Your Digital Identity Technology & Social Media Trends for RestaurantsApril 2014

Restaurants Prepare for Changesin Credit Card Technology

www.nrn.com March 12, 2014 Article by Ron Ruggless

The restaurant industry has begun preparing for a big change incredit card technology and policies that will affect retail merchantsin October 2015, both in economic terms and in operations.

Major credit card companies have announced incentives for merchants to change their point-of-sale systems by October 2015 amid a backdrop of credit card fraud that affected millions of department store shoppers, especially those at Target andNeiman Marcus, during the winter holidays.

Such changes would allow restaurants to accommodate the EMVstandard that is widely followed outside of the United States and areaimed at better protecting merchants and issuers from fraud lossesat the point of sale.

EMV, named after its developers (Europay, MasterCard and Visa), requires cards that have embedded microprocessor chips that storeand protect encrypted user data instead of the magnetic stripwidely used in the U.S. The chip in the card generates a one-timecode for each transaction, which makes it more difficult to counterfeit. Another layer of security can be added with a personalidentification number, or PIN, or a signature, but currently, that layeris not required.

However, many in the restaurant industry are not convinced that the payment standard is the fraud solution some are touting it to be. “EMV technology protects against counterfeit cards to some degree, but it’s not a silver bullet for fraud,” said Liz Garner,the National Restaurant Association’s director of commerce and entrepreneurship.

Garner also noted that because of the investment required for operators, the restaurant industry is hoping for a more secure solution, including the possible inclusion of a PIN requirement.

“There is no reason there should be a payment device out there thatthe merchant can’t ask for a second layer of security on, especially in a world where we have passwords for everything, from an ATMwithdrawal to signing in to an Internet account,” she said. “The worldwide standard is chip-and-PIN cards. Without issuingcards with PINs, it makes very little sense from fraud preventionand a lost-and-stolen type environment.”

David French, senior vice president for governmental relations at theNational Retail Federation, said in a recent webinar that the chippedcards cost the issuing companies between four and 10 times asmuch as the long-used magnetic strip cards, and new chip-enabledhardware could cost the retail industry between $20 billion and $30billion in total.

Card issuers are offering various incentives to merchants that comply with the EMV standard by October 2015. They include theelimination of the requirement that merchants with chip-enabledterminals annually validate compliance with the Payment Card IndustryData Security Standard, as well as protection from fraud liability.

Credit card companies are also warning of penalties for merchantswho have not made the investment in chip-enabled technology.

Policies vary among companies, but they all include further shifts in fraud liability from the card issuer to the merchant.

Garner noted that the merchant community already bears a third to half of the fraud losses, depending on the type of transaction.

The NRA’s Garner said EMV compliance isn’t a complete solutionand noted that the October 2015 timeline is “unrealistic.” She saidit took Canada, with an economy smaller than that of the UnitedStates, seven to 10 years to move to a new level of card technology.

At large restaurant chains, changes in POS technology usually take about 18 to 24 months for acquisition and implementation.The companies then have to certify with their card processors that they are meeting their standards, she said.

That’s why organizations such as the NRA are seeking extensions of the deadline as the industry explores additional ways to increasedata security. “We’ve asked the [financial services] industry to consider a more realistic timeframe,” Garner added, as well as consider more layers of cyber security.

In February, more than a dozen leading retail trade associations, including the NRA, announced a new cyber security partnership to focus on information sharing, card security technology and customer trust. Liz Garner, the NRA’s director of commerce and entrepreneurship, said in an interview that the organization hasbeen observing data security for some time.

The group’s goal is to bring together all points in the paymentschain — credit card processors, companies, equipment manufacturers and banks — to increase security for customer data.

“There’s much more that can be done to prevent overall fraud in thesystem,” Garner said. “The cyber security working group is a step inthe right direction to get all financial stakeholders to the table.”

“The restaurant industry has long sought a constructive, open dialogue with the financial services industry on the path forward toward creating a more secure payments environment for all stakeholders in the payments system,” Dawn Sweeney, the NRA’spresident and chief executive said.

Sweeney said protection of customers’ financial and personal data is paramount to the industry, adding that “there is a shared responsibility between the financial sector and the retail sector to solve these issues together.”

