Social Marketing for Restaurants -- Part 3
No CommentsThis is my last installment on the Inc. magazine 30 things you can do with social media for your business. Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here. Hope this was helpful. If so, let me know and I will do more. If you don't let me know, I will do more just to torture you for not letting me know with a comment below.
21. Build a community beyond your business. Everyone is forever asking me how to get XYZ audience into their restaurant, where XYZ is some group of people who don't know or care that the restaurant in question even exists. Why do you care about people who don't care about you?
The best way to boost your numbers is to get people who already love you to love you more. They are already fans, they already love to dine in your restaurant, so it just makes sense to get them to come back more often. And the cheapest way to do that is by building a community and sharing with them.
You can build a community with Facebook, on your blog, if you actually have a web site that incorporates 2.0, heck, even through Twitter. It takes time, but so does renegotiating your rent because you can't afford it as your business is slow.
22. Let customers contribute. I have been changing all these up to suit restaurants, but this one struck me. What if a restaurant had two Flip cameras and asked diners to talk about their meal? I am sure that sent a shudder down your spine, but maybe, just maybe, it will make you think a bit.
So, here is the original from the article:
23. Help others promote you. If you post your menu and events on Twitter, with a link, and I am a fan, I can RT your tweet and expand the reach of your efforts. If you have an event and post it on Facebook, I can Like It or Share It and expand the reach of your efforts. If your staff also comments or tweets about the event, I am even more likely to see it. If all you do to promote your event is send a email newsletter, I can't share it with my network. I can forward the email to some friends, but would likely only do that if I wanted to go. Mostly, I hear about stuff and want to pass it on because it sounds cool. Make it easy for people to share your stuff.
24. Cultivate relationships that lead to sales. The other day, in lecturing me about why social media isn't as important as building customer relationships, a chef/client told me about how he always takes time to talk to a customer when he is in the restaurant. The relationship, maintaining it, is important. So, I asked him, is that one customer all you need to be successful?
Social media does not replace the IRL hospitality you extend to people in your restaurant. It simply takes that concept and gives you a tool to extend that hospitality to people when they aren't in your restaurant. Same thing, more people.
25. But don't promote too aggressively. One more time, Social Media is about a conversation, reaching out, helping, engaging. It is NOT about promoting. If your blog blathers on about all the things people can buy at your restaurant, you are ultimately going to feel it is worth the time. If, however, you decide to share information and ideas and let the straight-up marketing take care of itself elsewhere, you will likely find it is the best marketing you've ever done!
26. Find ways to engage visitors offline. To me, this means inviting in Twitter followers and Facebook fans to your restaurant in order to do something for them. Not to sell to them, not to get more butts in seats, but to give back to the community a little. Restaurants get hit up by charities left and right because every party needs food. Restaurants do it because they feel they have to, to get their name out there.
What if you did your own charity event? What if you invited in your Facebook fans for a cocktail party, charging a wee door fee to be donated to charity? Then made sure the staff spent some time meeting the players and getting to know them in real life?
27. Find influential people in your industry. This is a hat tip to the restaurants who understand and respect the bloggers and tweeters and Facebookers who dine and blab. If someone is in your restaurant who has a strong Twitter foodie following, the only smart thing to do is to be their friend, however that looks to you.
I was at a restaurant and the bartender refused to give me a drink recipe. Seemed kinda short-sighted because, well, I doubt anyone in their right mind thinks, "I'd love to go to XYZ restaurant but instead, I'll make that drink at home." A mixologist, like a chef, has some crazy weird talent we normal people can't recreate.
So instead of getting his drink tweeted out to my 3,400 followers each time I attempted to make it and then cursed myself for not being able to, he got nothing. Dumb move.
28. Boost your credibility by helping others. Givers get. 'Nuff said.
29. Look for talent off the beaten path. You can learn a lot about a PR firm or a social marketing firm by their tweets for clients. The publicist who isn't on Twitter or Facebook is likely resting on the laurels of past success and the one that just tweets promo copy doesn't understand.
30. Connect with potential partners. Don't discount the reach of the people with whom you do events. The other night I was at a liquor dinner hosted by a restaurant, incorporating a mixologist and fancy tea importer. The opportunity was there for all three to work together -- creating video and photos and tweets and facebook updates and everything else-- and create a bit increase each other's audiences was enormous. Unfortunately, I didn't think of that until after the event, but next time! And you should think of it next time you do something extraordinary.
