If I were a restaurant, I'd use Twitter to...
Recently, a co-worker's husband opened a new franchise restaurant and she asked me about ways to use social media to help build awareness. Literally, the first thought that came to mind was to go to Twitter and crowdsource the answer. So I did, asking fellow twits to finish this sentence, "If I were a restaurant, I would use Twitter to...."
Here is how you replied:
geoffdaily @pchaney Easy: use it to share the specials of the day, announce special events, share special deals, and garner feedback from customers
nhamilt @pchaney ask customers to submit their best homemade recipes and hold a contest, the winner gets dish on the menu 4 a yr & named after them
diablogue_chat @pchaney: ...live tweet customer opinions about the food / specific dish -- using their real name - whether or not on Twitter.
katiekonrath @pchaney Updates on wait time. Give out samples and let fans know when they're available. Tell about what's just out of oven (for cookies)
trishberg @pchaney ..post my specials of the day to tempt people and make them hungry for my food.
BlogSquad @pchaney If I were a restaurant using twitter I would let my diners know about daily specials
oo00_Mr_K_00oo @pchaney ... accept orders via Twitter
Lt_Draper @pchaney post coupon codes available only to twitter users and daily specials only via twitter
rondomingue @pchaney If I were a restaurant using twitter I would inform of daily drink/food specials… doesn't have to be discounts
criscokid @pchaney If I were a restaurant using Twitter I would post the current wait time during busy hours.
jeskaNOLA @pchaney "if i were a restaurant using twitter i would.." share discounts & recipes with followers, NOT spam them & sound like a commercial.
mbertoldi @pchaney Ask my customers what they want to see on the menu... Let them vote for dish of the week at discounted price...Give away gift cards
jringgold @pchaney If I were a restaurant using twitter I would...advertise specials of the day only for twitter users and post them every morning.
sherryayn @pchaney also, of course, have a short time window on when the X word would work. Wednesday 6 - 9pm only, ect.
SandwichINK @pchaney if restaurant i would tweet daily specials. daily tip that relates to my biz. and daily or weekly cpn.
MaverickBuilder @pchaney . . . . wait staff offer water, tea, or Tweet When client asks what's a tweet, teach to build rapport and tantilize w/food tweets
couponz @pchaney I would twit my daily specials. my new menu items. my events. link to coupon or mention twitter and get.. http://twurl.nl/jkgbny
MaverickBuilder @pchaney . . . . offer on the menu a 2 minute tweeter class by the staff at No Charge. Permission based clients to Tweet food with!
sherryayn @pchaney I would offer secret words that a twitted user could say to waitstaff 2 get discounts or free app or dessert.
scheky1068 @pchaney have a computer set up so people can Tweet from inside the restaurant
eileen53 @pchaney - tweet daily specials, accept reservations via tweet
visualrhetor @pchaney ...tweet daily specials, off-peak promos, last-minute 'snow-storm' deals, and just generaly converse with customers.
RAReed @pchaney print Twitter address on all receipts. Then promote discounts, daily specials, special events.
shtikl @pchaney ... I would 'f course take a pic of the food and make tville envy me!
ashdhart @pchaney I would twit my daily specials. my new menu items. my events. link to coupon or mention twitter and get a discount/free dessert
Not to be outdone, some Facebookers also replied.
- I would let folks know about reservation capacity for a given evening.
- send daily specials
- ps. do live promos... next caller gets a free yadda yadda
- Announce specials, events, and take reservations in addition to Ryan's comment
- reservations by DM only of course.
- Offer a free Martini with a DM rezi or secret code word like: Shama-lama-bing-bang-Free Martini
Not only that, I received this email from a restauranteur who currently uses Twitter...
"Since starting this approximately 9 months ago we have seen consistent growth of 22-34% each month over the same month last year with overall growth of approximately 25% YTD. Additionally, we currently have over 5,000 links to our restaurant and appear multiple times on the front page of Google when searching for a selection of prime keywords/phrases we have been targeting. For more info, here is a case study that Jason Falls recently did as well: http://snurl.com/4toyv"
He also sent along a PDF outlining a number of ways he uses social media to market the restaurant. The list is pretty impressive and I encourage you to take a look.
From these lists, it's pretty obvious there are a number of ways restaurants can use social media for promotional purposes. As with all forms of social media though, promotion takes second place to conversation and relationship building. Nonetheless, this seems like a no-brainer.
Oh, and there's no reason not to continue this meme. If you have an idea about how restaurants can use Twitter, please leave a comment.
