A couple weeks ago, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, a chef I have never met posted a link on my personal Facebook page. No hello or howya doing, no nothing but a link. Curious, I clicked on it.  It was an ad. A bad one, at that.

If the point of sharing the link with me was to turn my Facebook wall into his own personal billboard while simultaneously confirming my belief that he is an egomaniacal crazy person, it worked.  If it was an attempt to connect with me via social media, it didn't.

But it did get me thinking about what would have engaged me. And how insanely simple it would have been. "Hello, we haven't met but I am really excited about this video and you seemed like someone who might enjoy it." Or even, "I'm gonna be on TV and wanted to tell everyone because I am that excited." Or even, "Hey, you've never been in my restaurant so I thought I would bring a piece of it to you, hope you like it and hope you'll come in soon."  Anything, anything that told me he actually gave a crap about me as a person and wasn't just posting on my wall because I have a lot of foodie friends who would likely then see it.

So, what does this mean for restaurants?

Social media is about sharing and the restaurants whose Facebook Pages I actually visit from time to time are the ones that make a little effort to post something beyond the old "come in for our new menu items" or "buy tickets to our event." The ones that go beyond just advertising. 

I don't think I am alone in that I love to look at pictures of events that the restaurant holds or maybe snapshots from out-of-house charity events or out-of-town chef events. I would love to hear about a chef going to a photo shoot, just a note saying "getting ready for my close-up." How about a mention of a favorite farming bringing in an order. I love seeing short/tiny posts from chefs about dishes they are working on, especially with a picture of dishes in progress, or about wines they discovered.

Over time, my favorite posts have been those that featured the best customer order of the night, lauding the brave soul who ordered the brains -- not the insufferable kind bashing the person with dietary restrictions who ordered sauce on the side. And the chef who got some fancy fish in the doors he was so excited about he told his followers to come in and try some.

But it doesn't all have to be about work. I loved one post from a restaurant that announced a staffer who had a baby.  Another that celebrated a server who got the lead in a play. And yet another that posted the latest track from a server who plays in a band.

We are all, I think, fanning the restaurants we like because we want to be let into the restaurants' world. We want to feel we are a part of what is going on, let into the little inner circle, a part of the club. Unfortunately, some restaurants are just using their Facebook fans as another form of mailing list, blasting out invites to events all the livelong day.

For the restaurant, of course, the best part about taking a little time every day to put some good 10 minutes worth of effort into a restaurant Facebook page is that you then don't have to spend time trying to get new fans. They'll come to you, because you are interesting and you are trying.

You won't have to sell as many tickets to events because their is an army of people who have gotten to know you a little as a person and believe enough in what you are doing to want to see you again. Actually, I am going to one such event tonight, because I got to know the chef's style from Facebook and I think he is pretty cool.

With just 10 minutes a day, you put a little savings into the pot every day and when you need it, the bounty is there. You've spent time giving to a group of people who, over time, get wrapped up in the excitement of being part of the restaurant family. 

Which is to say, in the end, that social media is about selling after all.

It is the kind of selling that builds solid business, incrementally, with real, devoted customers. Customers who enjoy what you are doing, will pay full price for it, and who will be your greatest tools for getting more customers just like them.

Wanna know how to reach out to new audiences? Get media coverage? Sell events a little easier?  Share on Facebook, on Twitter, post your photos on Flickr. Try your hand at marketing a little every day yourself, instead of looking for some magic bullet to do it for you.

Which is why I am posting this post this week.  Because with 10 minutes a day of actual effort -- not just dialing-it-in effort -- I'd venture that a restaurant would discover the single best marketing tool around. One that is free, doesn't devalue your brand and won't, by any stretch of the imagination, eat into your bottom line.