22 March 2010
How a Restaurant Can Effectively Use Twitter
Posted by Crystal under: News; Recession Tips & Tricks .
Twitter is an open communication platform where unlimited number of people can communicate all at once at no cost. In the restaurant industry, Twitter has taken an especially important role, allowing even small restaurants to have cost-effective, efficient marketing campaigns on an equal footing with big chain restaurants. These days, effective marketing is not about how much money a restaurant can afford to spend on mass media marketing. Thanks to Twitter, effective marketing today is about how efficiently a restaurant can use FREE social medial tools like Twitter. Here are some basic tips on how any restaurant can utilize Twitter in the best possible way:
Start a Conversation. Be proactive in using Twitter by constantly initiating communication with customers. When tweeting, follow “tweet” etiquette, such as being thankful for Retweets. Follow those tweeters who follow you. It is also important to structure your tweets in the way that engages potential customers instead of just “talking over them”. Use a little humor. Ask a question. Challenge tweeters to respond to you or engage in a conversation. Treat Twitter like a conversation tool. Use Twitter for instant feedback from your customers.
Handle Customer Complaints. With real-time complaints, it is easy to get carried away and become defensive. Beware of this pitfall when using Twitter, and be polite with your replies. Answer customer complaints or questions promptly to demonstrate superb customer service and respect for your customers. Look at the positive – you have this great tool that brings you unbiased views about your restaurant, the tool that will help you discover some problems or issues related to your staff or food quality that you would otherwise have never known about. Twitter could be an amazing tool to discover areas for improvement that will eventually result in better operations and more customers.
Build Reputation. Restaurants can tweet anything they want to convey to their followers. Use Tweeter to inform your customers about daily specials, coupons, free offerings, changes in the menu or wine lists. Announce food and wine pairing dinners, share recipes. Some restaurants even use Twitter to find new employees. Twitter is a great tool to build customer loyalty, to make your customers feel like they are part of family. Even when you’re not in the restaurant, you can still use the tool and keep in touch with your guests or potential customers.
Create a Great Brand in a Short Time. Restaurant is a highly competitive business, with a lot of establishments located close to one another all offering seemingly equal food, wine lists and service. Sometimes it is really hard for customers to differentiate one restaurant from another. Twitter provides you with an opportunity to reveal to your followers what your restaurant is all about, what makes it special, what differentiates it from others, why guests would want to choose your restaurant over the others, and so on.
Increase Your Competitiveness. In a restaurant industry, service is one of the most important aspects. Bad customer service will overshadow food quality. If you’re effectively using Twitter and effectively handling customer complaints, you’re getting an enormous competitive advantage over restaurants that don’t do that, because Twitter enables you to take customer service to a whole new level.
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