Bailiwick Capital Partners

Social media seems to be on the minds of a lot of people these days. In the U.S. alone, of those online, nearly 81% are on a social network and averaging more than 7 hours a month there. Also, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) “If you are not on a social network, you are not online”. But what does this mean to restaurant operators? Is restaurant social media different from healthcare social media, or real estate social media? You bet.

The restaurant business is unique so it shouldn’t be a total shock that social media application and practices should be different too. But then, this is all pretty new, and new takes time to embrace. While the differences are obvious to industry insiders, it may not be so obvious to all those social web tool developers that “think” they know what restaurant operators need, or want. Most, if not all development is targeted at business to consumer (B2C) applications because developers are, well, consumers not operators.

I just returned from a speaking gig in Chicago where those in attendance were still in the dark on what exactly social media is. While many are indeed, ready to move their social media activities to the next level; engagement and measurement, many are still wondering what this all means for them personally and professionally. This is a big force of change and people don’t always embrace “new” well or quickly. Being from Silicon Valley, we have to be reminded that just because we are early adopters to almost anything with blinking lights, not everyone outside of the Valley is. So, we move a little slower, and spend more time educating the market.

Smarter Restaurant

FohBoh is growing quickly and evolving naturally from being a pure B2B online community for the foodservice industry to an integrated online community to a dynamic social web technology company that offers all industry stakeholders a safe harbor to connect, communicate and collaborate as a foodservice community. This natural evolution has been caused by our need to serve – The Community, that is. Online communities are defining the future products and services consumers and businesses want. So, naturally, being good listeners, we then created social web utilities that our operator members requested. The result is a suite of social web [social media] utilities [products and tools] called Smarter Restaurant: FohBuzz™, FohMail™ and FohTxt™.

FohBoh just released FohBuzz at the Restaurant Leadership conference April 19^th in Scottsdale, AZ. Late this month, we intend to release FohMail followed by FohTxt in June. The value of these social web utilities is that they have been created just for the restaurant industry. Moreover, FohBuzz sets the tone for having a more successful marketing and communications campaign/conversation because it delivers what your customers are looking for. From this consumer insight, you will be able to create a more successful email marketing campaign and then anticipate real time needs addresses by FohTxt. The goal is higher open rates and more traffic resulting in more sales and brand loyalty.

So, here are my suggestions to get in the sB2B + B2C social web game:

1. Join FohBoh. If you haven’t yet, please take 3 min and join the online conversation at FohBoh.com. It’s free and powerful. You will immediately be connected to millions of like-minded foodservice industry professionals worldwide through or direct connects with members at facebook, Linkedin, myspace, Bebo, Plaxo, Twitter and YouTube, among others.
2. Make an Assessment. Have a meeting with your managers and staff. Ask them about social media and how they use it personally. They are, after all, consumers. Then discuss a simple objective for your company. Maybe it’s introducing a new menu item, or entirely new menu. Or, a seasonal event that your restaurant owns. Whatever, choose one objective (you can have more later) and think about a strategy. In the last issue I discussed our social media methodology for developing a strategy.
3. Create your social media marketing strategy. Yes, facebook and twitter will be part of this, but there are more tools. Based on your strategy, select tools that meet your needs based on expressing, sharing, networking, gaming, or reviewing. Send emerald@fohboh.net an email if you want a little help here.
4. Implement your strategy. Messaging is an art and it isn’t all about pushing your message our to as many as you can. We have a rule of thumb that suggests that 70% of all messaging should be “pull, meaning non-marketing in nature. Be a thought leader: inspire, share stories, make friends way. Then, 30% can be broadcasting events, specials, and news that may have a call to action.
5. Collect brand influencers. This is huge and clearly a goal for social media marketing and communication. These “street teams” are your advocates. They can make and break your brand, so covet these ambassadors and learn from them.

For more information, please contact Michael@fohboh.net, or 650-206-8405.