Social Media for Restaurants: 4 Hurdles to Overcome41972

Social Media for Restaurants: Hurdles to Overcome Contents Introduction Chapter Grasping the Basics Your Handle Your Business Bio Hashtags Keeping It Short Mixing Things Up Reach The 80/20 Rule Integrating Posts to Multiple Platforms Consistency and Discipline 11 Chapter Getting the Timing Right When to Use Social Media When Not to Use Social Media 15 Chapter Finding the Right Audience Set the Tone Encourage Photography Make It Easy Use Google Alerts 19 Chapter Fine-tuning Your Expectations Post Locally Don’t Worry If People “Like” You Always Include a Photo and Link Take a Breath Be Real 22 Conclusion rewardsnetwork.com Introduction We live our lives online In a world saturated by advertising on radio and television, at billboards and bus stops, and in newspapers and on the Internet, would it surprise you to learn the most effective means of marketing is … none of the above? By a wide margin, the most trusted forms of advertising available to businesses today are recommendations from family, friends, and acquaintances — online and off In a comprehensive study by Nielsen, 83 percent of respondents indicated they trusted word of mouth over television commercials (63%), newspaper articles (60%), mobile advertising (43%), and online banner ads (42%).1 Even the closest two types of marketing — branded websites (70%) and consumer opinions online (66%) — still don’t compare to the power of someone you know personally telling you what they think But could that be changing? Those two items in particular took a ten and seven percent rise respectively in the course of just eight years, according to Nielsen’s data That’s a spectacular jump and reflects a very real difference in how we live our lives today than 20 years ago So, yes, it’s true We live our lives online With every old friend we keep in touch with over Facebook and holiday season shopping completed with a click of the button, it gets harder to remember what it was like to not have the Internet at our fingertips every moment of the day We make friends, go on dates, run businesses, and publish books, all with the aid of a world wide web connecting us with people near and far “Recommendations from friends remain most credible form of advertising among consumers; branded websites are the second-highest-rated form” http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/press-room/2015/recommendations-from-friends-remain-most-credible-form-of-advertising.html rewardsnetwork.com But restaurants and bars are not online chat rooms You run a real physical space that needs people to show up (or, at the very least, place orders from) in order to survive, much less thrive The challenge becomes how to make the best use of the virtual world to support your restaurant’s success in the physical one How you reach customers online and transition them into customers walking through your doors and sitting down for a meal? Well, it’s not easy But social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others are vehicles to reach out beyond simple word of mouth — if you can jump past the hurdles in your way Ultimately, social media is not the endall-be-all of your total marketing plan, but it is a great way to engage potential and current clients in addition to your other efforts In our first of four chapters dealing with key challenges to building a social media presence, we start where every smart business plan should start — at the beginning: grasping the basics behind setting up your social media accounts   rewardsnetwork.com 44 Chapter Grasping the Basics Before any social media novice can run, you have to walk And there’s a lot that goes into setting up your social media accounts before you even begin to post Setting yourself up for success from the very start involves making some important decisions with longlasting consequences, starting with your name… Your Handle Also known as your username (a term some of us might be more familiar with), your social media handle might be the most important decision you make — and it necessarily comes before all the others It might seem obvious, but it is important to spend more than a few rushed moments on choosing a handle that aptly describes your brand, goals and identity out in the social media landscape Your handle needs to be interesting, easy to remember and clearly relates back to your brand Once you’ve decided on your handle, you can include it in a variety of places, such as your website, business card, email signature, and so on But there are real variables to consider: should it reflect your real name (especially if you are well known IRL — in real life)? Should it reflect your business? It absolutely should be easy to type, to spell, and not take up too many characters on platforms with limitations like Twitter No matter what you choose, commit to it Changing your social media handle is sometimes difficult, often not possible, and rewardsnetwork.com always a bad idea if you want to continue building brand momentum with social followers In this day and age, when we have multiple channels for social media/online presence, it is important that if you engage in cross-platform marketing