Why Restaurants Should Get on Board with Social Media
Social-media marketing can drive traffic and sales in addition to building brand awareness and loyalty.
By Allison Perlik, Senior Editor -- Restaurants and Institutions, 6/1/2009
Stories abound of enterprising restaurateurs finding new customers by posting promotions on Twitter or garnering thousands of fans on Facebook. Understandably, however, not all foodservice operators are convinced that social-media tools such as these are a viable way to boost business.
But try this on for size: Nearly one-third of Americans use social-media Web sites and tools at least twice a week, according to the 2008 Business in Social Media Study from Cone, a Boston-based marketing and branding consultancy. Additionally, more than half of social-media users say they feel a stronger connection with the companies and brands they can interact with online—and feel better served by them.
"Web 2.0 is all about going to where your customers are, because they're not just going to come to your dot-com site and spend time," says Van Vandegrift, president and emerging-media consultant with Matrixx Pictures, a Santa Monica, Calif., production company whose clients include Austin, Texas-based Schlotzsky's Deli.
The real opportunity of social media, for foodservice operators and any other business looking to connect with its audience, lies in reaching consumers where they're already interacting: microblogs (such as Twitter), social-networking sites (such as Facebook) and sites for sharing videos, photos and opinions.
Not only do these tech-based avenues offer a forum for one-on-one conversations between brands and consumers, but also they give customers the chance to choose how they want to receive information from the company, says Crosby Noricks, a social-media strategist with Red Door Interactive in San Diego. The Internet-presence-management firm's clients include locally based buffet chain Sweet Tomatoes/Souplantation.
Given its low cost of use compared with traditional marketing vehicles such as print, television and radio, social-media marketing can be a good fit for foodservice operations of all sizes, whether the goal is to drive traffic and sales or strengthen brand awareness and loyalty.
"For smaller chains like us, it's an easy and inexpensive way to reach our customers," says Stacey Kane, director of marketing for California Tortilla, a 37-unit fast-casual chain based in Rockville, Md., that builds buzz—and sales—with Twitter- and Facebook-driven promotions such as Secret Password Day (see "Follow the Leaders" on page 37 for details). "And it's a way to reach people instantaneously. There's no big backup on producing artwork or a radio spot. You have the idea and you can send it out."
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Social-Media Marketing for Restaurants: 10 Tips
Allison Perlik, Senior Editor -- Restaurants and Institutions, 6/5/2009 11:03:00 AM
1. Create a plan before jumping in.
First, know your audience, says L. Michelle Smith, president and CEO of Dallas-based media-strategy firm M Strategies Inc., whose clients include Atlanta-based Church's Chicken. Are your customers on social networks, and if so, which ones? Next, know what you want to accomplish: Is your goal to build a relationship through dialogue with an audience? To tell people about the brand, or about news and events? "It's not a strategy just to be there," Smith says.
2. "Listen" to what's being said about your brand.
Search social-media sites and read what already has been posted—not just in reviews but in comments and conversations. "You'll learn a phenomenal amount," says Van Vandegrift, president and emerging-media consultant with Matrixx Pictures, a Santa Monica, Calif., production company whose clients include Austin, Texas-based Schlotzsky's Deli. "They'll say all the things they love and all the things they hate, and that's incredible business knowledge. And then you'll know who they are, so you can reach out to them." Also make it a priority to monitor the conversation regularly. Some social-media sites, such as Twitter, let users set up RSS feeds around search terms. Tweetlater.com, a Twitter companion, tracks keywords and then e-mails users a digest of tweets that contain those terms. Other options include blog-searching sites such as Technorati, and Google Alerts, which sends e-mail updates every time a search term is mentioned on a blog or another Web site.
3. Figure out your brand's voice.
Decide whether you want to speak to consumers in your personal voice (i.e., as the owner, chef or general manager), or as the overall brand, says Christina Wong, restaurant and chef publicist at JS² Communications in Los Angeles. At Culver City, Calif.-based chain Tender Greens, for example, five chefs contribute Twitter posts under the brand's umbrella, while Graham Elliot Bowles, chef-owner of Graham Elliot in Chicago, shares more-personalized thoughts in the first person.
4. Put time to the task.
Assign someone—whether an in-house employee or an outside consultant—the task of developing and managing social-media strategies. "When social media first came out, it was OK to put an intern on it," says Crosby Noricks, a social-media strategist with Red Door Interactive in San Diego. "But you get the best results with a strong strategic plan, and that requires creative assets and the hours to monitor, communicate and engage." And make sure to tie together all Web 2.0 efforts, so that your company's Web site, microsites and e-newsletters refer back to Twitter, Facebook and any other networks where you have a presence.
Google Alerts (above), which sends updates when designated search terms are mentioned online, and blog-searching sites such as Technorati (top) are valuable for tracking your brand. |
5. Create brand ambassadors.
Find out (through searches, conversations, Facebook fan pages, etc.) who is passionate about your brand, and pass on pertinent material they can share with others. "Give them the right information to talk about, and incentivize them by telling them about new products [and other news] first," Vandegrift says. "You don't have to pay people. Just find out who really cares about you and give them some access."