The next piece of cyber security equation, Garner noted, is protecting data as it moves through the system, which she said is “absolutely critical.” The NRA’s role in the cyber security workinggroup will address those issues as well, she said.

“There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle when we talk about data security and fraud prevention in general,” Garner said. “But we have absolutely got to do it to restore consumer confidence in the payment system.”

Facebook Admits Organic Reach Is Falling Short, Urges Marketers to Buy Ads

www.adage.com December 5, 2013 Article by Cotton Delo

Brands urged to think of fan acquisition as a way to enhance performance

Facebook is being more blunt about the fact that marketers are going to have to pay for reach.

If they haven't already, many marketers will soon see the organicreach of their posts on the social network drop off, and this timeFacebook is acknowledging it. In a sales deck obtained by Ad Agethat was sent out to partners last month, the company states plainly:"We expect organic distribution of an individual page's posts togradually decline over time as we continually work to make surepeople have a meaningful experience on the site."

It's a big shift from the stance Facebook took a year ago, when agencies called out the fact that posts published by clients werebeing seen by fewer of their fans.

At the time, Facebook contended that algorithmic changes hadbeen made to weed out spammy, non-engaging content, but thatthe median reach of pages hadn't budged. It particularly objected to the inference that the changes had been made to spur marketersto spend more on ads to make up for lost reach.

But now Facebook is making the case for marketers to do just that.In the document, titled "Generating business results on Facebook,"the paragraph in which the impending drop-off in organic reach isrevealed concludes with an ad pitch; marketers are told they shouldconsider paid distribution "to maximize delivery of your message in news feed."

The three-page document also contains a section that repositionshow marketers should think about fan acquisition: as a tool for making paid advertising more effective. While free distribution of content is mentioned, it's the third business benefit listed after"improve advertising effectiveness" (through ads with social context,which is enabled by a substantial fan base) and "lower cost for paiddistribution" (since Facebook makes it cheaper to deliver ads withsocial context.)

In other words, the main reason to acquire fans isn't to build a free distribution channel for content; it's to make future Facebook ads work better.

"Your brand can fully benefit from having fans when most of yourads show social context, which increases advertising effectivenessand efficiency," the document states.

The fact that less and less of brands' content will surface is described as a result of increased competition for limited space,since "content that is eligible to be shown in news feed is increasingat a faster rate than people's ability to consume it."

Publishers are one factor in the heightened competition, since Facebook announced earlier this week that links to news articles will be given more prominence, especially on mobile devices, via an algorithm change. A Facebook spokesman confirmed that the overallorganic reach of Facebook posts from brands is in slow decline.

"We're getting to a place where because more people are sharingmore things, the best way to get your stuff seen if you're a businessis to pay for it," he said.

The drop-off in organic reach continues to be a touchy subject forbrands -- especially those who invested in growing their fan bases.And it's going to oblige them to up their content creation game in order to emerge organically from the morass of stories eligible to enter users' news feeds, according to Digitas VP-Social MarketingAlex Jacobs. But having paid distribution on Facebook is also a given if they want to maintain the reach they may have once had when Facebook was a younger network and users had fewerconnections to bombard them with content.

"If brands were to continue reaching the same amount of people as a percentage of their fan base, [Facebook would] be giving preferential treatment to them over a user," he said. "It's just the fact of the matter in terms of platform growth and the amount of content that's getting posted."

Organic Facebook Reach Throttle:The Good News for Brands and Businesses

If you know what organic Facebook Reach is, you’ve probably already heard that Facebook is throttling the results for brands. This doesn’t mean that they’re turning it off entirely, but yourbrand’s content will now only reach 1-2% of your followers.

To put it simply, Facebook Reach is the same thing as “impressions”in a traditional media source. It’s the number of people exposed toyour content – and it’s how you get Engagement (and on Facebook,Engagement’s by-product is word-of-mouth marketing). In the past,Reach was earned media: we were able to get those eyeballs in theNewsfeeds of the folks who Liked us on Facebook, simply by postingcontent on our own owned media (our Page). And the more peoplewho engaged with the content, the more other folks saw it – not justthrough the shares and their specific activity feeds (which is moreearned media for us, i.e. the holy grail of social media marketing),but because Facebook Story Bumping rewards content marketingengagement by keeping popular content up at the top of relevantuser Newsfeeds.