make sure your Twitter, Instagram, Google+ (and other) accounts are named as close to each other as possible, cross-promoting each other wherever and whenever possible bio to tie into that goal and the likely content of your posts This will ensure your public image always aligns with your goals and purpose Hashtags Hashtags are the currency on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, but it is important that you be judicious and savvy in their use When used well, hashtags can drive a lot of traffic to your post — and consequently, to your profile But it can take a bit of practice to nail the balance between socially relevant, currently trending hashtags and ones that are relevant to your goals An easy rule to follow is to use an ‘anchor’ hashtag that establishes the goal for your tweet/post and then supplementary hashtags to support it Take this example: “Enjoying delicious #cookies @SweetStDesserts @NRAShow! #NRAShow2017 #inheaven #dessert” Instagram Post Your Business Bio Gone are the days when readers would read through a page-long auto-biography This is the age of the ‘3 second attention span’ and you need to incorporate that awareness into everything you online Ask yourself: what is your goal for using social media? Is it grabbing more eyeballs for your business? Is it expanding your brand as an industry highlight? Whatever it is, know it, own it, and customize your business rewardsnetwork.com Here, not only are you using the anchor hashtag “NRAShow2017” (which was trending that weekend), but you are doing a couple things better! You engaged two other businesses – “Sweet St Desserts” and the official “NRA Show” accounts – and incorporated other popular hashtags such as “#cookies,” “#desserts” and so on You’re potentially grabbing eyeballs from all of these different channels and increasing traffic to your profile and posts It takes a bit of practice, but a great way to learn is to regularly visit other people’s pages and see which of their posts are doing well (notice the number of “likes”, “shares” and “retweets”), see what readers are engaging with, and incorporate those strategies into your own tweets what people are posting under that hashtag This will ensure you use the correct hashtag and stay relevant to what you want to post about Profile Photo Not much to say here other than that this is a MUST All generic profile pictures, be they eggs or clip-art silhouettes must be replaced immediately — on your very first log-in — with a mildly professional representation of your actual face or logo No drawings, no pictures of your dog, no plates of spaghetti When people can put something memorable and distinct to your words, you can bet it goes further than an egg or silhouette would A very important thing to remember about hashtags is that they have a kind of ‘history.’ Before you go ahead and use one, make sure you’ve done your research Type the hashtag into your search bar and briefly take a look at the kinds of posts that populate and the people and groups actually posting them it Make sure you understand the context in which a particular hashtag is used and that it is relevant to your post, your brand and your goals For instance, a fantastic example is the name “NRA” itself You know it stands for “National Restaurant Association.” I know that, too But you know that it also stands for “National Rifle Association” and that the “#NRA” hashtag is also used by firearm aficionados? So, before you go ahead and use “Having a blast at #NRA” please click through and see Facebook Profile Keeping It Short and Sweet Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind is that there’s a reason Twitter has a 140-character limit You are not meant to type page-long essays on this platform (or really, any other) That’s what you have a blog for Keep things short and sweet, engaging, rewardsnetwork.com relevant, and above all, in line with your purpose and goal Don’t go overboard on other platforms either, just because the program doesn’t stop you from typing The likelihood is, your post will get cropped with a “Read more…” link if it goes too long And how many people will click that to keep reading Not very many Mixing Things Up How to quickly access Twitter analytics Most social media platforms let you use GIFs and photos in your posts (with some programs like Instagram designed around that very thing) And we all know the age-old adage that sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words So, make use of these features, save some letters, and let a catchier visual get your point across Reach Once you’re comfortably posting away and you’re ready to take it to the next level, you can start monitoring how well your posts are doing On Twitter, for instance, you can access this information quickly by clicking on the little bar graph icon at the bottom of each tweet When you hover over it the popup will say “View Tweet Activity.” Once you click on it, you are provided with a bunch of stats that tell you how many impressions, detail expands, retweets, link clicks and profile clicks that particular tweet generated These are just fancy ways of saying how many people saw your tweet, how many of them did something about it, and