here to explore:
Jami Stigliano’s full perspective
Insights from 14 other franchise executives
Practical tools to turn personality into performance
This year’s winning brands won’t just show up everywhere. They’ll show up as themselves.
