Your Restaurant’s Social Media – Best Person For The Job?

/ April 24, 2013 / Facebook / Permalink

We have reached the point where everyone can agree that social media (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, and Whatever Network Appears In The Next Ten Minutes Before I Post This) is a critical component in any restaurant’s marketing strategy.  What no one has seemed to have done is clearly define whose responsibility it should be.  That is until now.

Social Media Marketing - Best For The Job?

Social Media Marketing – Best For The Job?

Social Media is as much a process as anything else, and while I hate the buzzwords that have obscured the issue (brand ambassador, engagement, influencer, conversation facilitator, etc.) there is no denying that the core of the issue is customer relations.  Therefore the person that becomes the online face of your restaurant must possess several indispensable skills:

1)      They must be articulate – and not just in 140 characters

If someone is writing about your food you need them to able to express themselves confidently and coherently.  Great literature no, remedial grammar abilities – yes!  Typos happen, but they shouldn’t become a distraction to potential dinners reading about your current desert special.

2)      They need to be knowledgeable

Whoever is tweeting or posting about your menu should know it at least as well as your servers do – if people ask questions they should know the answer.

3)      They need to be invested

And I don’t mean financially – the person must be invested in the success of your restaurant in a manner that extends beyond the next week, the next pay check or the next tip.  They need to be a committed professional that cares about  product and service.

4)      They need to be personable

Personality is an integral component of any dining experience – an engaging server can mean a big difference in check size versus one going through the motions – it works the same online.  We all no a limp handshake is worse than none at all.

5)       They need to be accountable

There has to be a chain of command where it is clear exactly who is responsible for social media marketing – and who they report to.  There are already too many cracks for this process to fall into – make sure everyone knows their role.

Okay, the next question is who is the person that fits all of these criteria?  Well, they are probably already on your staff – and they may not be the person you think they are.  First of all let’s discuss who this isn’t.

It isn’t the host or hostess.  Yes, I do realize that Jessica or Ryan is very personable, probably cute and no doubt perky, enthusiastic and likable (you hired them, after all).  However if you look at the list above you’ll see that they may not be knowledgeable or necessarily that articulate about food.  And they certainly aren’t invested or accountable.  While they may blossom into an eventual GM they could just as easily tell you they’re leaving for a week at Bonnaroo at the end of the month.  And while they may be extremely active on Twitter or Facebook, it doesn’t mean that those personal habits translate into marketing skills.  Looking good behind the wheel of a car doesn’t necessarily mean you know how to drive.

It is also probably not the assistant manager – the person responsible for schedules, seating, printing, reservations and pretty much everything else happening on the floor.  You don’t want your field general in charge of public relations – they’re used to prioritizing, and something called “Twitter” is going to fall off the end of that list faster than you can say “The ice machine is broken”.

It is also not the chef, waiter, back waiter or bartender – all of these employees might be willing and available, but will almost always fall short in one of the above stated qualifications (I know, I’ve tried everyone).  However, there is someone we haven’t mentioned.  I can also say that with almost four years’ experience developing the online marketing programs for the Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group, as well as other prominent restaurant organizations, that this is the clear cut favorite for the position of social media manager.

Virtually every restaurant has someone in charge of Group Dining and Event Planning.  This may be a dedicated role, or the responsibilities may be combined with other promotional efforts, but in general it’s going to be someone that possesses the requisite skill set.  The catering manager is going to know the menu – they have to sell it every day – and they are going to be able to speak about it intelligently and confidently.  They are going to be personable and skilled at marketing – they are probably working on some sort of commission.   They are going to be invested in the success of the restaurant because it benefits them both monetarily and professionally – and they are going to be accountable, they are probably already an important person in the chain of command.

However the most important part of this role may be one I haven’t mentioned – consistency.   It is important to not only appoint the current group dining or catering manager social media point person – it is critically imperative to make it part of the job description.   And anyone applying for such a position in this age of constantly evolving social networking should already have those skills – you don’t hire the sous chef hoping for on the job training.  This will ensure that you won’t find yourself searching for passwords or logins – responsibility for account maintenance will be handed off the same way it is in the kitchen and on the floor – qualified personnel in the right place to do the right job.

Now, before I get a lot of unhappy comments from devoted hostess tweeters and bartender bloggers – this does not mean that other people on your staff are automatically unqualified or unprofessional.  For instance – Anthony Sasso, Chef at Casa Mono/ Bar Jamon, is engaging and informative when writing about his menu, and he also takes the most amazing food pictures I’ve ever seen – but that is very much the exception to the rule.  Social Media Marketing Admin is an increasingly vital position in any marketing campaign, and the position is one that needs to be consistently executed at the same level of competency expected from any other position on your staff.  Any other approach is a sure recipe for, are you ready, failure.