21. Build a community beyond your business. Everyone is forever asking me how to get XYZ audience into their restaurant, where XYZ is some group of people who don't know or care that the restaurant in question even exists. Why do you care about people who don't care about you?
The best way to boost your numbers is to get people who already love you to love you more. They are already fans, they already love to dine in your restaurant, so it just makes sense to get them to come back more often. And the cheapest way to do that is by building a community and sharing with them.
You can build a community with Facebook, on your blog, if you actually have a web site that incorporates 2.0, heck, even through Twitter. It takes time, but so does renegotiating your rent because you can't afford it as your business is slow.
22. Let customers contribute. I have been changing all these up to suit restaurants, but this one struck me. What if a restaurant had two Flip cameras and asked diners to talk about their meal? I am sure that sent a shudder down your spine, but maybe, just maybe, it will make you think a bit.
So, here is the original from the article:
FrontPoint Security, a home security provider in McLean, Virginia, began collecting video testimonials from its customers, who filmed themselves with Flip cameras. The videos are posted on FrontPoint's site and on YouTube, and even some customers' personal blogs. FrontPoint's video efforts have helped the company more than triple its sales leads.
23. Help others promote you. If you post your menu and events on Twitter, with a link, and I am a fan, I can RT your tweet and expand the reach of your efforts. If you have an event and post it on Facebook, I can Like It or Share It and expand the reach of your efforts. If your staff also comments or tweets about the event, I am even more likely to see it. If all you do to promote your event is send a email newsletter, I can't share it with my network. I can forward the email to some friends, but would likely only do that if I wanted to go. Mostly, I hear about stuff and want to pass it on because it sounds cool. Make it easy for people to share your stuff.
24. Cultivate relationships that lead to sales. The other day, in lecturing me about why social media isn't as important as building customer relationships, a chef/client told me about how he always takes time to talk to a customer when he is in the restaurant. The relationship, maintaining it, is important. So, I asked him, is that one customer all you need to be successful?
Social media does not replace the IRL hospitality you extend to people in your restaurant. It simply takes that concept and gives you a tool to extend that hospitality to people when they aren't in your restaurant. Same thing, more people.
25. But don't promote too aggressively. One more time, Social Media is about a conversation, reaching out, helping, engaging. It is NOT about promoting. If your blog blathers on about all the things people can buy at your restaurant, you are ultimately going to feel it is worth the time. If, however, you decide to share information and ideas and let the straight-up marketing take care of itself elsewhere, you will likely find it is the best marketing you've ever done!
26. Find ways to engage visitors offline. To me, this means inviting in Twitter followers and Facebook fans to your restaurant in order to do something for them. Not to sell to them, not to get more butts in seats, but to give back to the community a little. Restaurants get hit up by charities left and right because every party needs food. Restaurants do it because they feel they have to, to get their name out there.
What if you did your own charity event? What if you invited in your Facebook fans for a cocktail party, charging a wee door fee to be donated to charity? Then made sure the staff spent some time meeting the players and getting to know them in real life?
27. Find influential people in your industry. This is a hat tip to the restaurants who understand and respect the bloggers and tweeters and Facebookers who dine and blab. If someone is in your restaurant who has a strong Twitter foodie following, the only smart thing to do is to be their friend, however that looks to you.
I was at a restaurant and the bartender refused to give me a drink recipe. Seemed kinda short-sighted because, well, I doubt anyone in their right mind thinks, "I'd love to go to XYZ restaurant but instead, I'll make that drink at home." A mixologist, like a chef, has some crazy weird talent we normal people can't recreate.
So instead of getting his drink tweeted out to my 3,400 followers each time I attempted to make it and then cursed myself for not being able to, he got nothing. Dumb move.
28. Boost your credibility by helping others. Givers get. 'Nuff said.
29. Look for talent off the beaten path. You can learn a lot about a PR firm or a social marketing firm by their tweets for clients. The publicist who isn't on Twitter or Facebook is likely resting on the laurels of past success and the one that just tweets promo copy doesn't understand.
30. Connect with potential partners. Don't discount the reach of the people with whom you do events. The other night I was at a liquor dinner hosted by a restaurant, incorporating a mixologist and fancy tea importer. The opportunity was there for all three to work together -- creating video and photos and tweets and facebook updates and everything else-- and create a bit increase each other's audiences was enormous. Unfortunately, I didn't think of that until after the event, but next time! And you should think of it next time you do something extraordinary.
Leave a comment