how many of them actually clicked through to your profile from that tweet Keep engaging with these features You can also access your “Analytics” via the dropdown menu under your icon on the upper right hand corner of the Twitter dashboard for more robust, high level data as well As you become more comfortable with the platform and the data, the better insight you will gain that will allow you to make smarter and more effective posts in the future rewardsnetwork.com The 80/20 Rule This is one of the most interesting and an often-forgotten or ignored tip What this ‘80/20 rule’ basically means is that 80% of your social media posts should be in the ‘sharing/caring’ category This means: •• Retweeting other people’s tweets •• ‘Liking’ other posts •• Sharing useful information •• Engage in social commentary where relevant to your industry or line of work Integrating posts to multiple platforms Instagram and Facebook Pages are, of course, very easily integrated with Twitter (and vice versa) It is a matter of a single button click to share your posts across all three platforms simultaneously You should absolutely take advantage of this feature if you have a Facebook page and post regularly on Instagram as well, to engage in crossplatform posting/sharing Just be careful that all your posts are short enough so your message doesn’t get clipped in moving from Facebook or Instagram to Twitter Only 20% of your posts should be selfpropaganda and promoting your business, your products, etc If you go on social media simply to post about yourself and never to engage others or converse on related topics, it’s noticeable — and your following will reflect that fact People like people who share and care Only 20% of your posts should be self-propaganda Using social media scheduling tools, like Hootsuite and Sprout Social, can help manage the cross-platform marketing/ posting Each of these programs have a dashboard set-up where you can see all of your social media accounts together, schedule posts, and share simultaneously across platforms rewardsnetwork.com Consistency and Discipline A final point to keep in mind as you further integrate social media into your overall marketing plan is this: just like any other line of work, if you want to see results from your social media, then you need to be disciplined and consistent Treat this as work It’s important to set up a ‘social media posting’ calendar just as you would set up a weekly ‘to-do’ or ‘goals’ list Be intentional and systematic in your posting and plan out quality content in advance Be intentional and systematic in your posting and plan out quality content in advance Schedule a consistent number of posts that take care of the 20% quota of your social media posts – the ones that have to with your work, business, personal presence online Once these are scheduled and ready to go out – five days a week, three days a week, whatever frequency you choose – then you don’t need to worry about these on the day you’re meant to post Your days are then free to engage the online world in interesting and relevant conversations and contribute your 80% of ‘sharing and caring.’ All that said, when you post can be critical to your success or failure In our next chapter, we break down some of the common do’s and don’ts to social media posting in regards to timing   rewardsnetwork.com 10 Chapter Getting the Timing Right You get it – you know your restaurant needs to be active on social media Whether Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram, these platforms are great (and free) tools for social media marketing for restaurants, allowing you to promote your business to an engaged consumer audience And contrary to popular belief, it’s not just tech-savvy 20-somethings and teens using these sites today People of all ages check out social media on a regular basis In fact, statistics show that 69 percent of all adults engage in at least one social media platform regularly, and that number raises to 80 percent for ages 30-49, and 86 percent for ages 18-29.2 These are your current customers and your future guests! But just as more people are using social media than ever, the tolerance for online faux pas is at an all-time low Besides knowing what to post, it’s also crucial to know when to post it What opportunities can you jump on and when should you step away from the keyboard? Following are a few dos and don’ts When to use social media… If You’re Running a Holiday-Themed or Seasonal Special Does your menu include some seasonal favorites during the winter months? How about squash or pumpkin soup around Thanksgiving? Does your restaurant have a prix fixe dinner-for-two menu scheduled for “Social Media Fact Sheet” http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/ rewardsnetwork.com 11 Valentine’s Day? Are you offering guests a decadent peppermint dessert in the days leading up to Christmas? Let the people know! Sending out a friendly “Happy Holidays” message on Facebook or Twitter and mentioning your seasonal special is a great way to connect with your community while also promoting your menu If your seasonal menu is online, include a link! go overboard with a 100-image gallery after the fact, but uploading