Driving Restaurant Revenue With Social Media - Part 3 - Twitter

Twitter is a micro blogging social media network where all posted messages have a limit of 140 characters. This may seem to be extremely constraining, but restaurants should not question the platform’s value for their marketing efforts. The fast-paced, real-time nature of Twitter is highly suited to the time-sensitiveness of the food and beverage industry.

 

Converse With Your Followers

This is the aspect of Twitter that has gotten brands into trouble and turned off their fans the most, it is all about the conversation. Talking at people with restaurant marketing messages is a quick way to lose followers. Start out by just listening, and then join in when you have a feel for the discussion. Answer any questions asked about your restaurant in a timely fashion. Ask questions of your followers in return, for example, what new menu items would they like to see? What is their opinion of certain dishes?  Make sure to include hashtags (#) connected to significant keywords in every tweet. People follow hashtags around keywords of importance to them. Just like all social media, quality content is key and will result in your posts being retweeted.

 

Have a Complete Profile

Twitter gives all accounts a place to make a memorable first impression: the Twitter profile. Make sure it is complete rich with keywords within the bounds of the 160-character biography. This vitally is important to the Twitter search engines. The profile needs to also be as visually eye-catching as possible.

 

Monitor Your Mentions

The quick pace of Twitter means brands, especially restaurants, need to monitor everything said about them. Twitter’s advanced search features make the task much simpler. You can see every time your restaurant is mentioned, whether it is positive or negative, giving you a heads-up in case any situation should arise that requires your immediate attention. With these features, you can also keep on the lookout for anytime specific terms are mentioned, for example, “restaurant New York” or “steak Miami”. A quick response on your part can bring in some new business for your establishment, while being helpful.

It is important to keep in mind why a person would follow a restaurant on Twitter. They want special deals. Twitter followers like to feel unique, so on Twitter only offer specials to your followers and they will keep coming back for more. In the next part of this series, we’ll examine a network seemingly tailor-made for the food and beverage industry, Foursquare.

Written and produced in beautiful Naples, Florida by OnFast.com. Visit OnFast.com today to get your free trial subscription to our Social Media Marketing Service.

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Driving Restaurant Revenue With Social Media - Part 2 - Facebook

Facebook is the benchmark social network platform and it’s where any restaurant should begin their social media marketing efforts. With over a billion users worldwide, it is by far the largest potential social network audience. It is skewed slightly more in numbers toward female active users, 58% female vs. 42% male. Facebook provides a venue where restaurants of all sizes can set up a page to interact with the people who love their food and reach out to future patrons. Here are a few tips for restaurants on Facebook:

 

Engage With Your Fans

Interacting with your restaurant’s fans will make them feel special and welcome. Great food, service, and atmosphere will make them want to come back to your restaurant. But an interactive experience with your page will keep your restaurant at the forefront of the audience’s mind, which will make them come back more often. Engage by asking users questions, conduct polls and giveaway contests. Seek the fans input on your menu, asking for suggestions for new items they would like to see. Ask them for their opinion whenever you make changes; listen and respond.

 

Include Lots Of Images

The introduction of the timeline format to Facebook last year has given all brands a wonderful place for a splashy cover photo. The food and beverage industry is highly visual, so create the proper impression with a colorful and representative image that you switch out periodically to keep it fresh. Make sure all posts feature images as well, to ensure they stand out and receive the attention they deserve. Also, all images should be of the highest resolution possible.

 

Give Them Something

Facebook is a great platform for offering promotions and highlighting specials. Giving the audience something that is a benefit to both you and your fans. However, keep it occasional enough that you are not giving away the store one day and then they won’t come back unless you are. Another idea could be to let your chefs share recipes and cooking secrets. With the immense popularity of cookbooks, chef sites, and culinary television shows, this will keep them coming back for more.

For a restaurant just starting out with social media marketing, Facebook is a great place to begin. The most important thing to remember is to make your restaurant’s fans feel appreciated and serving them is your pleasure. In part three, we’ll see what Twitter can do to assist the restauranteur.

Written and produced in beautiful Naples, Florida by OnFast.com. Visit OnFast.com today to get your free trial subscription to our Social Media Marketing Service.

