How Restaurants used Social Media in 2009

I asked Emerald Reilly, a senior marketing coordinator for social media services at FohBoh, to find a few current examples that define success. Emerald, always the over-achiever, found five worth sharing.

1. The Cheesecake Factory recently jumped on the Social Media bandwagon to promote their Reunion of a Lifetime Sweepstakes. They required people to become a fan of theirs on Facebook in order to enter. The winner would get to choose ten friends or family members to bring with on a trip to Las Vegas. Pam Naumes, CCF’s Manager of Web and Interactive Marketing, said Facebook was the perfect place to promote this sweepstakes “because people are there to connect with friends, family and loved ones.” (Information from CCF newsletter)

2. Domino's Pizza is utilizing social media to promote the brand new pizza recipe. They launched a new section on their website, dominos.com, 'Oh Yes We Did', which chronicles Domino’s decision to revamp their recipes based on consumers comments. The site includes live feeds from Twitter and Facebook, sharing what consumers think of the new pizza. "Our inspired new pizza was driven so heavily by listening to our customers through social media, having that component be a part of our online marketing campaign seemed like a no-brainer," said Chris Brandon, their spokesperson. He says the site lets them show their customers that they are listening to their concerns. See smartbrief.

3. When Maggiano’s first began to use Twitter to engage with customers, they found a way to gain followers quickly. Michael Breed, senior marketing manager, sent out a tweet saying that if users began following @Maggianos by 5pm they’d be entered to win a $100 gift certificate. They gained 2,000 followers that day. See Chain Leader.

4. Erik Oberholtzer, co-owner of Tenders Greens, a fast casual, three-unit restaurant chain based in Los Angeles, began tweeting to increase awareness about his brand. After gaining followers by tweeting about daily specials and ingredients he finds at farmer’s markets, he was able to tell all his customers that the grand opening of their third restaurant would be delayed a day due to mishaps with a permit. “The benefit is getting a message out there and building a community,” he said. See Chainleader.

5. Bob Evans Restaurant’s digital marketing manager, Stephanie Busack uses social media as a platform for dialogue with fans and followers. She says it makes easy to monitor customer’s needs and what people are saying about their brand and service. One of the more successful initiatives they’ve had was the use of microsites for interactive games and sweepstakes. “These games dram in a large audience, most coming back an average of seven to eight times to play or register and interact with our brand,” said Busack. See Chainleader.

I love businesses cases and success stories. As the restaurant industry becomes more engaged, it will only get better in 2010.

Goodbye 2000 -2009 decade

It hardly seems that 10 years has passed since I hosted 25 people at a dinner party (well wine and we also had food) to say hello to a promising new millennium. We ate and drank and toasted to our good fortune, to our vested stock options and the burgeoning Internet gold mine. Living and working in Silicon Valley then was an insiders' game. It was regular cocktail chatter. We discussed how much each of us was making and where we were investing our option cash. It was a heady time. I miss those arrogant, easy money days where wealth was created from good timing, a lot of sweat and luck. We all knew it wouldn't last. That was obviously then. Before meltdowns, bubbles, tragedy, not one but two recessions and lost wealth. I often wonder how many of my old cocktail party friends still have any money?

The verb named Google and the micro-blog named Twitter - the new kid on the block that may implode on its own weight - are welcoming signs of another fast to market caution. Twitter went mainstream in February after simmering since 2006. It's 2010 and they still haven't a clue on how to monetize. I guess I am just old school when it comes to business. While free can be a good model, it doesn't always sustain unless there is utility and technology there to sustain a high influence rating.

I worry about Twitter. Not that I am losing sleep over their success or future. I just worry that so many restaurants seem to think it's get followers, spam them, give away coupons and increase my business. This is an incomplete thought with expectations from a naive user. Rushing to use any one-to-many mass communication channels is not a good idea. I just hope restaurant operators use this social media tool as a start to joining the conversation and a way to seed new belief in a changing landscape.

