Social Media Madness
The social media talk seems to be never-ending, but social media as a tool presents some huge opportunities for the foodservice equipment and supplies industry. From marketing to recruitment and more, the ways foodservice professionals use this emerging tool continue to evolve.
By Amelia Levin, Sr. Associate Editor -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 2/1/2010 12:00:00 AM
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Maybe you're sick of the term “social media,” but it's time to get comfortable with it. It's safe to say that last year very few people in the foodservice equipment industry – except on the operator side – were using these emerging communication tools. This year seems to represent a turning point. Now, a number of dealers, manufacturers, and consultants have turned to one or all of social media's so-called “Big 3”: Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. This trend follows the foodservice trail first blazed by countless restaurants that embraced social media as a means to drive traffic and build customer loyalty.
“This is the wave of the future,” says Jim Webb, consultant and principal of Webb Design. Webb designates staff to work on updating Twitter and Facebook accounts. For LinkedIn, Webb and his staff have their own personal accounts they use for networking and also for “meeting up” in foodservice-oriented group chat rooms.
In examining social media's development, Chicago-based market research firm Technomic provides a particularly poignant observation: “To put things into perspective, it took radio 38 years to reach a total audience of 50 million. It took television 13 years, the Internet four, the iPod three. Facebook hit an audience of 50 million in two years and has increased 50 percent to about 300 million users in the last six months alone.”
According to the Association of National Advertisers, 66 percent of marketers used social media in 2009, compared to 20 percent of the same group in 2007. Within that group, 74 percent turned to Facebook, while 63 percent said they use Twitter and 60 percent use LinkedIn. Marketers or not, among all Internet users surveyed by The Conference Board in 2009, 42.7 percent said they visit social-media sites. This is a 16 percent jump from only 2008.
If you think social media is a generational thing, think again. That once-broad online gap between older generations eschewing social media and younger ones embracing it has quickly gotten smaller. Believe it or not, the fastest-growing group of Facebook members has been adults between the ages of 35 and 65, according to research by The Conference Board. Facebook use among this group has grown anywhere from 300 percent to 500 percent, depending on the study referenced.
Researching this story illustrated the extent to which the foodservice equipment and supplies industry has focused on social media. Within minutes of sending a request for interviews via LinkedIn to industry professionals and commercial foodservice equipment groups, FE&S received several responses.
For the purpose of this article though, we have chosen to talk to a consultant, a couple of dealers, and an operator for their take on the social-media movement, and how they use social-media tools. If you haven't already done so, sign up for these platforms and do some searching; you'll certainly find a lot of your industry peers.
Marketing or Maddening
For consultants, how best you market yourself equates with how much business you get. Networking, promoting your work, and really getting your message out there is the basis upon which the consulting business relies. Not all industry segments recognize the value that consultants (designers and MAS) can bring to the table. Consultants fight an uphill battle to build trust among others while showcasing their services and qualifications.
That's why it's safe to say that, next to operators, this group has embraced social media the fastest, using it not only for gentle self-promotion and marketing but also to strike up virtual conversations with peers about pressing needs and issues facing their market sectors.
“Our emerging customers are used to real-time communication, and they expect us to be comfortable with this, too,” Webb says. Whereas restaurants “tweet” about new menu items and mobile food trucks on the West Coast tell their customers what corner they'll be at and when, Webb and his company team members use Facebook and Twitter to send messages about emerging trends and cool designs they've spotted, and to share other discoveries with their followers.
“I may say something like, 'Check out this cool dessert presentation,' or take a photo and say, 'Look at this neat chair,' which not only draws attention to our company, but also leads to some fun conversations,” Webb says. “Being out front on Facebook and Twitter helps feed into the leadership role that we take in the industry.”
Being a leader in social media, rather than a follower or spectator, has only helped Webb build his brand. But at the same time, he says: “You have to know when to tweet and when not to tweet. Plugging yourself too much can lead to a lack of respect among others, and you have to be socially appropriate with what you say. Otherwise, it can detract from your professionalism.” In other words, keep the bathroom trips and other personal trials and tribulations out of it.