a few choice photos while thanking the folks that came out can be effective, especially if you can include photos of your food from the day! If You Have Uploaded a New Blog Post If your restaurant’s website includes a blog, you’ll definitely want to promote it on your social media accounts Promoting your blog post won’t just encourage customers to visit that page, but also to visit your website as a whole If it makes sense for the topic, include a link in your blog post that goes to another part of the website For instance, if you’re writing about your chef’s focus on Italian cuisine, you can link to your menu page If you’re writing about preparing for an upcoming event, link to your event calendar page Facebook Timeline Post If You’re Going to Be at a Food Event If your business is scheduled to be at an industry convention, local food festival, or community event — or hosting one yourself — make sure to spread the word to your social media followers Posting about it a few days before, the day before, and then the morning of the event should suffice If the event has a website where guests can find directions or check out an FAQ, make sure to include that link And when the event is over? Use Instagram, Pinterest, or Snapchat to post your photos from the day (and then link to those posts on Facebook and Twitter) You don’t want to Pinterest Profile Any Other Specials or Discounts for the Day Whether it’s Happy Hour specials or just the soup of the day, using social media to get the word out for day-of discounts can be the difference between hungry followers choosing you or your competitors rewardsnetwork.com 12 It’s helpful to think of your social media posts as calling your customers to action (i.e visiting your restaurant), but also as a service you’re providing to the public After all, you’re letting them know about ways to save them money or letting them in on a great experience Make sure whatever you post on social media is something guests will see as a benefit to them When not to use social media… Anniversaries of Tragic Events No one wants to see a company tweeting about Pearl Harbor, 9/11, or other anniversaries of tragic events Because you are a business and your social media is used to promote that business, there are too many ways even heartfelt acknowledgements can come off as self-serving During Current Tragic Event When it comes to natural disasters, shootings, and other tragic events happening in real time, tweeting or posting on Facebook about the event as it happens is a bad idea for businesses In fact, it might be a good idea to just avoid promoting on social media for that day altogether, depending on the severity of the situation There are exceptions to this rule: if the tragedy is happening in your restaurant’s community, a short and respectful message of condolences is appropriate If you are participating in a disaster relief effort and are reaching out for donations, using social media to get the word out could also be appropriate The important thing to keep in mind is to be tactful and make it about the people affected by the disaster, not about your restaurant If You’ve Been Posting Too Much as It Is How often you promote your business on social media? While staying current and consistent with online engagement is key for business owners, there is such a thing as too much Facebooking You don’t want to turn rewardsnetwork.com 13 customers off by clogging up their feeds They might even end up unfollowing your account in frustration! If you’re unsure how much social media is too much, check out your competitors’ social media accounts Do they have more followers than you? Do they have more followers engaging positively with them? If so, what’s their average time in between their posts? Copying your competitor’s social media schedule beat for beat isn’t a good idea, but seeing where they’ve succeeded can give you a better idea how you can appeal to your area Use a social media scheduling app if you have several posts to make but only one time during the day to post them If you have several posts to make but only one time during the day to post them, don’t post them all at once Instead, consider using a social media scheduling app like Hootsuite or Sprout Social They allow you to set up all your posts at the same time but schedule them to go online exactly when you need them to As important as knowing when to post is having a good sense of who you are posting for: who is your audience? And if your current audience isn’t who you need to grow your business, how you find the people you want to reach? In our next chapter, we break down the process of developing online ambassadors, i.e finding the right audience that will help build your business! rewardsnetwork.com 14 Chapter Finding the Right Audience It’s not quite the white whale of the restaurant business, but one of the trickier elements of running a successful restaurant in the 21st century is developing a following with online foodies Many of these consumers write their own blogs, freelance food reviews, or just have a strong following on different social media platforms Beyond these trendsetters are larger online foodie communities that are quick to share