Now, I have long been of the opinion that social media marketing is a relationship marketing discipline. And so I am, perhaps, less troubled about these changes than some other marketers are. There are, after all, still two ways to get your content in front of a relevant audience, and they are:

1) Pay for placement.

2) Engage good influencers, and they will share your content.

And the truth of the matter is that both of these tactics force us to be better at content marketing.

And maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

Organic Facebook Reach – It Ain’t Free Anymore

This is what everyone is moaning about: yep, Facebook wants us topay for real estate that we used to get for free. And, to be fair to thebrands here, Facebook has put on a real dog and pony show overthe past several years to convince companies that building up theirfollowers is a great idea and that the big payoff is the earned mediathat we were getting in those Newsfeeds.

That being the case, Facebook has somewhat pulled the rug outfrom under the brands. This could have been handled better from a communications standpoint, and I question why there wouldn’t be a threshold for SMB’s and/or nonprofits who haven’t necessarilyhad a chance to maximize their Facebook presence and understandhow Reach helps them.

The reality, though, is that all free rides are bound to end. Facebookis a business, and it’s going to monetize wherever it can. The bigquestion that brands are going to have to ask themselves now is whether or not they’ve seen enough evidence that Facebook as a marketing channel is actually worth a spend; Facebook, obviously, feels that its value has been proven.

There is a bright and shiny side to this coin, though: Facebook placement is really, really cheap compared to other channels. I havea consultant friend who works with a charity, and they saw their organic Reach tank by 90% (from a reach of 750 to about 75) withthe recent changes. They then spent $200 for promoted posts, and they reached 4,500 people.

Now, whether that $200 was worth 4,500 eyeballs is up to them to decide; this was an awareness campaign and their metrics are up to them. Doing a spend on Promoted Posts is advertising, friends,and while we have more tracking on this spend as compared to a billboard campaign, unless you’re actually prompting a click you’retaking a leap of faith that brand awareness is a worthy endeavor.

But there is a truth that we marketers who are bummed out by thischange (and I most assuredly am one of them) need to admit toourselves: Marketers know from experience that people don’tvalue free things as much as they should.

And this includes us. So, perhaps – if we’re really honest with ourselves – we’ve been a little more lax than we need to be in ourown content marketing strategy. After all, until now we could justthrow up pictures of cats (um – those actually work – keep doingthat) and any other thing we so chose, and if it didn’t work, oh well.Facebook was great for content experimentation for that reason.Now, we’re going to have to consider where we’re putting a spend – and that means we’ll have to start to ask ourselves questions like “Is this post worth paying money to promote?”

And, if the answer is no, perhaps the next question we should be asking ourselves is, “Then is it worth the disruption to someone’sactivity feed in the first place?”

Now, perhaps I’m just overly optimistic to think that better contentwill come out of this change, but hey: I’m an upbeat girl.

Influencer Marketing is the New Organic Facebook Reach

Now that Facebook Reach is primarily a paid advertising channel, influencer marketing becomes more important than ever: yourPage’s content may not show up in your followers’ Newsfeed without your dollars, but an actual person’s content will still showup to their followers, even if it’s your content that they’re sharing.

Using influencers in lieu of paid placement isn’t a bad thing: peopleare much more likely to pay attention to something that’s shared by an actual person in their network anyway, and social media marketing is a discipline that’s best done by real people acting likereal people. That being said, it is of course more work to build up a personal network of influencers and lobby for spend dollars and really track that spend and make sure that the content you’re putting out there is actually worth money, or an influencer’s time.

And all of that should lead to better content marketing. And better content is never a bad thing.

socialmediatoday.com March 22, 2014

Article by Leslie Nuccio

Mobile – Easily the most important trend this year – it is also the one that offers the biggest opportunity.

Here’s the skinny – mobile internet use in the U.S. is set toovertake wired use by 2015 – and this shift is happeningeven faster for social media. To quote Facebook in lastSeptember’s quarterly SEC filing: “[We] anticipate that therate of growth in mobile usage will exceed the growth in usage through personal computers for the foreseeable future.” What does this portend for the hospitality industry? Think it’s an accident that Google lists restaurants and bars on their smartphone browser user interface homepage and not on their desktop version?