The LongView

Image by Gauravonomics via Flickr

I was told today that we may have to be patient for success. That, while social media are indeed being embraced by the enterprise, the FohBoh vision may be too big for foodservice. Hmmm.

The 4C's of Social Media
FohBoh has content. In fact, more P2P content in one spot for the foodservice industry than anywhere else.

FohBoh Is collaborative. We have 13,000 members that suggest that we are an active, engaged community. Not all at once, but we are engaged.

FohBoh is The defacto online restaurant community. We have members, content, groups, interaction, dialog sharing, and 13,000 members...

FohBoh has collective intelligence. We are the deepest peer-to-peer resource for our industry. Our members are the voice of the restaurant industry.

The Restaurant industry isn't waiting for analysts and investors to say, ok, the timing is perfect for us now. That concept is a circular reference.

We are working hard to move this needle and educate investors, analysts and others to deliver solutions to this industry. We need social media business cases and thought leadership now, not when prognosticators say so.

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Time for the restaurant industry to embrace the new, new

Image of fohboh

I find that I am always thinking about what's next. I am a gadget guy, for sure. Call me the ultimate early-adopter. I remember my first computer purchased for a ton of money in 1984. It was a Macintosh. I jumped right in and started playing with it. Totally unafraid, as I should be. Unless I dropped it, I wasn't planning to break it. Really, what could a 512 machine do? Practically nothing, almost everything.

I'm a believer, and I practice the art of the possible. I have no fear. So, why is that? What was it during my childhood that turned this personality on? My parents were hard working, middle class folks. But not risk-takers. My grandfather was an entrepreneur and inventor, howevever. Maybe "it" skipped a generation; kind of like hair-loss.

Being a risk-taker is a hard thing to tell someone. Like your wife! Actually, my wife knew it long before we were married. It's my first wife that didn't know. That is, until I had quit my job, moved to Reno, Nevada in 1980. Then a year later, I opened my first restaurant at the age of 26. I just decided to be an entrepreneur. I had a vision and focused on that goal. In those days, being an entrepreneur wasn't something you actually put on a business card. It wasn't something that I even identified with. I was just a someone that had a dream and followed his heart. I was a risk-taker restaurateur.

Here's the thing I just don't get about the restaurant industry. An operator will take enormous personal and financial risk developing and operating a restaurant. Huge amount of risk with huge failure rates. But when it comes to technology, clams up. "No thanks." "Not for me." "Too complicated." "Too expensive." "Never had it, don't need it." "It's a fad." "We have all the technology we need around here, thank you very much!" Gez. Ask any technology vendor about selling into the foodservice industry and they just look down and say, "man, can you say late adopters?"

But, wait. I see as small crack. A glimmer of hope for the sales rep and the operator. Its called social media. Why does it takes an economic meltdown and a fundamental shift in how humans communicate to drag a restaurateur to the table?

First, foodservice is already very late, so may they are right on time, again. Social media has been around since the Internet started. Social media is just people having conversations online. The change is speed and dialog...a two way conversation. The future of the social web is positioning restaurants to leverage this amazing force of change betetr than many industries. If, they will use it. Don't be afraid. You cannot break the Internet.

1. It's mostly free.
2. You cannot break it.
3. It will, if used strategically, build relationships with new and existing customer and should increase sales.
4. It is powerful and can, drive operating costs down.
5. It should be looked at as a utility: Business CRM, Social CRM, Business Productivity and Workforce Productivity tools to help sustain and grow your business.

The trend is more use, not less. The reality is your customers and employees are online using social media and social networking right now. Are you?

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Blogging for a Living

Over the past two years, I have somehow found the time required to be more productive. While I have been blogging since 2006, this past 20 months, since founding FohBoh, I have been a very active blogger and social media practitioner. Now, with my frequent posts on FohBoh, bi-weekly posts for the FohBoh newsletter, "In the Window", my new Social Media Kitchen blog, this new Restaurant Social Media blog and my forthcoming monthly column for the California Restaurant Association "The Standard", I am now fully engaged. Lately, more speaking engagements, moderating and participating on panels discussing my passions, social media, online communities, technology, and foodservice social media.