Posted via OnFast - http://www.OnFast.com

Driving Restaurant Revenue With Social Media - Part 1 - Introduction

The process of successfully marketing a restaurant or chain has changed with the rapid growth of social media networks in recent years. The public’s ever-increasing usage of social media means that restaurants can no longer afford the lack of a presence across multiple platforms. It has become vital for restaurants to reach out to their customers through social channels to not only gain their patronage, but also keep their loyalty.

But it is not enough to merely be present on social media. The nature of the medium commands the attentive efforts of its participants. Interaction and engagement is expected by social media users, as is fresh content. Setting up one or more social media business pages and then forgetting about them will not work. Not to mention the danger of leaving a restaurant social media account unattended. All it can take is one disgruntled patron leaving negative comments on a page, with no response from the establishment, and a restaurant’s business can go into a tailspin. Reputation management requires the food & beverage industry to be extremely pro-active with their social media marketing efforts.

Social media marketing for restaurants is much more than damage control, however. The very essence of social networks lends itself to many of the attributes of the restaurant business. The food and beverage industry is reliant, to a degree, on favorable word-of-mouth. The viral aspect of social media is well suited to this type of marketing.

Many restaurants have already made social media networks a part of their overall marketing plans, while others should be considering it. As the technology progresses, along with the public’s adoption of social networks, it will become a cornerstone of successful restaurant marketing. But which platforms work best for the food & beverage industry? and how? In this multi-part series, we’ll examine each social network that is conducive to a restaurant’s efforts and how it fits into a food & beverage industry marketing campaign.

Written and produced in beautiful Naples, Florida by OnFast.com. Visit OnFast.com today to get your free trial subscription to our Social Media Marketing Service.

 

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Social Media News For The Week Of 4/19/13

Why Small Businesses Are Losing On Social Media

The online business community, Manta, released the results of a survey they conducted of 1,235 small businesses and their social media use. While almost 55 percent of them report using social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, over 60 percent of these small businesses say they have not seen any return on their investment. This indicates a fundamental misunderstanding of how social media works and its proper utilization for business. Full Story Here:


10 Annoying Social Media Habits Businesses Need To Stop Doing

As businesses go through the learning process of using social media for marketing purposes, some mistakes will be made along the way. This story effectively lays down some ground rules of what not to do. Businesses that make these missteps will likely not find very much success with social networks or at worst, appear lazy to their audience. Full Story Here:


9 Questions To Consider Before Developing A Social Media Strategy

Having a well mapped strategy with clearly stated goals and solid plans of how to attain them is vital to successfully integrating social media marketing for businesses. Not having gone through this crucially important process probably goes a long way to explaining the results in the lead story this week. This article effectively explains the questions and answers which any business, large or small, must ask of itself before embarking in marketing via social networks. Full Story Here:


4 Big Ideas for Your Social Media Strategy

The Ad Age Digital Conference was held this week in New York City. Four expert speakers shared their tips and advice about how businesses can stir up talk about their brands and then convert them into spending their money. Full Story Here:

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Social Media News For The Week Of 3/22/13

Pinterest Aims for Businesses

The social media network, Pinterest, is in the process of making the platform more attractive to businesses. This is according to a recent report by InformationWeek. The fourth most popular social network is adding new analytical tools along with new features to assist businesses in getting better traction from their content. Also, a separate site for business owners is now available to further help in the process of network engagement analysis. Full Story Here:


‘Triple C’ vs. Triple I’: Which Kind of Company Are You?

Social media has virtually eliminated the void between businesses and their customers and prospects. As the world has gone increasingly social, the relationships between companies, their employees, and their customers is changing. The old cultural business model was for a top down, Command-Control-Compliance company. Businesses marketed at their customers while vigorously controlling their message and the relationship between employees and customers. The new social business model is for a Inspire-Involve-Imagine company where customers and employees are inspired to imagine a brand experience and involved through ongoing dialogue. Full Story Here:


How to Run an Effective Social Media Program

A properly executed social media marketing campaign can go a long ways toward leveling the playing field between a small business and its larger competitors. There are three crucial factors to take into consideration to achieve lasting success with social media marketing, however. A clear strategy must be established first, followed by compelling content, remembering always that success takes time and requires a commitment. Full Story Here:


5 Social Media Marketing Tips to Boost SEO

It is vitally important that a business show up in the first page of a search engine result when consumers are looking online for products and services. Social media is increasingly driving the search engine rankings now. This article provides strategies for increasing rankings and better leveraging of social media to accomplish SEO goals for businesses. Full Story Here:

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OnFast Launches Coupon Builder App

OnFast launched their new Coupon Builder application into the Apple App Store today, allowing businesses to easily create Apple Passbook-compatible coupons with their iPhone or iPad and distribute them to Facebook and Twitter. The coupons can either be sent out immediately, or may be scheduled for distribution at a later date. Coupons can be tailored by choosing from a variety of themes and images can be added using the built-in photo editor with special effects. In addition, the number of coupons offered at any one time can be easily controlled and tracked.

"With the Coupon Builder app, we made it possible for virtually anyone to quickly create and send out a coupon that looks great." states Michael Burrock, Vice President of Business Development at OnFast. "In just a couple of minutes a merchant can put a Passbook-compatible coupon on their Facebook page" he continued.
 
Device Requirements:
* iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch and iPad
* Requires iOS 5.0 or later
* 8.7 MB

Pricing and Availability:
Coupon Builder 1.0 is $1.99 USD (or equivalent amount in other currencies) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Business category. Customers can learn more and sign up for the service at OnFast online. Contact Aaron Shepherd. Follow us on Twitter @onfast.

OnFast
Coupon Builder 1.0
Purchase and Download

OnFast is a cloud-based software as a service (SAAS) provider for the burgeoning online and social marketing space. OnFast's management team brings more than 25 years of experience in the software and Internet industries to provide customers with innovative and effective technologies. OnFast is headquartered in beautiful Naples, on Southwest Florida's Gulf Coast. OnFast is a registered trademark, and other OnFast product names, service names, slogans or logos referenced in this document are trademarks of OnFast, LLC. All other company, product or service names referenced in this website are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Driving Restaurant Revenue With Social Media - Part 2 - Facebook

Facebook is the benchmark social network platform and it’s where any restaurant should begin their social media marketing efforts. With over a billion users worldwide, it is by far the largest potential social network audience. It is skewed slightly more in numbers toward female active users, 58% female vs. 42% male. Facebook provides a venue where restaurants of all sizes can set up a page to interact with the people who love their food and reach out to future patrons. Here are a few tips for restaurants on Facebook:

 

Engage With Your Fans

Interacting with your restaurant’s fans will make them feel special and welcome. Great food, service, and atmosphere will make them want to come back to your restaurant. But an interactive experience with your page will keep your restaurant at the forefront of the audiences’ mind, which will make them come back more often. Engage by asking users questions, conduct polls and giveaway contests. Seek the fans input on your menu, asking for suggestions for new items they would like to see. Ask them for their opinion whenever you make changes: listen and respond.

 

Include Lots Of Images

The introduction of the timeline format to Facebook last year has given all brands a wonderful place for a splashy cover photo. The food and beverage industry is highly visual, so create the proper impression with a colorful and representative image that you switch out periodically to keep it fresh. Make sure all posts feature images as well, to ensure they stand out and receive the attention they deserve. Also, all images should be of the highest resolution possible.

 

Give Them Something

Facebook is a great platform for offering promotions and highlighting specials. Giving the audience something is a benefit to both you and your fans. However, keep it occasional enough that you are not giving away the store one day and then they won’t come back unless you are. Another idea could be to let your chefs share recipes and cooking secrets. With the immense popularity of cookbooks, chef sites, and culinary television shows, this will keep them coming back for more.

For a restaurant just starting out with social media marketing, Facebook is a great place to begin. The most important thing to remember is to make your restaurant’s fans feel appreciated and that serving them is your pleasure. In part three, we’ll see what Twitter can do to assist the restaurateur.

Written and produced in beautiful Naples, Florida by OnFast.com. Visit OnFast.com today to get your free trial subscription to our Social Media Marketing Service.

Posted via OnFast - http://www.OnFast.com