Successful Social Media Strategies for Restaurants

As we have said before, social media plays a key role in successful marketing plans for all luxury brands, but it is especially important for restaurants that face tough competition and rely on customer satisfaction. According to a recent study done by Forrester research, 90% of food industry executives agree that social media has completely changed the way consumers interact with their businesses. Social media is an excellent way for restaurants to build the identity of their brand, as well as engage their customers outside of the dining room. Here are some tactics that will help you in developing a successful social media strategy:

1.     Develop a Calculated Plan – The most successful social media campaigns start with selecting one overall message to deliver. All content should bridge back to that initial message.  It is important to understand your target market and know what engages them. The more your content is shared, the wider your audience becomes.

2.     Get Visual – What is more appealing than a photo of a delectable dish? According to socialbakers, photos make up 93% of the most engaging posts. With our client, ON20 we have found that our social media audience gives a greater response to visual posts, such as behind the scenes looks of Chef Lizotte in action or the restaurant’s breath-taking views of the Connecticut River.

  

Platforms that focus on visual content, such as Instagram and Pinterest have proven to be effective communicating tools for restaurants. Pinterest is a great way to build your restaurants identity by creating boards that relate to your brand. Show how your restaurant gives back by pinning pictures of a fundraiser you hosted. Instagram also has a visual appeal but is much more immediate.  Restaurants can snap photos of today’s most appetizing specials and instantly share them. Adding hash tags are a great way to build your following and reach people that you have never connected with before.

3.     Encourage Customers to Participate  – Posting about dining experiences has become a trend on social media. Restaurants should be encouraging to patrons to tweet about their experience, instagram a photo of their meal, or check in in on Facebook. There are many ways to influence customers to digitally interact with your restaurant. Adding QR codes to your menus and print materials are an excellent way to direct traffic to your social media. Contests are also a great way to engage customers.

4.     Use Industry Platforms - Leading platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. are necessary components of a social media strategy, but there are also industry specific sites that are important to your digital brand as well. Foodspotting is a rising star when it comes to restaurant social media.  Recently acquired by OpenTable, the website and mobile app allows users to rate specific dishes that will appear on a local map. Restaurants can create accounts to promote their own dishes as well. Nombe, a San Francisco-based Japanese restaurant, has created customized recommendation guides and scavenger hunts on Foodspotting in order brand themselves and attract potential customers.

Many restaurants offer rewards or incentives for checking in through location-based platforms. AJ Bombers, a Milwaukee restaurant was able to drive sales up 110% through a foursquare promotion. When the restaurant’s Foursquare page featured a tip about the Barrie Burger, with no additional promotion or advertising, sales for the item grew 30% in the first week. AJ Bombers is now up to 15,000 check-ins. 

5.     Create an open dialogue – It is important to engage your audience, but it is also important for you to be engaged as well. Answering all comments and tweets shows authenticity and keeps fans involved in your social media. Live tweeting is great way to build lasting relationship with followers. Many restaurants have found success in live tweeting from special events. Using hash tags can help further the conversation and spread the word about specific campaigns.

Morton’s Steakhouse made national headlines when responding to a mid-air tweet, humorously requesting a Morton’s porterhouse steak upon arrival at Newark Airport. Morton’s responded to the tweet by sending a driver and full meal to the airport to meet the customer. While this may seem like an extravagant gesture, the story is still being talked about two years later.

In conclusion, when used efficiently social media can be a remarkable tool for engaging customers and generating new ones. Social media plays a fundamental role in brand identity and maintaining a dialogue with consumers. There is plenty of discussion of food in the digital world and you need to be a part of that conversation.

Instagram Heats Up The Social Video Scene

Roughly two seconds after we posted our blog about Twitter’s social video app Vine, Facebook’s Instagram—the app well-known for glorifying pictures with various filters—announced their new video feature. While the move cemented the importance of social video, it set social media analysts abuzz regarding the two services.

