As critical as I like to be about the performance of brands in the social media galaxy, its important to call attention to those companies that are getting it right, or are starting to.
Social Media is not an easy world to navigate. There are a lot of moving pieces, tools and platforms that can inhibit the development of a coherent strategy. It’s overwhelming, especially to businesses where time and labor are of the essence. That being said, I believe its clear that when a brand mismanages their social media presence, either by diving in without understanding what to do, or by not engaging in the first place, they open themselves up to considerable negative fallout.
But there are some success stories out there, and some brands starting to catch on pretty quickly. It will be one of the missions of this site to hyper focus on the New York City restaurant and hospitality scene to discover what brands are getting it right, which wrong, and everything in between.
Social media is here and its here to stay, now let’s see how this all plays out. There will be some fascinating stories and experimentation going on.
Who’s Doing it Right?
Luke’s Lobster is a relatively new operation in NYC, having just opened this summer. A lobster roll shack in the heart of the East Village, Luke’s is pumping out delicious, inexpensive lobster rolls, empress crab claws and other goodies straight from the sea. I’ve had several, just don’t tell my Rabbi.
Maybe it’s due to their youth, Luke himself is only 25, but Luke’s Lobster is doing some impressive things, primarily on Twitter. They’ve been proactive in sharing reviews of their restaurants, even ones that weren’t wholly flattering. They’ve been engaged with people who have asked questions or left comments for them. They thank people who mention them. It’s common courtesy on Twitter after all.
I’ve been really impressed lately with the twitter account of Ed’s Lobster Bar down on Lafayette Street. I wonder what it is about lobster places! Ed has been sharing some fantastic pictures of food and food prep going down at his restaurant. This is just the kind of thing that makes restaurants unique. As a foodie, I want to see what goes on before and after I visit a restaurant. I want to hear about the fun, the troubles and the everyday operations that go in in the restaurant world. By enabling people to peek behind the curtain a little bit, we automatically become more sympathetic. We feel like we’re part of the story. That is step one to converting viewers into paying customers. It does happen, it is that easy.
Ed’s Lobster Bar also has a terrific blog, The Claw, which is well designed, easy to read, and refreshing. Hopefully there will be more blog postings, but even on this issue, people recognize that a restaurant is a busy place. No one expects a daily blog from restaurants. At least not yet, but as more restaurants retain people to do their social media marketing, this won’t be far behind. Nevertheless, 1 to 2 short blog postings a week is enough to keep people’s interest piqued, and gives a brand another piece of content to share with the wider community. Restaurants will find their blog postings, if well executed and honest, shared by the fantastic food community across the social networking world. Expect to see lots of ReTweets and good traffic flows from restaurant blog postings. In many cases, they will surpass the bloggers who are helping to drive that traffic in terms of visibility.
3 Things to Learn
1. Sharing reviews is something a restaurant should do by nature. But sharing reviews that aren’t entirely positive, or even downright negative (I haven’t seen any major negative reviews of Luke’s) is inspiring. I think it exhibits an awareness that a brand cannot control the narrative surrounding their company. Bad reviews for restaurants are inevitable, especially in a city so inundated with food bloggers, Yelpers, and other outlets. But recognizing that bad reviews will happen, instead of trying to ignore the fact, betrays a maturity and an understanding of the social media landscape. Social media is not a fake world. If you aren’t authentic, people recognize it and ignore you, or worse, expose you. So by sharing reviews good and bad alike, you are heading off being surprised or caught flat-footed further down the line.
2. The second lesson from the experience of Luke’s Lobster is that they’ve obviously taken the time to learn about the customs of the Twitter ecosystem, where a set of informal guidelines has taken root. These are such things as thanking people for “Retweeting” your stories (where one shares someone else’s Tweet with their own followers). Quickly responding to comments is another custom, as people expect other’s to check their accounts frequently enough to see when they’ve been queried or mentioned.
3. Even with small operations, the opportunity to be vocal and visible in the social media space is apparent. One no longer needs to have a giant PR operation, spending thousands of dollars a month keeping in front of the public. Ed’s Lobster Bar, with less than 100 followers, captured my attention enough that I decided to do some quick investigating, and to upgrade their account to a column in my tweetdeck account so that I know I won’t miss their activity. Even as Ed was away this past weekend having fun with a potato gun, I was up to date with all the amazing culinary creations.
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