It is now estimated that 45% of all restaurant website traffic is mobile generated – and that number is not only growing, but also skews upward for a younger demographic with a relatively large discretionary income.

This means that if your site is not mobile ready, at leastthree out of ten visitors will find it useless – and that’s noteven the worst part. If someone is browsing from theirsmartphone and cannot access your site they are going togo to the next option – which is guaranteed to be a reviewsite, such as Yelp or Zagat. Besides the fact that there is nosurety that the info those sites provide will be correct orup to date, you are also subject to the whims of yourrestaurant’s latest reviewer. Not an attractive scenario –but one that is, happily, easy to remedy.

There are many online services that can easily create a mobile version of your site. With the addition of a fewlines of code to your existing website it will then be automatically loaded when your site is displayed on a small screen device. These services range in price fromfree (ad driven) to a monthly fee structure that can bescaled to a single store or restaurant group. Consult withyour IT provider to determine which service is best for you – it may even be included in your web hosting plan. Minimally the mobile page should include: Hours of operation, contact info, map link, menu link, click-to-callbutton, Open Table link and social connectivity.

A small investment in time and money can leap-frog youahead of the competition – especially the restaurant siteswith the extensive Flash-based slideshow of Venice andthe Tony Bennett soundtrack that takes ten minutes to load.

Going Mobile – Why Your Restaurant Needs To Be Smartphone Accessiblewww.socialmediarestaurant.comFeb. 20, 2014 Article by John Moore

According to a recent Restaurant Sciences industry study, 95% of independent restaurantsdo not have a mobile website, and only abouthalf of chain restaurants have some sort of mobile site.

www.nrn.com March 31, 2014 Article by Ron Ruggless

Restaurants race to go mobileLimited-service chains accelerate app-based ordering, payment initiatives

The pace to go mobile is accelerating — especially among nationallimited-service restaurant brands.

In recent weeks, Taco Bell, Wendy’s, Burger King, Starbucks and Panera have either announced their mobile intentions, or debutedmobile payments or ordering initiatives.

“Mobile is the biggest shift in QSR since the drive-thru,” Jeff Jenkins,mobile lead for Taco Bell, told Nation’s Restaurant News in February.“If you can get 10 million people to download your app, you’re putting a portal to Taco Bell in 10 million pockets.”

The Irvine, Calif.-based chain said in February it would roll out mobile ordering by year’s end, noting it had been working for about 21/2 years on a mobile application that allows guests to order aheadusing smartphones and was conducting a controlled beta test in fiveunits in Orange County, Calif. The announcement ushered in a tidalwave of similar announcements from other chains. In March alone:

• Burger King confirmed it would begin offering mobile payments at some stores in April. The Miami-based chain said it planned to make the option available at its more than 7,000 U.S. locationswithin a few months. Some units might also debut mobile ordering,the chain said.

• Dublin, Ohio-based Wendy’s Co. began accepting mobile payments at its 5,800 U.S. stores on its “My Wendy’s” smartphone app.

• Panera announced plans to introduce both mobile and online ordering to its 1,774 U.S. units. Called “Rapid Pick-Up,” the iOS mobile or Web ordering allows customers to order, select a pick-uptime and then retrieve their items from designated shelves. The offering already has rolled out to about 149 locations in Minnesota, Detroit and Panera’s home base of St. Louis.

“The object is by the end of the year to have this completely rolled out nationwide,” said Blaine E. Hurst, Panera’s executive vice president of technology and transformation, during the company’s analyst day.

• Starbucks unveiled a next-generation smartphone payment appthat it said was the “holy grail” of mobile payments, with the iPhoneversion offering customers the option of adding tips for baristas and a shake-and-pay option to make the transactions faster.

McDonald’s and Chick-fil-A also are reportedly testing mobileapps, and better-burger brand Smashburger has indicated mobileordering will be rolled out this year. Sandwich chain Jersey Mike’sSubs unveiled a mobile app in November that offers ordering andother services. And Chipotle Mexican Grill, which began offeringmobile ordering in 2009, said earlier this year that it planned to invest $10 million to further develop its mobile platform, including adding mobile payment. Subway also is testing mobilepayments and ordering.

“Mostly it’s the big chains that have figured it out,” said restaurantconsultant Aaron Allen of the Orlando, Fla.-based Aaron Allen &Associates LLC. “They’ve jumped onto it early.”

