Facebook for Restaurants

By Caitlin Fegley, RCM Social Media Fanatic

Whoever thought that when we were all making our Facebook pages years ago that it would turn into what it is today? I know I didn’t. But what I do know is that Facebook has become a networking tool not only for those of us looking up old classmates and posting pictures, but also for companies who want to make their businesses stronger by connecting with their audience on a different level. My focus today: restaurants.

We started a project recently that involves creating a Facebook page for a QSR (which I just learned stands for quick service restaurant). In starting this venture we realized that the focus is not so much on the creative, but on the dialogue. We needed to research how QSRs can be implemented into social media in the most effective way, and here is a little bit of what we discovered.

When it comes to restaurants, new studies point to social media still having somewhat limited impact on the overall consumer universe, but a very strong influence among younger audiences. In fact, one-third of fast-food diners reported not using any social networking sites; however most of these non-users are over the age of 54.

One interesting statistic I came across is that 48% of early-adopter groups confirmed that a restaurant’s presence on a social network (such as a branded Facebook fan page) positively influences their decision to try that restaurant. These early-adopters (who use social media the most) are also likely to be among the first to broadcast their opinions about a restaurant promotion, a new restaurant concept or one that they have tried for the first time.

That isn’t all. Restaurants can use social media to get immediate feedback on food, service and pricing, and to enlist fans as ambassadors to grow restaurant brands. The benefits are continuous and this is why we are seeing social media play a large part in so many restaurants’ marketing efforts. Among those who have used social media in relation to fast food, nearly 70% said that it’s extremely or very important for fast-food brands to participate in these media.

Strategy before Creative always!

Social Media Done Right: Estee Lauder Case Study

All this talk about social media is just that, talk. The genius of social media lies in the simple: marketers must ask, 'will my client's target audience find this useful?' I want to applaud whoever came up with Estee Lauder's latest promotion: offering free makeovers and photo shoots at its department-store cosmetics counters to produce shots women can use for their online profiles.

Instead of a 'free gift', the gift of an online profile includes the Estee Lauder logo in the background and could give the brand lasting presence on Facebook beyond its own 27,000-member plus fan page. The promotion is being plugged on their Facebook page, on the company website and in press releases.

With a target market of ages 35 to 55, they are hoping to modernize the brand for younger women while recognizing that the 'older women' are online everyday as well.

Obviously, this will help direct sales at makeup counters as well. Simple and Genius.

Metrics for Social Media

Marketers are in two camps when it comes to social media: those who believe social media is THE answer and tweet about everything and anything, and those that believe FaceBook and Twitter will soon join other irrelevant fads. Time will tell.

I happen to believe in social media. But that's not the point of the article. It's the age-old problem in marketing: how do we decide the level of investment to devote to social media and how do we determine if that investment is worthwhile?

I believe it's the message, not as much as the following. The message will get you the following. For example, the blogger down the street providing relevant information to his target audience is more likely to influence behavior with his 100 readers versus Ashton Kutcher with his million Twitter followers.

Let's look at traditional media. There we have been able to determine what matters: the credibility of the source, audience reach, and opinion leadership that can be quantified with useful metrics that ultimately allow us to make educated investment decisions about advertising and PR programs.

Most of the commonly used metrics for social media are: unique visitors, members, posts, pageviews, number of groups, comments & trackbacks, time spent on site, contributors, completed profiles, connections between members...you get my drift. These are a victory in themselves.

However, while we can measure the ability of sites like the Huffington Post to reach and influence an audience, it's nearly impossible to measure the reach or influence of blogs. The tools that allow us to become a citizen journalist through blog posts or Tweets fragments the communications streams to the point that we no longer have the ability to measure the impact of most bloggers.

Why I'm a social media believer: Through collective force, it can be a great influence. It's a great tool when you want a focus group. The value for me is using social media to help me understand the conversations and issues surrounding brands and topics.

For now, I suggest following three rules for social media:
1. Measure the value by the insights it provides, not the numbers it delivers (the medium may change, the message does not)
2. Just because digital media is easier to measure, don't confuse that with it being the end all be all.
3. Use social media as one component of your communications.

That's my two cents.

Brands & App Strategies

This September will mark two years into the age of the iPhone app. Doesn't it seem so much longer than that? I want to share some lessons I've learned in the process:

1. People will pay for value. Examples are my personal favorite, the $9.99 Pantone app along with national examples like the $9.99 MLB At Bat app and Kraft's $.99 cent app. Zagat's iPhone app is the 77th top-growing app in the Apps Store out of 58,000.

2. Apps must be real-time. Don't make an app that is your website--people's expectations with apps are much higher than that.

3. Figuring out the price. That's the million dollar question isn't it? Just remember, it's easier to drop the price than to increase it.

4. Don't be scared of feedback. People will point out flaws in your app on the web. That feedback is a free focus group people! Adjust your app accordingly and send through an update. Consumers want to know people are listening to them and you will earn their respect by listening.

5. Free apps do work. If you have a product or service, a free app is a great tool to drive sales. An example is Benjamin Moore's Ben Color Capture app, built to build brand awareness for its subbrand Ben, as well as drive traffic to stores. The app lets users snap a photo of something in the world that matches colors in the photo to pain shades in the brand's library. That often leads to paint purchases, and the app uses GPS to direct users to their nearest retailer. Genius!

6. Apps shouldn't be one-off projects--they should be part of integrated campaigns.

7. Engagement is better than downloads. You should be happier to have 100 engaged consumers than 1000 downloads.

8. Guerilla marketing is key: people find apps through other people. Get into the blogs, the forums and inexpensively market your app.