Social media is a powerful tool for restaurants to engage customers. The document outlines how some restaurants successfully use platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Foodspotting to drive traffic, increase sales and build loyalty. However, many restaurants fail by not having a clear social media strategy or not providing value to customers. The key is to understand where customers engage online, consistently provide interesting content and respond to feedback. Outside help from social media consultants can guide effective strategies for those lacking time or skills.

1. Social Media 4 The Restaurant Industry And Why You Should Pay Attention….

2. SOCIAL MEDIA IS ENORMOUS

3. IT’S CHANGING THE WAY WE INTERACT WITH EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE

4. There are officially more people on Facebook (over 700m) than the entire population of America and 7% of the entire world is on Facebook. If Facebook were a country it would be the 3rd largest country. Only China and India are larger.

5. In 2011 58% of the US will have used the internet at least once a today. By 2012 that will be 60%.

6. People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook.

7. More than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) are shared each month.

8. 24 hours of video is uploaded every MINUTE to YouTube.

9. Over 2 billion views per day on YouTube Double the primetime viewing audience of 3 major networks combined

10. Flicker members are uploading more than 3,000 images per minute.

11. 95 % of companies use LinkedIn to find and attract employees.

12. The number of Tweets per day has rocketed to 95 million – an increase of 250% over 2010. Charlie holds the Guinness World Record for fastest to reach 1 million followers - 25 Hours.

13. 114,619 588,243 Rapper Lil Wayne has broken the Guinness World Record for most Facebook likes on a single post in 24 hours — a record only too recently created and briefly held by Oreo.

14. U.S. marketers will spend $3.08 billion to advertise on social networking sites this year.

15. 5 Restaurants That Get It And How They Do It

16. Zengo, a Latin-Asian fusion restaurant in Manhattan, realizes that Facebook is a platform for two-way communication between a restaurant and its clientele. Zengoexpands and retains its customer base by actively posting events, recipes, interesting stories and Facebook-specific specials for their fans...

17. The odds are that you probably have a Facebook page. The real question is whether you have more than just a phone number and address on it. Facebook is not the YellowPages. There are over 700 million active Facebook users -- 50 percent of whom are logging on everyday. As a restaurant owner, engaging these users is crucial for your business.

18. To drive customer interaction, Manhattan-based Cuban restaurant Havana Central uses social media for a series of interactive contests. After just 3 contests, Havana Central has increased their email list by almost 1000 subscribers, their Facebook fans by over 200, and their Twitter followers by over 50.

19. While some businesses have found success using Groupon, Living Social, and the other daily deal sites, these deals are often less beneficial than one might think. In theory, foregoing initial profit for the addition of a long term customer may make sense, but in practice those customers are either undesirable or rarely return.

20. Offering different kinds of deals to bring in new type of traffic while adding value to both the consumer and the restaurateur. For example, New York City's Butter Lane Cupcakes offers cupcake baking classes at night. Each two-hour class takes in 12 students at a time, packing the kitchen with an exciting social environment. The class is sold out through August.

21. The Burger Shoppe, offers its loyal followers (500+ today) a free side of fries or onion rings when they show the cashier or bartender that they've checked in via Foursquare. Each additional check-in increases The Burger Shoppe's word-of-mouth buzz, drawing new customers, and retaining current ones. Location-based mobile apps help drive traffic through the door as well as create loyalty. On Foursquare, 7.5 million active users are checking-in to get access to special offers and direct their friends to their favorite establishments. Foursquare is adding 10,000 new users a day to its platform.

22. Nombe, a San Francisco-based Japanese restaurant, has created customized recommendation guides and scavenger hunts on Foodspotting to help potential customers make better-informed purchasing decisions. Foodspotting is the market leader for mobile food discovery. Over a half-million users have downloaded this iPhone app to take photos of great dishes and share them with the world.

23. 5 COMMON MISTAKES OR HOW NOT TO SET UP YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

24. YOU DIDN’T SET UP YOUR SOCIAL PROPERTIES EFFECTIVELY Numerous businesses make the grave mistake of hurrying through the design process, establishing faceless social pages which are boring and show no unique corporate culture.

25. Many restaurant marketers make the mistake of getting on as many social channels as they can. The mistake that they are committing is that they are not searching for the conversations that are going on around them and their company. 2. You Are Not Where Your Target Customers Are. Many restaurant marketers make the mistake of getting on as many social channels as they can. The mistake that they are committing is that they are not searching for the conversations that are going on around them and their company.

26. 3. You Are Applying Social Media Wrong. One of the biggest mistake that restaurateurs make is exclusively striving to market their restaurant's products and services as opposed to participating in ongoing conversations with their customers.

27. 4. You Don't Provide Value. Show the general public that their thoughts matters to you, permit them to become familiar with your key personnel and challenge yourself to be fun and interesting. Basically, be worth talking about.

28. 5. You Do Not Care. Ultimately, your general success with social media will come down to whether you actually care about talking, paying attention and implementing the responses of your target customers.

29. PLAYTIME IS OVER! IT’S TIME TO CREATE YOURSTRATEGY

30. #1. PLAN How does social media align with your overall strategy?

31. IF IT’S NOT CONNECTED TO YOUR OVERALL MARKETING STRATEGY……..

33. What channels are your audience using?

34. How do they engage with each other?

37. #4. DEFINE YOUR ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY Think Conversation Not Campaign!

39. Define ROI

41. ONE LAST THING………..

42. DON’T FORGET TO ASK FOR HELP

43. More than two-thirds of small merchants are using social media to market their business. At the same time, one-third of these companies say that lack of time and resources is their top online marketing challenge. MerchantCircle Press Releases

44. As experienced social media marketing consultants, we have the advantage of thinking about social media 24/7 — with multiple clients. Mashable

45. Effective social media takes time. You’ve got a business to run and that’s been taking up all of your time. Do you really have time to commit to a social media campaign? We have the time because that’s all we focus on.

46. While simple in concept……. There’s more to social media than meets the eye.

47. Do you really have the…. time energy resources skills to do this yourself?

48. We may not be super hero's… But we do know Social Media.

49. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME kevin@yoursocialmediacompany.com facebook.com/yoursocialmediacompany twitter.com/ursocialmediaco youtube.com/yoursocialmediacom Kgorsline 843.732.0234 781.357.7697