So, where do I find the time to actually run my business? How can I be creative, continue my research, read, raising capital, create and sell new products and still have a balanced life? I think I just work, alot.

I find what takes the most time is messaging. Crafting messages. Revisiting the last message, learning new messages and trying not to live in PowerPoint. FohBoh is a small company with just a few employees. We are NOT venture-backed, so resources are skinny. We do have a few shareholders and a couple of note holders. But, most of the capital is from my wallet. Deferred luxuries include things like like a paycheck. This is skin-in-the-game and dedication.

Blogging has become our SEO strategy and we have learned to be patient and optimistic, however. Testing and evaluating new technologies has also become a big part of our daily routine because we need to accelerate user adoption, FohBoh member activity. So, adding to our daily activity is Twitter, Digg, Friendfeed, Facebook, and dozens of foodservice and other blogs. Writing now consumes 4 hours a day, seven days a week.

I had a foolish thought recently. Maybe I should write a book?

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]">

reBlog from fohboh.com: Testing Zemanta to enhance your blogs - FohBoh

I found this fascinating quote today:

This is a test blog using Zemanta. I downloaded the Firefox plug in to see how it works for me on FohBoh. The test topic is cheeseburger, seems appropriate, since this is the most popular food served in restaurants. So, Zemanta popped up on my right side and I added "Cheeseburger" in the search box as my topic. Up pops relevant photos and articles that have been posted using Zemanta.fohboh.com, Testing Zemanta to enhance your blogs - FohBoh, May 2008

You should read the whole article.

What is the core of a Social Media Strategy

The core of your business to consumer (B2C) strategy will be to open up two-way communication between you to the customer. This allows you to inform them about what you offer as well as allowing them to offer feedback about what you’re doing well and what you can improve upon. One side benefit is free focus group polling. Once you’ve opened up the lines of communication, joined the conversation and engaged your customers, there’s then the opportunity to create a community around your brand.

Start with Understanding Behavior

Restaurant owners can no longer afford to ignore the shift in power from business to the consumer. It started the day the Internet was available to consumers. Now, control of your brand is in the hands of the many, who love to be honest, transparent and open about nearly everything. Advertising your business through traditional means is part of your strategy, but not the tactic of choice. You must take advantage of social media to outperform your competitors and engage with your customers and employees.

The foregoing seems obvious to many of us, in part, because social media is just so, well, restaurant. Customer-facing businesses, like restaurants, are naturally social. They are just used to doing this in person, not asynchronously.

The crown jewels of your social media strategy begin with understanding who your customer is. This starts with understanding behavior. Ask these five questions first:

1. How is your restaurant is positioned? (segment, sub-segment, pricing, service and staffing philosophy, etc.)
2. Who is your most loyal customer demographic? (Gender, age, ethnicity, etc.)
3. How do you define frequency?
4. Where does your customer consume media? (if you are sending out tweets at midnight and your customer is in bed, then, is that tactical?)
5. What motivates them to make their decision to dine at your restaurant over another?

Once you understand behavior, you can start crafting a strategy.

Joining the conversations means never, ever stopping...

The first step is to develop a strategy for how you will use social media for your brand. It's an integrated marketing strategy that makes your traditional marketing efforts work harder and more efficiently. Once you start, make sure you commit time to execute. Or hire a company that specialize in restaurant social media to manage your programs for/with you. No one knows your brand better than you. But, consultants will leverage your time and ensure you keep the conversation going.

Core Media
First, update your restaurant website. Too many restaurants created a website 10 years ago and haven't changed a thing. Web 1.0 is so obvious. Take the time to update it to include facebook fan links and "follow me on Twitter" badges. Add industry-centric badges and widgets that show you are relevant and connected. This is the center of your online branding efforts, so start here. If the customer isn't coming in to your restaurant, they need to be thinking about your restaurant.

