Social Media & Word of Mouth Marketing Highlight First Day of NRA Show 2010

We have been out at the National Restaurant Association 2010 Expo in Chicago. Over the next few days we will share our notes from many of the conferences and lectures attended. The main focus of a lot of these was social media and word of mouth or WOM marketing.

Word of mouth and social media, while they always can’t be measured in clear numbers like a direct mailing piece can, don’t cost any money, can produce results that last months to years and can generate more business, new and repeat customers than traditional marketing ever dreamed of.

In the first session titled “Get Butts in the Seats for Free with Word of Mouth and Social Media,” Andy Sernovitz, a word of mouth marketing guru said, “Your brand isn’t what you say it is, it’s what other people say it is.” You can help others talk about your brand by giving them the necessary social media tools to talk about your business. Help your customers use Twitter and Facebook to promote your business through your marketing and word of mouth will naturally take place. “Social media is about using the tools that make it easier for that conversation to happen.”

Geoff Alexander, vice president and managing partner, Wow Bao, a Lettuce Entertain You® restaurant in Chicago with 3 locations said social media is a conversation and it needs to go both ways. It provides a big opportunity for you to wow your customers and let them spread word of mouth marketing.  When Wow Bao first opened, people were not talking about the restaurant in the social media world. If they are not engaging you, start talking to them. “If you can’t be part of a conversation, start one,” said Alexander.

Charlie Howard, vice president, director of marketing and chilimeister, Gold Star Chili Inc., which operates more than 100 restaurants in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana used social media to brand Cincinnati “Chili Town USA” The restaurant company “[got] people talking about our brand by getting people to talk about something bigger than our brand,” said Howard. They were able to look beyond their own brand and get people talking in a way that benefited them and the community.

Ramon DeLeon, operating partner of six Domino’s Pizza franchises in Chicago is someone who has been using social media before tools like Twitter and Facebook were even available to engage consumers.  He was able to take a customer’s negative experience with their stores and turn it into a social media win. DeLeon recounted how one of his Chicago restaurants responded to a customer’s negative comment on Twitter with a video apology. The apology circulated to thousands of sites, resulted in more than 125,000 viewings of the video, and highlighted the restaurant’s sense of accountability to its customers.

All panelists also spoke about the fostering of good relationships through social media can benefit your brand and business during negative incidents. These people who you engage regularly and reward can be your apostles when you need to highlight when your business is doing things right.

Over the next few days we will blog more about the educational sessions from the NRA 2010 show. If you made it to the show let us know your thoughts. BTW, all three companies also actively use text message marketing to direct market to their customers and drive sales. We didn’t ask that question during the Q & A period but it gave us a nice smile to see such restaurant industry leaders using all of the now technologies and platforms available to them.

Related posts:

• Combining the Power of Mobile Marketing & Social Media
• Consumer Review Statistics that Drive Word-Of-Mouth Advertising
• Driving Foot Traffic with the Latest Social Media Tools from the NRA Show
• Social Media Marketing vs Traditional Marketing
• Small Business Owner Social Media & Web Survey

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