Allen credited national pizza chains such as Papa John’s Pizza,Domino’s Pizza and Pizza Hut with forging consumer acceptanceof online and mobile ordering.

“The pizza guys totally get it,” Allen said. “About 69 percent ofpeople in the United States have placed an order online, and 72percent of those were for pizza. So the big pizza guys are doing abillion dollars-plus in online [ordering], and it’s moving to mobile.”

The mobile market is projected to grow quickly. The number ofconsumers using mobile payments is expected to swell to 500million in 2017, up from 75 million in 2012, according to BI Intelligence, a research service affiliated with Business Insider. In addition, the value of global transactions using a mobile deviceis expected to reach $1.5 trillion in 2017, up from $120 billion in 2012. And the value of U.S. mobile transactions is expected to rise to $244 billion in 2017, up from $15 billion in 2012.

Meanwhile, a National Restaurant Association survey last yearfound 74 percent of consumers aged 18 to 34 said they wouldorder takeout or delivery on a mobile device if the option wereavailable. Among consumers of all ages, two in five said theywould use smartphones to find restaurants or get directions, the survey found.

That potential has not been lost on restaurant brands, Allen said.

“Starbucks has banked technology as one of the cornerstones oftheir growth and brand strategy,” he noted. “They are out to reallyown mobile.”

Starbucks executives have said as much.

“With more than 11 percent of transactions a week now happeningwith a mobile device in our stores, and nearly 10 million customerscurrently using our mobile app, we’re thrilled to make the digital experience even easier and more rewarding for our customers andpartners,” said Adam Brotman, Starbucks chief digital officer, in explaining in March changes made to the chain’s iPhone app.

Brotman said Starbucks expects to improve both its mobile payment and ordering apps going forward.

“This update to the Starbucks App for iPhone is an important nextstep in digital innovation at Starbucks, and one of the many wayswe’ll expand and improve our digital experience in the months tocome,” he said.

In addition, Starbucks is exploring options to leverage its mobile-payment technology, such as licensing it to other retailers, HowardSchultz, Starbucks chairman and chief executive, told CNBC afterthe company’s annual meeting March 19.

Mobile is increasingly important as more U.S. brands look to expandabroad, Allen said. In Africa, the banking infrastructure is poor ornonexistent, so mobile payments have grown as an alternativechannel of economic activity. In Asia, smartphones are in wide use,and acceptance of mobile payments has found a stronghold.

And, he said, “In emerging markets, like Saudi Arabia, for instance,they have the largest per capita penetration of mobile devices.Countries like that have skipped over a generation of technology.That’s really throughout the developing world — China, India,Southeast Asia and other places — have skipped over desktops and gone to smartphones.”

Restaurant executives considering mobile payment or mobile ordering must first decide how they want their brand to be perceived, Allen said.

“The digital brand and the physical brand are one and the same,” he said. “How the consumer engages and interacts with the mobileapp should be a reflection of the brand personality, the promises,the positioning and the story.”

Wendy's accepts mobile paymentsat its 5,800 U.S. locations.

Starbucks' expects to improve its mobile payment and ordering apps going forward.

How to Boost Facebook Page Engagementwww.allfacebook.com January 18, 2014 Posted by David CohenInfographic by WhoIsHostingThis.com

www.buzztimebusiness.com March 3, 2014

Make It Easy For Customers To Find Your Bar

Consumers undoubtedly have endless bar and nightlife options.Therefore, ensuring that customers can find your bar amidst thecompetition is half the battle. Don’t miss out on vital opportunitiesto get customers into your bar with these strategies.

Optimize your bar’s online listings on Google Placesand Yahoo Local:Millions of consumers rely on location-based web searches to findbars within their vicinity. Make sure that your business is listed on Google Places and Yahoo Local and that the listings are current and accurate. You can then optimize your listing withphotos, information, specials and coupons to make your barstand out from the crowd.

Build a mobile-friendly website:While it’s one thing to have a well-designed website, if it isn’t mobile-friendly you are missing out on new customers! 2014 will be the year that mobile internet usage will take overdesktop internet usage. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile devices, you can be sure that consumers will go elsewhere.