6. Do more than send out promotional messages.
"There is a dance between how promotional you are and how much you're actually communicating," says Noricks. Create conversations and communities by sharing outside links to relevant information; responding directly to comments and questions; and on Twitter, "retweeting" (re-posting) interesting entries. Engage others by asking questions and soliciting feedback. And be helpful wherever possible, even in areas not related directly to your brand, Wong says. If someone is looking for ideas for using fresh blackberries, for instance, respond if you have something worthwhile to contribute.
7. Be visual.
Share food, restaurant and event photos as well as chef interviews, cooking demonstrations and live video feeds from the kitchen or dining room. "Video is unique," Noricks says. "There's nothing like getting that insider view."
8. Look to popular innovators for high-impact ideas.
For generating buzz and creating a following, Smith points to two examples: the wildly popular "Will It Blend?" YouTube video series (which garners millions of views for the blender manufacturer by showing how its product can blend virtually anything) and mystarbucksidea.com, where the Seattle-based company asks users for suggestions on everything from new products to packaging. Be sure to get out the word about such efforts by telling others—bloggers, local newspapers and other media—what you're doing.
9. Pick your battles when it comes to responding to negativity.
First, determine how inflammatory the issue is and whether comments are likely to spread far, Smith advises. "If something has the potential to alarm large numbers of people, you need to address that," she says. A prime example is Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Domino's Pizza's recent debacle over an employee video besmirching the chain's food-safety practices and the subsequent video response from Domino's President Patrick Doyle.
10. Above all, have something interesting to add to the conversation.
Just listing menu items, unless they're particularly unusual, makes for a boring post. "Say something that shares part of who you are, like, 'Chocolate ice cream is the only worthy ice cream' or 'Just finished making my grandmother's bread-pudding recipe and it rocks,' or 'Completely slammed in the kitchen, no end in sight,'" says publicist Ellen Malloy, founder of Restaurant Intelligence Agency in Chicago. Give readers information they can't find elsewhere; offer insider deals and promotions; and of
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Restaurants and Social Media: Real-World Examples
Allison Perlik, Senior Editor -- Restaurants and Institutions, 6/5/2009 11:58:00 AM
* Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin' Donuts conducted a two-day Facebook forum to get feedback from customers about its new more-healthful menu items in January. Key executives, including Executive Chef Stan Frankenthaler, contributed to the discussion, in which questions ranged from whether the chain should keep the green onions on its Egg White Veggie Flatbread Sandwich to whether a partnership with Weight Watchers would add value. The event helped draw more than 1,200 unique users to the chain's page each day.
* When The Publican in Chicago launched brunch in May, the restaurant got out the word by posting a live Twitter feed of the first morning's service. Throughout the day, publicist Ellen Malloy tweeted Chef-owner Paul Kahan's comments, such as, "I just realized the front of house took our egg cups and filled them with butter for service. Gotta get those cups back," and "This is our unofficial official brunch beer—the right beer for eggs" with an attached photo. Not only did at least half of the morning's customers say they heard about the brunch on Twitter, Malloy says, but also the live feed drove about half of the reservations for the second week as well.
* Church's Chicken wanted to build buzz about its new modular building design, so instead of simply sending out a press release and photo to local news outlets, the Atlanta-based chain posted a video on YouTube of the prefabricated store being built and then delivered by truck to its new location. "Someone even tweeted during the event that a Church's had just passed them on the highway," says L. Michelle Smith of Dallas-based M Strategies Inc., which worked with the chain on the project.
* McGillin's Olde Ale House in Philadelphia used Twitter to turn a complaint into a rave review. When the tavern's staff, which monitors the site for mentions of its name, found a disgruntled customer tweeting about a negative experience there, they contacted him in less than 24 hours and offered to buy him a beer as an apology. The customer then blogged about the experience: "The cycle between a customer's experience with a business, feedback, and corrective action being taken or not has gotten amazingly short and direct," he said. "Kudos to a decidedly 'old-school' business for investing in and effectively using this 'new-school' social-media tool to improve a customer's experience."
* In April, fast-casual Mexican chain California Tortilla launched a Secret Password Day promotion using Twitter, Facebook and its e-newsletter to drive traffic and sales. Over three days, the Rockville, Md.-based company used each online vehicle (one per day) to share a password customers could mention in stores to get a free taco. The first two days drew about 400 customers each (results for the the third were not in at press time), says marketing director Stacey Kane. Even more compelling, she says, is that on average, those visitors spent $6 to $7 each, making the minimal marketing expense of the free tacos well worth the money.
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How to Handle Online Restaurant Reviews
Two publicists who work with high-profile restaurants share the tips they give their clients.
Allison Perlik, Senior Editor -- Restaurants and Institutions, 6/5/2009 11:23:00 AM
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