Out of the gate, Instagram has set itself apart by providing effects that Vine has not brought to the table just yet, including:

•         Up to 15 second video clips
•         Thirteen customized filters to edit the look of your video
•         The ability to choose a cover frame instead of it being the first frame of the video
•         The ability to delete certain sections without deleting the entire video
•         A feature called “cinema” to stabilize the video and remove jumpy cuts
•         Unlike Vine, there is no looping feature

So which app is going to win this seeming battle of social video? So far there have been mixed predictions. While Mashable believes Instagram’s existing strength will “take the wind out of Vine’s sails”, TechCrunch.com opines that Vine’s growing community of creatives and designers, will continue to blossom. Here at Miamore, we (at least in the immediate future) believe the two will co-exist with different usages—much like Facebook and Twitter. Given how difficult it is for most small businesses to create a compelling (and quality) 15-second video; along with the challenge of seamlessly mixing video and photography on Instagram, we still favor Vine and its quick videos and looping feature.

Do you agree?

Get on the Vine

So, you have a brand Facebook page and Twitter. But does your company Vine ? If not, you may want to check out why 13 million users (posting 12 million videos daily) have made this app the rising star of the social media world. 

Vine (which was recently acquired by Twitter) allows users to create and post 6-second video-clips. Similar to Twitter or Facebook, users follow people and can scroll a newsfeed to view their videos.

  

Vine, which launched just 6 months ago, has already passed Instagram in popularity and, as of this week, Vine has the number 2 spot for the most popular app in the apple store.

So why is Vine causing so much buzz among social media users and, especially, marketers? Today, visuals are one of the most powerful marketing tools. And, as businesses slowly move away from traditional advertising and toward innovative social ways to engage consumers, Vine is perfectly poised as a creative way of marketing.

Ready to Vine for your brand? Here are some of the effective, eye-catching ideas that are useful for business:

·      Display your work

·      Engage customers in a conversation

·      Showcase the office

·      Promote a contest, sale, or special offer

·      Bring presentations to life

·      Some of your favorite products, or recommendations

A few basic user tips:

·      While tags work well within Vine, don’t expect them to always translate to Twitter or other devices, so use hashtags, too.

·      Rather than one continuous clip, try combining multiple short clips to create an action shot.

·      Be creative and have fun!

What are your Vine ideas? Have questions, let us know.

Older, Affluent Consumers Go Social

To get your target market to hear your brand message, you must be sharing that message in the places where you find your target market. Pretty basic business tenet? We thought so but, given how many small luxury brands are still neglecting social media in their marketing, apparently not as basic as we thought.

Recent reports show that social media usage continues to increases among wealthier and older Americans. Today, 68% of U.S. Internet users with incomes greater than $75,000 use now using social media.¹

Meanwhile, if you continue to buy into the “Facebook is for kids” myth, it’s long past the time to look at the facts:

• 77% of U.S. Internet users between 30 and 49 use social media.¹
• 52% of those aged 50 – 65 use social media. ¹ 
• 65% of college-educated U.S. Internet are active on social media sites.¹

Research also reveals that Facebook continues to be the most popular social tool, with 67% of U.S. Internet users logging on and staying active. Important for luxury brands to note: Facebook is being used by 73% of U.S. Internet users with an income greater than $75,000, making these wealthiest Americans the most active Facebook users.¹ 

Twitter meanwhile, continues to be the second most popular social networking site, and 32% of U.S. Internet users over the age of 30 are active on Twitter.¹

Finally, Pinterest continues to gain momentum, and is more likely to attract higher-educated, affluent women¹.

Still questioning social marketing, or just unsure of where to start? Let us help…

¹as reported by Pew Research Centre 

If a picture is worth a thousand words...

Amid the myriad of social and digital marketing options, visual content is proving to be one of the most powerful tools for luxury brands, with online videos becoming a vital element of marketing strategies. According to The Internet Retailer, a consumer is 144% more likely to purchase a product after viewing a product video, making videos the “go-to” tool for consumer engagement.

Proof? Videos have been linked to boosts in e-commerce for numerous luxury brands. Luxury retailer Barneys New York released videos to coincide with their Men's and Women's Spring 2012 Collections. The videos featured models wearing the collections while singing, dancing, and telling real life stories. Thumbnails appeared throughout the video allowing shoppers to purchase what the models were wearing. More powerful than a standard product image, these videos captivated consumers and significantly impacted their purchasing decisions.

