Fanminder Blog

We’ve invited Tony Marciante, owner of Visions Restaurant in Bethesda MD, to write a guest blogger series on his use of social media and mobile in his restaurant. Tony is a prolific user of both technologies, so welcome aboard Tony.

As a student of the restaurant trade for over 23 years, I have always been a natural marketer.  While we are all operators – front-line kitchen employee, General Manager or Accounting Executive in the “home office” – we are also marketers.  The reason for my belief is simple: without more “butts in seats” we don’t grow revenues and no one is able to maintain their status and therefore their company or job.

A popular phrase, “ABM”, or always be marketing comes to mind.  As a real world operator of Visions Restaurant in Bethesda, MD, I can speak to the realities of the operational side, the difficulties of managing so many facets of the business, the financial struggle, the struggle of finding good staff, etc.

So I hear you saying: “And now, I’m supposed to add in this ‘Social Media’ thing into my already loaded day?!?”

Well, my answer is a resounding YES!   Before you hate me, realize this: more responsibility on your shoulders can be related (or blamed) on lack of sales. If sales are weak, you need social media. Even if they’re not weak, with more sales, you can afford to hire more people to handle the details. This will free up your time and mental resources to do work that drives both short and longer term goals like long-term strategy, menu design, and effective marketing programs, such as SOCIAL MEDIA!

Depending on your level of familiarity with Social Media (I’ll call it SM from now on), you can go forward in a number of ways.  Read along with me on my series contained here on Fanminder.com and we’ll cover many strategies to CONNECT with your guests or customers of whatever business you have, uncovering the very real power that will drive your customers back to your place day in and day out.

There is no doubt the impact of SM on the world over the last several years.  Once dismissed as something “my kids do”, SM is now realized to be one of the most powerful changes in Marketing for us ‘Brick and Mortar’ businesses. Business operators now realize that if you don’t CONNECT through SM with your guests and potential guests, you are missing out on conversations that are happening every minute about your brand.

As an example, a recent guest of mine tweeted live as they were dining about how much they loved their lunch, down to each course that was served and the flavors, textures, etc.  That data, going out to their followers, does everything to brighten our reputation online and spread the word to what could be thousands (4,400 in my case) of followers for FREE!  Also, hearing the word from their friends makes the message so much easier to digest, knowing that it’s NOT from me, the natural marketer.

Whether these conversations, reviews, and opinions are texted, tweeted, or statused on Facebook, they are increasingly conducted in real-time and will happen with our without your input. For instance, a recent “vanity search” I conducted (search on the web where I continually scan for keywords related to my business, like my business’ name or my name) found a NOT so happy customer who blogged about a recent experience at my restaurant. I reached out and actually turned around the situation to where now the guest is a friend of mine and comes at least once a month for a nice dinner out with his girlfriend.  This is not only over $1000 a year in new business, but also turning a guest around who would have spoken negatively – and effortlessly through the web – about my restaurant to countless friends.

Wise companies then, monitor their online reputation and respond in near real-time to what is being said about their brand, whether negative or positive.  Check out another great example of this phenomenon with this quick video about PF Changs and their active to-the-minute use of Twitter, all the way from the other coast!

And it doesn’t stop with the internet. Every patron walks in and out of your restaurant with his/her mobile phone, happily texting, surfing and GPSing with this new-age computer in their pocket. As never before, your patrons can review a meal, complain about waitstaff or glow about that perfect bottle of wine – all by pecking 140 characters on their phone. Like SM, mobile also offers innovative and powerful ways to listen to, reach, and chat with your customers – text marketing, mobile websites, and smartphone applications are rapidly proliferating – and in some cases without the signal-to-noise ratio that plagues popular SM sites. In short, mobile significantly ups the ante for savvy restaurateurs and it’s the reason I’m guest blogging on Fanminder’s blog.

When you use these tools to build your tribe, you’ll be able to develop relationships that stretch far beyond the simple customer/provider relationship.  Take the opportunity to share valuable links, events in the area, and of course specials or events coming up in your business.  Taking the relationship out of the proverbial “four walls” of just your garden ensures the fact that YOU’LL  be the point of reference, the local expert, and ramps up your level of respect and trust in the community.

Consider this your appetizer…My next few blog posts will highlight various means of furthering that relationship between you and your guests.

With great respect,

Tony Marciante

www.whatdoestonydo.com