enthusiastic recommendations to each other These are people who love to gab about food Tapping into that can mean big things for your restaurant, even making them ambassadors for your brand if you make the right choices Word of mouth, the most consistently trusted consumer recommendation out there3, has gone digital A social media goal for restaurants (especially locally owned restaurants) is building a community by forging a place within the larger community of your area You want to build a cohesive brand both on and offline Set the Tone Think about the tone you convey at your restaurant, in both ambiance and service That tone should be within your social media engagement If your restaurant is a little quirky and fun, you can have a tongue-incheek sort of humor to your online posts and tweets If you’re more of a family restaurant, warm and friendly is a good starting point “Word-of-mouth recommendations remain the most credible” http://www.nielsen.com/id/en/press-room/2015/ WORD-OF-MOUTH-RECOMMENDATIONS-REMAIN-THE-MOST-CREDIBLE.html rewardsnetwork.com 15 However, there’s a fine line between a business reaching out online in a positive way and seeming desperate Online foodies don’t want to feel like you’re using them, that you’re just attempting to capitalize on them If that’s your only engagement online with customers, it will turn them off fast For instance, putting up a sign that says “Follow us on !” is probably not going to get you a huge amount of new followers all by itself, and could easily turn the social media savvy off to your business That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t share your social media handles at all — your social media handles can certainly go on any marking marketing right along with your phone number and address That way, diners who are specifically wanting to engage you online can find it without you seeming desperate for followers You want to engage your customers and encourage them to talk about your restaurant online, but you don’t want to be pushy about it Essentially, you want to give them really good incentives to enthusiastically recommend your restaurant to their foodie community Encourage Photography A subtle, effective way to get your tech savvy guests to promote your food? Make your food look gorgeous Online foodies are known for posting pictures of meals they’re excited to bite into Putting up a sign that says “Follow us on !” is not going to get you a huge amount of new followers Really focus on the plating choices for your menu so it looks fresh, colorful, and pretty — in other words, worthy of your guests getting their phones out to take a photo before they even take a first bite Foodies want to share opportunities for special dining experiences with their friends, and making your food look special can be a great way to encourage posting and tweeting about that experience Make sure you’re following the major foodie bloggers in your area In big cities especially you’ll groups of “instafamous foodies” that you should keep an eye if you want to get noticed Follow them, “like” their stuff from time- rewardsnetwork.com 16 to-time (unless it’s about a direct competitor!), and maybe comment if it’s appropriate But again, you don’t want to like/comment everything they post The bigger bloggers (foodie or otherwise) worry about readers crossing the line with their interaction, so you want to make sure your interaction with them is professional and appropriate It needs to be relevant, just like you’d expect from anyone posting on your own feed have it on the front of your building When your guests try to @ your business in their tweets and type out your name, your handle can still pop up as an option IF you have that spelling as your Twitter name While Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are still popular resources for restaurants, consider also having a presence on Snapchat Snapchat is an image-focused social media platform where the images sent out by users disappear after 1-10 seconds There are lots of ways to use Snapchat to market your restaurant While you want to stay away from discount codes, consider sending out passwords for secret specials; it can make engaging with your social media into a sneaky game and tap into the secret menu trend You can also use Snapchat just like Instagram to feature your food, this time adding in a FOMO (fear of missing out) element And again, no matter what social media platform you’re using to share your food photos, making sure they’re good shots of beautiful plating is key Make It Easy Another important tip: make it as easy as possible for Twitter users to @ you If your Twitter handle isn’t your exact restaurant name (if you’ve used underscores, or if you’ve included your city name), have your Twitter name be your exact restaurant name as you Facebook Post Having your Twitter handle references in your guests’ Tweets is important, since other Twitter users can then click through to the restaurant’s account — don’t make it harder for your guests to give you credit for a delicious meal by not being easy to find online Consider keeping track of when your restaurant is “tagged” in posts so that you can like or comment on those posts That