So – you’ve got a Facebook page, but haven’t a clue how to maximize it’s effectiveness in promoting your restaurant. How often to post? Should you let anyone post an update? And no one seems to be able to coherently answer the simplest questions – such as: How do you measure the ROI of a social media campaign? The question is – do you hire an outside consultant to guide you, or do you give the responsibility to someone on your staff?
The simple answer to this question is – both.
Let’s examine the available options. One is to hire a professional just to run your social media. While there are many social media experts out there, there are not many that fit into the budget of your average restaurant, or restaurant group for that matter, on a full time basis. It is also becoming increasingly clear that just about every marketing agency out there is going to insist they know how to do it and start throwing buzz words around like “brand ambassador” and “vertical communications“. It’s only later that you find out they know nothing about the industry in general, and your restaurant in particular.
The next option is to pass the responsibilities off to someone on the staff. Perhaps someone younger, more conversant with Twitter and Facebook, an individual that’s been using these services since college. This is the way that I see most restaurants going and it has met with at best middling results. First of all your asking someone on your staff to spend time performing a task that includes an almost guaranteed waste of some amount of time – how can you possibly measure the amount your paying someone versus the results your getting? For one thing Facebook Fan pages offer many features that are not part of the personal page experience. They also offer features that require at least a minimal amount of technical expertise to take fullest advantage of them. Then there is the problem of consistency – someone leaves the staff – you need someone to take over and are faced with the same problem all over again.
Fun Facts: #1: There are more than 860 million active Facebook users. (Facebook Stats 04/2012)
#2: Over 80% of all Americans use a social network. (Nielsen 1Q 2012)
#3: Nearly 23% of online time is spent on social networks. (Nielsen 4Q 2011)
#4: 61% of small business owners use social media to attract new customers. (Mediabistro 02/2012)
#5: 50% of small businesses reported gaining new customers through social media (Mediabistro 02/2012)
#6: 51% of Facebook users and 64% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from the brands they follow. (Mediabistro 02/2012)
#7: 62% of adults US Internet users watch videos on video sharing sites. (Mediabistro 02/2012)
#8: 97% of Internet users said an online experience influenced whether or not they bought a product or
service from a brand. (Get Satisfaction, 01/2012)
#9: 53% of Twitter users recommend companies and/or products in their tweets. (Univ. of Maryland, “Small Business
Success Index Report,” 03/10)
#10: Facebook posts with photos generate 40% more engagement than Facebook posts with text only.
(Webliquid 10/2011)
The best method is to build from the top down. Find a consultant with specific industry experience and work with them to create a social media campaign for your restaurant that makes sense for you. As I’ve stated elsewhere – using Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Foursquare and Tumblr are not the same as throwing up a website or advertising in a newspaper. These are services have a lot more in common with the way the host engages with a customer or how the bartender remembers the name of a patron’s favorite drink. You want to build on that relationship and executing a social media effort that is off-putting or boring will get the exact same result as it would on the floor of the restaurant. Ask around the industry, see what other people are doing that works and find someone that will listen to you.
It is also important, and this might seem a bit counter-intuitive from someone that markets his services as a social media consultant, that once the campaign is created and specific goals are set at least some portion of the day to day responsibilities for updates should ultimately reside with someone in house. These social networking tools are all about relationships and if you have a successful restaurant that means that you know your patrons better than anyone else. Once the structure is created find someone on your staff and give them specific tasks and responsibilities in managing your social media. It is then simply a matter of keeping up with changes as these social networking tools evolve to ensure that your efforts remain relevant and effective.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Well, the simple answer to that question is no. Despite everyone using fan counts to gauge popularity the simple truth to the matter is that the number of fans, or “likes”, your page accrues can have very little relationship with the effectiveness of your page. The simple analogy would be would you count a Broadway show event a success if the theater was packed, but no one was looking at the stage? Especially one where tickets were free.