A digital pioneer, elite fashion house Oscar de la Renta is another great example of a luxury brand utilizing online video to engage their audience and drive sales. From streaming runway shows live on the Oscar de la Renta YouTube channel, to using Vine to display the latest jewelry pieces, the brand is able connect with consumers, showcase new products and drive traffic to their websites. In return the company saw their online sales for 2012 more than double from the previous year.

An important aspect for up-and-coming brands remember when utilizing video for their social media marketing is that content is key. A brand should strive to entice its audience; this is not about old-school advertising. By showing a behind-the-scenes glimpse at a design process or presenting an exclusive interview with the designer about a favorite piece, you can engage your audience authentically and create long-term fans.

As for what video platforms luxury brand should be using, we have a few recommendations. YouTube, of course, continues to be the most trusted and widely used video platform. Having a YouTube channel is a great way for a brand to collectively display video content under one umbrella. Google + hangouts are a rising platform for brands to reach consumers. Google + allows brands to stream live webcasts that can act as interactive video blogs. Vine, meanwhile, has become the visual version of Twitter, allowing users to create a short, six-second video that can be shared on various forms of social media.

While large luxury brands are finding great success with video, few smaller brands are properly taking advantage of the fact that, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth much, much more. 

Social Media: Breaking the Barriers of Traditional PR

It is undeniable that social media has revolutionized the way society communicates and shares information. Americans spend an average of 6.9 hours each month on social networks—more than double the time they spent social networking in 2006. It is even more remarkable how social media has become a habitual part of everyday life; 22% of Facebook users log in severaltimes a day, making social media one of the most influential platforms for reaching the public.

Thus, not surprisingly, social media—by providing a brand with the opportunity to make a direct connection with its audience without the filter of the media—plays an integral role in public relations strategies. According to thedrum.com, “Social media cuts across channels and is all about engaging with individuals, holding conversations not relying on press releases and launches.”  Social media provides a greater control over the messages directed at a brand’s audience.

Traditionally, marketing has been a monologue. As a result of mass social media usage, it is now a two-way conversation between brands and consumers. Thus, to survive, brands must be interactive and authentic; not only via their Facebook page, but also in all their communication with both consumers and the press. Recognizing this revolution in the way we communicate, companies must transform their PR strategies in order to reach their target audience.

As PR professionals, we facilitate a 24/7 conversation in order to get the desired message across and to engage the public. In return, we are able to receive continuous feedback, explore what truly engages our audience, and quickly respond to any criticism. However, along with these great opportunities that social media provides comes the responsibility of constant managing and monitoring to ensure the safety of a brands reputation.

When examining how social media has altered public relations, it is important to acknowledge how social media has changed journalism and the way consumers look for information. (Lets face it, in the new digital age, you are more likely to hear of breaking news via your Twitter feed than by turning on your television or by flipping through a hard copy of a newspaper). More than half of Americans receive some form of local news through their mobile device. Journalists are now turning to social media to capture the attention of their readers and strive to do so in 140 characters or less.

Social media has contributed to the changing dynamic of the Publicist/Journalist relationship. No matter how eye-catching, creative, and well timed a pitch may be, there is always a chance it will go overlooked in a horde of emails. A more operative way for an up and coming brand to reach an editor, reporter, or blogger is to connect with them through various social media channels. At miamore communications, we recently pitched to an editor who had blogged about potential article topics. This resulted in the placement of two of our clients. While an editor may be overwhelmed with the traffic in his/her inbox, they may be more likely to respond to a tweet. In fact, many journalists actively use social media to post queries and gather information.

So, what does the future hold? We feel that blogger outreach will become just as important as traditional journalist outreach, especially for specific industries. While mass social platforms will continue to be relevant, niche, industry specific networks will prove to be a more effective arena for brands to connect with consumers. Just as email transformed modern communication just a couple of decades ago, we predict that social media will become a principal form of interaction over the next few years.