Too many restaurateurs drop the ball after their initial effort because they do not take the time. Managing your social media is a key success factor today. Be sure none of your competitors are using social media before you make this mistake.

Measurement is a big part of your strategy. What is your online reputation? What is the blogosphere saying about your brand online? There are a lot of tools and services that will provide this data to you including Guest Pulse and BooRah. Start by going on Twittersearch (launching July 2009) and search your brandname. Welcome to reality. You are no longer in control of what is said. Your customers, employees, vendors and their relationships are.

Social Media Tools for Restaurants

My first post isn't even from me. Part of what I will do here is aggregate, re-post, Tweet and link to blog posts that I think are relevant. David Finch does a good job here. See the entire blog here.

Social Media Tools for Restaurants

• Make sure your restaurant can be searched and reviewed through local business guides such as Yelp.com, Urbanspoon.com, and TripAdvisor.com
• Suggest that positive feedback from patrons be shared on these social business guide sites.
• Twitter – sign up for a Twitter account. Publish your Twitter profile on all documents. Promote giveaways, specials and announcements via your Twitter profile. Use it also as a tool to listen and converse with your customers.
• E-Newsletter – Email a monthly newsletter with the latest happenings, new menu items, entertainment news, recipe of the month etc. This is also a great tool to collect email addresses for future opportunities to connect with the customer.
• Blog – Blogging is a great way to bring the customer into the kitchen. It’s a great way bring them behind the scenes and make them feel a part. Sharing a recipe, employee profiles, and kitchen tips and tricks are just a few options to break down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. Customers want to be part of something more then just a meal, they want to feel like they belong. A blog can be that tool.
• Google Alerts – This is a great tool to use to listen to what is being said about your business, website or even your chef. Setting up a Google alert with just the name of your restaurant can bring priceless insight to both positive and negative talk that’s being said online about your business.
• Facebook – Set up a Facebook fan page to connect with your customers on Facebook. Keep it updated with fresh content and always make sure you’re involved with the conversations that are taking place on “the wall.”
• MySpace – If your clientele is more likely to be found using MySpace, create a profile page and updated it with fresh content as well. Like Facebook engage in conversations and comments.
• YouTube – Incorporate video into your social media strategy. Like your blog, take your customer behind the scene and give them a pass to a part of the restaurant that only insiders are allowed to go. Provide a few quick tips and how-tos from the house chef. Share these videos on YouTube and other video sharing sites, as well as your blog. Use video to even show where you buy your produce and meats. This is also serves a dual role because it promotes your local farmers.
• Mobile – Have customers provide their mobile phone number for coupons, specials and latest news via an SMS message.
• Events – Host Tweetups for your Twitter community and Meetups for those that gather around topics via meetup.com.
• The Business Card – Provide a business card or note-card to each customer that maps out where they can continue their dining experience online.
• Social Calendars – Use sites such as upcoming.org and eventful.com to promote the latest happenings and events.
• Flickr – Use photo sharing sites to show images of events, behind the scenes and market days. Let your customer see from the eyes of the chef rather then just the brand.
• Email – Use email not only for your e-newsletter, but also to give away FREE stuff to your customers and continue to build your email list.

Remember, that the effectiveness of social media isn’t the tool; its listening, answering questions and connecting with others. These tools are just opportunities to connect your customers to your brand and by connecting with them they’ll tell others about you.

Here are a few examples of how dining establishments are using social media to connect with their customers.

1. Social Media for Small Business - Caminito Argentinean Steakhouse
2. How one Coffee Shop Used Twitter to Double its Clientele
3. Restaurant Entrepreneur Turns to Social Media and On-site Tasting Events for Help

What types of social media are you using to converse with your customers? What has worked and what hasn’t? What would you recommend to your local restaurant owner?

I want to hear your thoughts. The comments are yours!