lets online foodies know you saw their shout-out and shows you’re paying attention to social media If keeping track of tagged posts starts to feel a little time consuming, there are apps and sites out there that help you manage it rewardsnetwork.com 17 You also should be checking the geo-tag for your restaurant on Instagram – online foodies might not tag you in a post, but they could be tagging the post with your restaurant’s location This means taking a little extra time to check it manually, but this is something you can every once in a while rather than every day into positive publicity by showing how you addressed a problem However, be very careful about getting defensive; hassling people who criticize your restaurant online could make you look even worse than the original negative review Those online foodies you want to court don’t want to write about (let alone eat at) restaurants whose managers will go after them if they say even mild criticism online about the meal Customers take positive and negative reviews very seriously And finally, social media isn’t the only way foodies tell other foodies about their experiences at your restaurant Don’t forget about online reviews! While they’re sometimes used to share criticism, online review sites also encourage guests to speak up for your brand And today, more than ever, customers take positive and negative reviews very seriously Every restaurant is going to get a mix of both, but being aware of what’s being said will help you take that feedback back to your staff and managers — and improve customer service and operations as a result If you’re willing to listen Use Google Alerts But how else can you know if people are already talking about your business? As a manager, you don’t have the time to go searching for news about the restaurant, right? Well, setting up a Google Alert is a great way to avoid the time suck A Google Alert allows sends you notification if any blogs or other websites write about the business From there, you can share the good ones on your social media pages Reviewers often enjoy seeing their positive reviews shared by the restaurant they’re reviewing, and it tells the foodie community at large that you’re paying attention In our next chapter, we look at how to fine tune your social media message to get the best results — especially as you struggle to get noticed in an increasingly busy online space How you handle your posts — and your own expectations — will make the difference between a positive experience and one that has you pulling your hair out You can also address any not-so-great publicity, which in some cases can turn it rewardsnetwork.com 18 Chapter Fine-tuning Your Expectations After engaging with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and the like, most business owners will come to believe that a social media presence has become so perfunctory as to feel second nature And that is true Your presence online is as expected by customers today as a listing in the Yellow Pages was twenty years ago But the potential to explode your online presence has dimmed a bit by virtue of the billions of users who did just what you did: they got online and started pushing hard, either to promote their business or simply themselves As a result, it’s hard to get a word in edgewise and connect to the RIGHT people No longer simply a numbers game of “whoever reaches the most people wins,” social media for restaurants needs a different approach to work It needs the precision of a surgeon, not the chainsaw approach of lumberjack looking to carve as big a dent in the forest of audience minds as possible With that in mind, here are five key takeaways on social media for your restaurant that will put your profile into the right mindset for a brand new era Post Locally It doesn’t matter how many people see your post if the majority are people who can’t actually dine with you Cultivate local followers It’s much more important to have fewer followers that live or work near your establishment IRL (in real life) than larger rewardsnetwork.com 19 numbers of followers that live halfway across the world, are bots (fake, computerautomated accounts), or are just not your target demographic Following people in your area who are popular on social media for restaurants can be helpful, if for no other reason than to watch and pick up tips on how to attract attention to yourself Also, consider connecting with other local businesses online, just like you would IRL, to crosspromote You’d be surprised how much traction you can get from partnering with other accounts that could use a similar boost Don’t Worry If People “Like” You For years, Facebook has trained its users that the “like” button is the be-all and endall of getting attention online I mean, who doesn’t want to be liked? But if you’re in the business of tracking social media performance, “likes” are the least important metric to pay attention to It’s quite often simply a mindless click that gets lost in a wave of other mindless clicks and doesn’t produce an actionable result On the other hand, clicks on links you provide to your website are very valuable With every visit to your website (not your social media profile, mind