The other challenge with social media is determining how much time to devote to it and knowing how much is too much. “For us, we think of it like brushing your teeth – it sort of becomes a habit, or part of the overall business profile,” Webb says.
Scheduling Social Time
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| Bargreen-Ellingson’s corporate chef Bob Mauer keeps the dealership’s customers up to date on projects he’s working on through a series of tweets known as “Chef Bob’s Road Show.” |
It's easy to go overboard with the “tweeting” and Facebook status-updating. “We've made the decision that we didn't want to block Facebook here at work, but what happens is that the lines between personal use and professional use can get confusing,” says Tim Irey, sales manager for Bargreen-Ellingson. “We're certainly not going to look over anyone's shoulder, and we trust in the fact that we've hired good people here who know how to manage their time.”
But it's no secret that, if abused, Facebook and Twitter can be major “time-suck” sources, and this applies to the even the more conservative LinkedIn. But aside from these drawbacks, there are a number of advantages that both Irey and Craig Welborn, Bargreen-Ellingson's director of marketing, see with social media that far outweigh its negatives. Aside from simply directing traffic to the company's web site, social media platforms also offer a good alternative to plain-old emailing.
“A lot of people already have full e-mail inboxes, so we use Facebook to keep people updated rather than wasting paper with paper mailers or sending them one more e-mail they may not want to deal with,” Welborn says. Facebook has an e-vite feature through which users can list event details, provide interactive maps, invite others, and show RSVPs.
“We're planning an annual sales meeting right now so we're using it for that, and we've used Facebook's event feature for announcing other events like customer appreciation days or trade shows,” Irey says. Bargreen-Ellingson also sends out Facebook posts and tweets about what Corporate Chef Bob Mauer is working on in the kitchen or on the road through the “Chef Bob's Road Show” series of posts. “We like to keep our social media presence as fun and loose as we can while also communicating on a professional level,” Welborn says. Mauer's connection with a number of culinary students on Facebook and Twitter has only strengthened these connections.
And, speaking of students, Irey and Welborn agree that LinkedIn works well as a recruiting tool. Although the company does not have a group page through this platform, a number of Bargreen-Ellingson staff members have their own personal pages for business networking and have joined industry-related groups where they're visible to up-and-coming, potential employees. LinkedIn's main draw is precisely this business-focused networking capability that allows job seekers to search for companies or industries they're interested in and then see who in LinkedIn belongs to those groups. LinkedIn shows to what degree you are linked with each person, being not linked, or a first-degree, second-degree or third-degree. Job seekers can see who among their own connections are connected with potential employers and get them to introduce one another. Many describe it as a virtual networking platform.
Branding Online
Facebook and even Twitter tend to be used more for “fun” and light-hearted conversations but they can also be good for some serious brand-building.
Both Bargreen-Ellingson and Loubat Foodservice Equipment in New Orleans have Facebook fan pages, which are essentially open group pages on which “fans” of the dealership, in this case, clients, associates, partners, or store customers can touch base with company employees, learn about new products or events, scroll through photos, get store hours and directions, and even connect and talk with other fans.
“We've actually gotten some sales off our Facebook fan page,” says Christine Briede, president of Loubat. Briede says she's had a number of people send her direct inquiries looking for specific product information that eventually leads them back to Loubat's online catalogue and ordering center. Briede also connects her Facebook “status updates,” or newsy posts to the dealer's Twitter page, to let fans and followers know about new-product launches, storeroom sales or specials and other information directing them back to the web site.
“I just set up the Twitter page last summer, and we already have more than 400 followers,” Briede says. That's pretty good, pretty fast.
Both platforms also offer a great place for Briede to post excerpts from her company e-newsletter, Loubat Lore, which she sends on a monthly basis to registered people and clients. “We've also tried to use our fan page to highlight different things about the foodservice industry, like posting industry news, or James Beard Awards information, and we've gotten some great feedback.”
