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Wiley Cerilli

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Social Media Marketing: 5 Restaurants That Get It

Posted: 03/14/11 10:30 AM ET

You're an expert chef with a beautiful restaurant, friendly staff and great food. In the past, you've successfully managed your customer flow through traditional advertising in local newspapers and you sponsor the local little league. Business is great, but a similar restaurant just opened up a few blocks away, and it's generating lots of buzz. The restaurant is using social media to its advantage, growing its customer base at an accelerated pace, and you're starting to lose market share. What's going on?

The Internet is the great equalizer, giving unlimited ad space and airtime to businesses no matter how big or small. Today, 70 percent of local businesses are marketing through Facebook -- more than anywhere else on the Internet.

It's one thing to have a social media presence, but it's another to manage it correctly. These sites are living, breathing entities. If you pay them attention and perform proper maintenance, then they will remain healthy and grow at a steady pace. With this in mind, social media-savvy restaurant owners are acquiring and retaining new customers at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising.

So what have been some successful social media marketing strategies? Here's a list of restaurants that are leveraging social media sites to make a name for themselves in the digital space. If you're creative -- and attentive -- you too can differentiate your restaurant from the place down the road.

Zengo
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Zengo, a Latin-Asian fusion restaurant in Manhattan, realizes that Facebook is a platform for two-way communication between a restaurant and its clientele. Zengo expands and retains its customer base by actively posting events, recipes, interesting stories and Facebook-specific specials for their fans. The Zengo Facebook page always has up-to-date menus, photos, and hours listed. Loyal fans can even make reservations and sign up for Zengo's mailing list directly through the Facebook page.

The odds are that you probably have a Facebook page if you're reading this blog post. The real question is whether you have more than just a phone number and address on it. Facebook is not the YellowPages. There are over 500 million active Facebook users -- 50 percent of whom are logging on everyday, hungry for content to interact with. As a restaurant owner, engaging these users is crucial for your digital business.
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You're an expert chef with a beautiful restaurant, friendly staff and great food. In the past, you've successfully managed your customer flow through traditional advertising in local newspapers and yo...
You're an expert chef with a beautiful restaurant, friendly staff and great food. In the past, you've successfully managed your customer flow through traditional advertising in local newspapers and yo...
 
 
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12:42 PM on 03/23/2011
I don't own a restaurant but help one out in my local commuity with their social media marketing.

I'm providing them support via http://www.GibBook.com and http://www.FaceBook.com/GibBook page.

According to them this has helped them get more customers in to their restaurant. For April we are planning on launching an online flyers so customers print and present on paying their bill to receive a 10% discount. Only Social Media can help get the message out there at a very low cost to all!
06:37 PM on 03/15/2011
I embrace social media, or any type of effective marketing for that matter. What is starting to concern me are two things: (1) Many SMBs believe that social media is a panacea. (2) Many SMB websites are not built with content management systems so instead of getting that fixed, a FB page is seen as a cheap and equivalent substitute to their own effective website. Call me old school (and aware of what happened to MySpace, Friendster, AOL, etc.) but I cannot recommend in good faith that brand/company websites be dismissed and replaced with FB.
09:16 PM on 04/25/2011
Agreed on both accounts. I consult with a lot of small businesses and more often than not, the ones struggling the most (financially) are the ones who have failed to establish their "own" online presence through a business website. Many of them feel that a facebook page or a google directory page is enough. My response is always the same. "Your webpage is your business' HOME....you can't use facebook and call it your HOME....thats like sleeping on your friend's couch and calling it your HOME. It doesn't work that way." Social media is critical these days....but nothing is more critical than your company's own website.
06:19 PM on 03/14/2011
Integrating social media and new technologies is good for advertising. When using traditional advertising, consider using QR codes to help track user views. We've personally gotten good feedback from Facebook, Twitter, and our iPhone app http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dempseys-burger-pub/id390595008?mt=8. People like that we're easily accessible online and mobile.
05:21 PM on 03/14/2011
Whenever I'm looking for a new place to eat, I hit up the web! like others have said: If I can't see a menu, there's a 95% chance they'll lose my business!
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frank day
Obama cares about all of U.S.
05:17 PM on 03/14/2011
Any business would be wise to leverage the opportunities of social media.

Typically, its the smaller more flexible ones that 'get it' first.
02:25 PM on 03/14/2011
I definitely agree that an internet and social media presence is so important! There is nothing more frustrating that going on your phone, looking for a place to eat, and then you can't see their menu because of a flash site or it's simply not on there. If I can't see a menu, there's a 95% chance they'll lose my business!
01:16 PM on 03/14/2011
Although I support the idea of expanding your business but not doing traditional advertising sucks because your also taking away and most likely in time shutting down your local newspapers along with other companies tied into it, so on and so forth. Which on average support a couple of hundred people. Just something about the internet that doesn't make it real. I'm not against this I'm just speculating.
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bg66astoria
Research Helps
12:52 PM on 03/14/2011
How does the Burger Shoppe reward its loyal customers who do NOT use Foursquare?

Limiting yourself to the terminally hip is fine starting out. The question is: do the owners want to still have the store in 5 years?

In fact a more interesting post might be: what happens when service establishments only reward a single social app & not all?
01:19 PM on 03/14/2011
Hi bg66astoria,

We're definitely on the same page with you in terms of reaching every aspect of your digital presence, and not just one medium (social) or a single site. While rewarding the early tech adopters is great for building vocal proponents, the majority of customers, today, aren't utilizing one individual destination, or app (outside of, say, Facebook).

With the exception of advertising on the Superbowl, it's nearly impossible to reach each and every customer - so it's best to be everywhere at all times. At SinglePlatform, we call this "Super Distribution". Connect with your customer wherever they look for local business specific information. Enhance the user experience outside of just a phone number and address. Add photos, specials, menus, hours, etc...

There is so much more than just the social web.

All the best,

Kenny Herman
VP, Business Development @SinglePlatform