you), you are pulling a potential customer closer to the heart of your business, exposing them to online real estate that you actually own and control While you should absolutely include your social media profile links on your website, NOT make them the most prominent information on the site They’ve arrived at your space! You’ve already accomplished what social media was meant to for you, so it doesn’t need to be the very first thing users see when they open your homepage You want them to get to your main website — social media is a channel to get them there! You should include your social media profile links on your website, NOT make them the most prominent information on the site Keep in mind too that just because someone didn’t click on your social media ad or post doesn’t mean they didn’t see or note it However, there’s no real way to know that, except anecdotally But overall impressions matter They build up over time in the brain of your customer Unfortunately, the ability to build up your impression count is largely subject to the whims of algorithms and overall traffic, unless of course you pay for advertising rewardsnetwork.com 20 Always Include a Photo Always Include a Link It’s elementary that in the millions of words that cross our computer screens every day, photographs are the disrupter that can make people stop and take notice And the sharper, brighter, more attractive the photo, the more likely it is to make a reader pay attention and want to know more Your food is the prime subject for social media postings In fact, whole platforms like Instagram or Snapchat have made their mark as a prime place for users to find delectable “food porn.” It will have a much more visceral effect on your potential customer than a shot of your empty dining room Likewise, internet users have been trained to click links when they present themselves if they are interested in finding out more information Don’t disappoint them Provide a link on every single post to let users learn something more about whatever it is you are promoting Take a Breath Years ago, in social media’s infancy, it was easy to stand out and make a big mark with your marketing Today, the landscape is so incredibly saturated with competition — from politics to pop culture — that it feels like it’s impossible to break through That’s because, more or less, it is not changed from the very beginning of the platforms Acquisition has always been a very slow process to success But today, it’s become more and more obvious that social media needs to be seen as an add-on to your primary marketing strategy It cannot be your strategy in and of itself It simply cannot provide the return on your investment in time and money that other forms of advertising and marketing still can, including email marketing, search engine optimization of your website, and even direct mail Be Real (and True to Your Brand) Nobody likes to be sold to It’s uncomfortable and a real turn off And the reality is, when someone sees your post on social media and it gives them a bad feeling, that’s exactly what they’ll do: turn you off It only takes one click for you to disappear from a follower’s life forever Do not push them to that point Speak in a friendly voice Avoid buzzwords Share useful information, from you or another resource Be part of the online community Thank people for their comments on your social media pages and posts People will respect you as a source for know-how and ultimately reward you with business Today, social media for restaurants simply takes patience, consistency, and above all else, generosity A lot of business owners, restaurateurs included, can find themselves very frustrated by the slow pace of marketing through social media for restaurants And truthfully, that’s rewardsnetwork.com 21 Conclusion Word-of-mouth still talks As we mentioned at the conclusion of Chapter 3, when it comes to online word of mouth, social media and restaurant rating sites can be your best friends — or your worst enemies “Technology plays a huge role,” says Arezou Hooshiarnejad, Marketing Manager and Event Coordinator of Rewards Network program restaurant Darya Restaurant in Santa Ana, CA “That’s how people get connected How they find out about things that are happening in their area, the restaurants, and what specials they have Before it was just word of mouth Now it’s on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter Social media has expanded that word of mouth.” And Hooshiarnejad has taken full advantage of great online word of mouth for Darya Restaurant by developing a brand new, responsive design website in the past year Building out an easily accessible website presence accommodates mobile customers and their need to have information right when it’s most pertinent and wanted “Everything is now done with electronics for convenience Customers don’t want to wait until they get to their home or office,” Hooshiarnejad continues “They can just go onto their phone and find us and order.” Being easy to find (and interact with) is only half the battle, however Maintaining a positive online presence can be as important as customer service inside your restaurant Because for your guests, the experience doesn’t