Doing so has helped educate others about goings-on in their own industry, with the goal of connecting with each other on a deeper level. In fact, Briede says she has noticed that fans on Loubat's Facebook page have used her “favorite pages” and “links” sections to connect with other industry associations, groups, companies and individuals.
Calculating a Return on Investment
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Jim Webb, Consultant and Principal, Webb Design |
All of this Facebook-ing and Tweeting can be hard to measure quantitatively; it's difficult to determine how much business has been brought in (or not) through social media, and that continues to present an ongoing challenge to businesses across multiple verticals.
But sometimes, you just know when it's working. That might be more the case for the operator segment. Take a quick look on Facebook or Twitter and it's easy to see that many restaurants are involved. Whether in telling customers about a new menu item, special event, or deal, not only do they use social media platforms as a way to quickly get the word out about their happenings, but also they use these tools to connect with their customers, which of course, only strengthens brand identity.
Firehouse Subs is a great example of a restaurant chain that has made social-media communication a top priority – and execs say it has paid off in the open lines of communication developed with customers. Firehouse has gone so far as to even bring in celebrity “Tweeters” such as Shaquille O'Neal.
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“Our emerging customers are used to real-time communication, and they expect us to be comfortable with this too.” |
Facebook was the main tool of choice for the Jacksonville, Fla.-based chain, which had more than 300 units, and a whopping 43,000 fans as of press time (although, hold your horses, they grow by about 400 to 600 fans per day). “Through Facebook, it's safe to say we have entered into a new relationship level with our customers,” says Cecily Sorensen, communications director. “Even people who don't have a Firehouse Subs in their town are on our fan page, asking us when we're coming to their area.” These inquiries have even led to searches for new franchisees in those particular markets.
But the main draw to creating the Facebook fan page, which Firehouse did in the spring of 2009 after a long run with MySpace (now deemed yesterday's technology by many hard-core social-media users), is the direct feedback, both good and bad, chain executives are able to get from their customers.
For example, Sorensen says the chain has floated ideas about a number of potential menu additions through their Facebook fan page. Once, the chain thought about introducing a wrap, so they asked their fans about it – they had more than 100 comments in just two hours. “Some of them said sure we'd like that, or now maybe my wife will come, but more people said, 'no you shouldn't change anything,'” Sorensen says. These results were surprising to the company, Sorensen says, considering their Facebook fans skew slightly female. At press time, about 52 percent of Firehouse Subs' fans were female, with the majority falling between the ages of 25 and 34.
Instead of an anonymous toll-free number, customers have an easier time getting in touch with the company, but answering these questions on the company side is just as important, Sorensen says. “Normally we would just put out press releases about a new store, but now everything goes on Facebook, too,” she says. “It's part of our everyday process; in fact, my position has changed as a result of our dedication to social media.”
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Firehouse Subs' fan page also has a catering subpage, a “Punt Pass Feast Game” subpage for entertainment, and a fundraising section for its Public Safety Foundation, which supports police, fire and EMS departments throughout the country. “We place ads for fan recruitment – we've advertised during sporting events through airplane banner ads and other posters,” Sorensen says. It's like another form of a web site, and it's constantly changing and interactive.
As for Twitter, the chain created a page in May 2009, and has seen successes from the endeavor. “We started with a goal to tweet once a day, but now it's definitely multiple times a day,” says Melissa Simpson, communications coordinator for Firehouse. “We've tweeted about marketing promotions, such as our scratch-off games in stores, and when new stores open.” A highlight for the chain happened when it found a that Shaquille O'Neal had tweeted about how he loved Firehouse Subs' sandwiches (“That Firehouse turkey sub is gooder than a mug”). After the company did some research and determined it really was O'Neal who had tweeted, the chain asked him to be a celebrity tweeter for Firehouse Subs: Interesting. Twitter as the new celebrity focus.
“Social media truly is something we believe in and we think it is here to stay,” Sorensen says. Many other foodservice professionals would agree, regardless of their industry segment.
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