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Walk up to Frankies, pay him Rs. 30/-, he will get you a non veg roll. If you like the food, you will go back. You are certain to tell your friends about the place. Next time they are around they are sure to try it out.

Your restaurant business works very similar to this. People pay for food and of course for the experience. They share their experiences with their friends, the conversation that they had with your restaurant. Experience becomes a conversation.

Social media is about interactions. It’s a one to one conversation that has the ability to generate many to many conversations amongst a group of friends and online buddies, a trusted community.

Social media will not deliver a 10% rise in your sales from the moment you start using it for your restaurant. It is important that you integrate the online marketing plan with your offline marketing plan. Here is how we have been doing it.

Web Strategy

Don’t start with tools. Facebook may not always the right tool although an effective tool. What if facebook changes it’s roadmap, like the way they removed the concept of “fan pages”. The tool should be just be part of your overall strategy but the strategy should not be around the tool.

Understand where your target customers are spending time. Listen to conversations. I use Twitter, google alerts, tweetbeep. There are numerous others, the tool of choice depends upon who is talking and where they are.

Identify your USP and what people can get from that no other place has to offer, what is that makes you different.

Digital Assets

Start creating your digital assets. Words are a means of communicating experiences. Pictures and videos do the same task in a much more effective manner.

Your pictures and videos should talk about your USP. They should tell people why they will love the place.

Have policies and strategy for the continuous creation of digital assets. Identify internal evangelists who can contribute to this.

Community

Create a community around your restaurant, its food and show your passion for your place.

Keep you communication regular. Start hosting events and reward the members of the community who help you spread the name and word.

Integrate the online and offline communities

Tell the online community about what is happening offline, at the restaurant. Tell the offline community about the online community at every touch point. People walking into the restaurant should know that there is a vibrant online community. You can give it visibility in many ways.

On menu cards, a badge on the stewards’ dress saying that he/she is a part of that community(community badges). KFC plays it own ad in their restaurant. One might think what is the point in selling to someone who is already at the restaurant. But it works. It reassures them about their choice of coming to KFC. It makes them feel good.

Tie up with the food review portals. Encourage them to talk about you and your community.

Identify the food bloggers in your city and in the country. Invite them to your restaurant and encourage them to talk about their experience at your place.