end when they pay rewardsnetwork.com 22 the check and walk out anymore In fact, it may even begin long before they’ve ever set foot in your establishment The prevalence of review sites and message boards like Yelp and eat24, GrubHub, Eater, and TripAdvisor has changed the landscape for restaurant-goers significantly in recent years Whether through Google or a mobile app, anyone can find consumer comments about your restaurant at a moment’s notice, long before they’ve tasted your food themselves And like much of Internet commentary, it’s not always pretty occasional bad review will be a learning experience and not a major problem The problem comes when one side or the other is no longer being truthful In reality, most online comments and reviews of your restaurant are going to have the ability to remain anonymous, to one degree or another Guests may not use their real name or photo in association with their comment They may even have multiple accounts and review your restaurant under different user names Sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor really have no way of protecting against vendetta reviewing (or alternatively, competitors stuffing their ballot box with positive reviews) in an online environment that prioritizes free access and anonymity Who can you trust? Every restaurateur has heard the horror stories about customers leaving bad Yelp reviews, and the subsequent responses from the aggrieved owners No one likes to hear bad things about themselves, and particularly not about the business they have put blood, sweat, tears, and money into But consumer dialogue is part of the reality behind having a business open to the public If you’re doing your job right and providing the best food and service you can, the Anonymity was one of the dilemmas Rewards Network had while developing its customer review system, and the solution became one of our biggest selling points for restaurants looking for constructive feedback When a restaurant joins Rewards Network, our members are encouraged to leave a review after every visit to that establishment To all outward appearances, the reviews are anonymous, represented only by the first and last initial of the member’s name and their city and state It gives consumers concerned about their online presence — and potential exposure to online abuse — assurance of their safety and confidentiality Some choose to publish publicly on our network of rewardsnetwork.com 23 program websites, and some opt to have their comments shared only with the restaurant But the difference between this and other review sites is that every Rewards Network review is tied to a specific visit to your restaurant Only diners who have actually paid a check that results in rewards from one of our many loyalty dining programs can leave that feedback And that verified feedback can be invaluable to your business Rewards Network members are typically high earners and big spenders, driving over half a billion dollars a year to our network of restaurants nationwide As social influencers, our members have contributed over 12 million reviews to the conversation online — powerful word of mouth you not only can trust, but can learn from to make valuable improvements to your business It was word of mouth too good for Hooshiarnejad to pass up “We utilize the data to better ourselves I share it with management and management is aware of what’s happening All of the reviews are shared monthly in management and employee meetings If they’re doing a good job, good for them, but we always want to better And if there’s something that needs to be addressed then we address it “I think it’s a great opportunity to bring in new faces, new eyes, and new palates Rewards Network is helping to promote us [Members] find us through the website Because of Rewards Network, we get all of these great rewards members Anyone can find consumer comments about your restaurant at a moment’s notice, long before they’ve tasted your food themselves “The more accessibility, the more of a presence you have, the more easily you’ll be able to be found.” rewardsnetwork.com 24 “The biggest reason that we chose Rewards Network is that it’s a much more efficient use of our money Especially in somewhere like New York City, if you just put an ad out there, it’s just going to get lost in all the noise and you’re really just wasting your money.” Jonathan Stan, Owner Pacific Standard, Brooklyn, NY Want to know more about how Rewards Network can help your restaurant succeed? CONTACT US TODAY: resources@rewardsnetwork.com 1-866-559-3463 RewardsNetwork.com/Marketing ... your social media accounts   rewardsnetwork.com 44 Chapter Grasping the Basics Before any social media novice can run, you have to walk And there’s a lot that goes into setting up your social media. .. needs to be active on social media Whether Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram, these platforms are great (and free) tools for social media marketing for restaurants, allowing you to promote... social media was meant to for you, so it doesn’t need to be the very first thing users see when they open your homepage You want them to get to your main website — social media is a channel to