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Best Practices – Restaurants Using Twitter

/ April 21, 2013 / Social Media Management, Twitter / Permalink

Twitter is a communication platform that enables its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 characters, known as “tweets“. It now has over 500 million users worldwide.  You can use it to quickly share information with people interested in your restaurant, gather real-time feedback, and build relationships with customers. When you combine messages that are quick to write, easy to read, public, controlled by the recipient and exchangeable anywhere, you’ve got a powerful way to communicate with your customers.

Tip – To listen in on the conversations happening right now, search Twitter for the name of your restaurant, product or brand. If you have a Twitter account already, your home page has a handy search box on the right side. You can also go to https://twitter.com/#!/search-home. And you can click here for a quick intro to Twitter Lingo

Updates in real time are probably the most important new tool in the hospitality industry. Even restaurants with month long waiting lists experience cancellations.  For instance – at Babbo in NYC there is a long wait for reservations – but there are also cancellations.  We’ve recently started a program that features a regular tweet every day at 3:00 that gives followers first crack at that night’s late openings – and it has become hugely popular.  Being able to reach thousands of fans at 3:00, or 5:00 or even 8:00 PM, telling them that there is an available reservation for four at 10:00 will accomplish something else. First, obviously, it fills a vacant table at that time slot. What it also does, though, is much more subtle and actually more important in the brave new world of Social Media Marketing.  It establishes an immediate dialogue between the restaurant and its patrons, encouraging brand loyalty and identification.  It can also bridge the perceptual gap that can make many restaurants seem out of reach for regular diners – and upscale should never equal inaccessible.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures – The importance of visuals in deploying Social Media tools cannot be overstated. While descriptions of ingredients and preparations are important there is nothing that compares to an actual photo of a skillfully executed dish that will inspire responses. Keep a camera handy to the kitchen and when possible assign a specific staff member the responsibility of taking pictures of specials, menu additions and desserts. This can also include wine additions or special cocktails. A relatively simple digital camera (Canon Sureshot is a good example) will possess an automatic macro feature that is idea for photographing food. It is even better if you can schedule it for the same time every week so it becomes a part of a regular work routine – such as the pre-meal staff meeting on a Wed. or Thurs.

Other potential sources for Tweets are short updates on menu items, your wine program, special cocktails and events.  However you should never simply use the platform for the repetitive trumpeting of your wares.  Remember, Twitter, like Facebook, is a very competitive arena.  You want to make sure that you also provide information of value to your followers.  Links to articles about your purveyors, recipes from your chef, information about vineyards are just a few examples of interesting content that will not only engage your audience, but also encourage them to re-tweet your posts to their friends.

Part of the Twitter experience is developing your relationship with your patrons, which is not only valuable now, but may be even more important in the future as these platforms evolve. Always encourage dialogue – ask questions whenever appropriate and answer replies and direct messages.  And, of course, any instant messages promoting immediate calls to action should always include a link to the Facebook page and the phone number of the restaurant.

Hashtags  - A very effective way to simply reference tweets on similar subjects, as well as index your own so they can be easily found, is the use of hashtags.  You can find out all about them here.

Rules of engagement – Not all of the feedback you get on Twitter is going to be positive.  People will have complaints, both real and imagined, and they will be only too happy to share them with the world.  Monitoring tweets that reference your restaurant will keep you informed as to what people are saying about you.  While it’s good manners to thank someone for a complimentary post, you really don’t want to get into a long public discussion about what may or may not be a legitimate complaint about their experience your restaurant.  You also don’t want to just ignore them.  I have found that the best policy is to answer their post with a simple “We’re sorry you didn’t enjoy your visit with us – please contact us at this email address – we will be in contact within the next 24 hours so we can address the issue directly”.  And then make sure to follow through.

Third Party Applications – While the list of Third Party Twitter Apps can be somewhat exhaustive  the one that we’ve found to be most effective in managing multiple accounts is Hoot Suite. It supplies a number of metrics to track the effectiveness of your Tweets and it also supplies handy tools for URL shortening, picture upload and document attachment.

Twitter has evolved into an essential tool for communicating with your customers in real time.  It is an informal means of communication that may seem less than serious at times, yet it has also helped inspire revolutions.  But, besides everything else, it is increasingly, inevitably, becoming the voice of your restaurant.


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