We now live in a world of constant updates and conversations, eyes glued to the screen, scrolling up and down, all in the name of marketing, says leading marketing and social media consultant Vikki O’Neill
For me, it probably started back in 2001 when my then boss Paul O’Farrell, gave me my very first BlackBerry. Overnight my life changed. Bus and train journeys were all about emails, emails, endless emails.
On the sofa in the evening, that all too familiar, flashing red light on the blackberry became the third person in your relationship and it was the first thing you checked when you woke up (come on, it wasn’t just me was it?).
Twelve years later and we’re still at it, but while it’s not now a device per se, a social media platform has gently lured us into a world of constant updates and conversations, eyes glued to the screen, scrolling up and down, all in the name of marketing.
Hello Twitter you addictive b*****d.
How did we talk to our guests before? Probably just once in a while on an email newsletter which, if you were lucky, around 30% would actually have been bothered to open and read.
Fifteen years ago if we found a restaurant we liked we’d Google them to see if they had a website. Now, the first thing we do is search for them on Twitter (imagine what we’ll be doing in 2028?!). And on Twitter, the best brands put the hours in.
This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be on your iphone all day tweeting – far from it. We all have businesses to run and other things to do. But, as with all things in life, you reap what you sow, and Twitter is no different.
So good marketing people who look after Twitter, your day may go something like this: You wake up and immediately check Twitter for mentions (when someone has tagged you into a tweet eg @sticksnsushi_uk).
Depending if you’re an all-day business or not, the mentions may already be coming in. So you reply. Ask them a question. Engage a little. Thank them for coming in. Just as you would do in real life.
By the time you’ve settled down for work, you’ve probably got a few work-related things you can tweet about lined up. A new menu dish; news on an opening; you may ask a question about something you’re not sure of (your customers will be honest and tell you what they think); an update about your charity work; a staff member doing something cool – there’s pretty much no limit to the nuggets that could be interesting to the people who follow you.
Approaching lunch time, it’s good to search for mentions of your brand name. See if anyone is talking about you, planning a visit that day, asking their friends if you’re a good place to visit.
These are the opportunities where you can make a real difference. They’re not talking to you, but about you. How you jump in to the conversation will determine if you win or lose. You judge the chat and go on instinct. More often than not you’ll be alright and it’s a great way to drive business.
Plenty of times there’s been a tweet from someone asking ‘Vapiano or Nando’s’ and Vapiano have seen it and cheekily suggested the tweeter choose them. And the tweeter generally does. They come in, eat and tweet about it – sharing their experience with hundreds of others.
Who’s coming in for dinner to your restaurant tonight? No idea? Check Twitter. There will be people having chats with their friends about meeting at your place – get involved. Say you look forward to seeing them, recommend a dish.
If you know some Twitter customers are heading to your restaurant, send their photo to your team who’ll recognise the customer on arrival, make them feel special, maybe shout them a drink or get them into the booth they prefer – whatever it is, some small actions on your part can go a long way to creating a great time for your customers, And at the end of the day, isn’t that what it’s really all about?
Now there are some slackers out there. Some brands have a very obvious 6pm-9am hiatus. And weekends? Forget it – they don’t tweet. What’s that all about?
If you have someone looking after your Twitter, at least pick someone who gets Twitter. Conversations do not stop at 6pm. Your customers do not stop coming in at 6pm so why would you? Marketing job descriptions are not what they were five years ago and businesses need to keep up.
Patisserie Valerie, as an example were, at 9pm, tweeting through the final of The Great British Bake Off, engaging with their followers, guessing who would win. They also held a competition on the first night of the live show for X Factor – guess the four acts who’ll be in the final in eight weeks’ time and one lucky winner will win a box of cakes. They know their audience, they can see what everyone is talking about on their twitter feed and they got involved.
These types of conversations can’t happen at 10am on a Tuesday. They have to take place right there as it’s happening. You’re quite simply never, ever switched off.
Last thing at night you’ll probably want to check that everything was OK in the evening, respond to any comments that came through and then bedtime.
Wake up the next day and repeat.
NOTE; Twitter (the lovely people who work there) have some stats: 67% use Twitter daily; one in six users follow a restaurant and 64% of your followers do so because they simply love what you do; 80% of these people have re-tweeted a restaurant’s tweet – sharing your information with all their followers; and 39% have made a purchase because of Twitter.
Tweet me @vonmarketing or email vikki@vonmarketing.co.uk