Get tweeting:Twitter is full of opportunities to connect with your potential customers. Use it to attract people to your bar by tweetingcoupons, events, drink specials, promotions, etc. to get more people through your door. To augment your Twitter presence, encourage existing customers to tweet photos and videos fromyour bar and share their experience with your Twitter followers.

Make sure your bar is on the map:Many businesses lose out on potential customers because their accurate location doesn’t show up on GPS and mapping sites. Report your business location, contact information and address to Google Maps and other major mapping directories to make it easy for customers to get to your bar.

Hit the streets:Traditional guerrilla marketing techniques still have an importantplace in bar promotions, especially if your establishment is one of dozens of bars within walking distance to your potential customers. Have a lively street team pass out flyers and drink specials to people passing encouraging them to stop in for a drink or two.

Tap into your loyal customers to spread the word:Your most loyal customers are among your biggest arsenals to attract new customers. Use them to spread the word about your barto their own friends and social networks. Incentivize them with freedrinks and other perks to take simple actions that help promoteyour bar, such as checking in at your bar on Facebook or posting a fun video or photo from your bar with relevant hashtags.

Score press exposure:According to a Pew Research Internet Project survey, 39 percent of adults rely on TV or newspapers to get information about localbars, restaurants and nightlife. Build relationships with local bar andnightlife bloggers and journalists and give them convincing reasonsto include your bar’s special events and other news in their editorialcoverage. Perhaps you have a popular band performing live or a special private charity event that you’re hosting at your bar. Give your media contacts the inside track to make sure your news is on their radar.

30 Compelling Statistics to Power Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

1. Pinterest (21%) is now more popular than Twitter (18%) among internet users, and Pinterest drives twice the website referral traffic of LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter combined.

2. Instagrammers also use Twitter. There is a 50% crossover between the networks.3. Women are 4 times more likely to be Pinterest users than men.4. An average of 55 million photos are shared on Instagram each day. 5. Pinterest outperforms Twitter and LinkedIn in the time spent on each network. 6. Facebook is ageing. 45% of internet users aged 65+ use Facebook.7. National Geographic is the most followed business account on Instagram. 8. There are more than 20 million fake Twitter users on the platform. 9. Half of all clicks on mobile banner ads are by accident.10. Facebook posts with less than 250 characters get 60% more engagement. 11. Videos on landing pages increase conversions by 86%. 12. 7% of Americans have never heard of Facebook. 13. Tweets with 1-2 hashtags get 21% higher average engagement. 14. Tweets with more than 3 hashtags get 17% less engagement. 15. Twitter and Instagram are still youth-dominated, but 23% of internet users over 50 use Pinterest.16. Three of the five most retweeted Vines ever are videos made by musicians. 17. YouTube reaches more U.S. adults 18-24 years old than any cable network.18. 74% of brand marketers saw an increase in web traffic after committing to 6 hours a week on social media. 19. Almost half of all Pinterest activity is on a tablet. 20. 40% of small businesses say social media is amplifying word of mouth referrals. 21. 49% of consumers use Facebook to search for restaurants.

22. Contrary to popular belief, most people AREN’T using multiple social networks. Over 50% of internet users either don’t use any social networks or use just one (i.e., Facebook.)

23. 44% of women say their favorite blogger influences their purchase decisions. 24. A call to action pin description gets 80% more engagement. 25. 33% of traffic from Google click the very first item listed in the search results. Are you #1?26. Facebook and Instagram users are the most engaged, with 60% of users signing in every day (compared to 46% for Twitter.)27. 78% of CMOs think custom content is the future of marketing. 28. DIY, tutorials and recipes get a 42% higher click through rate than other pin types. 29. Pinterest and LinkedIn users are wealthier than the other networks’ users with a high percentage earning over $75,000.30. Of the social networks, Twitter has the highest rate of influence on electronic purchases - more than Facebook,

online advertising, or search engine results.

compiled from www.socialmediatoday.com

Article by Alexandra Jacopetti March 26, 2014

and www.oursocialtimes.com

Article by Luke Brynley-Jones Jan. 3, 2014

www.buzztimebusiness.com Feb. 6, 2014

8 Surefire Ways To Amplify Your Social Media Reach

Even if you’re happy with your Twitter followers and your Facebook likes, there’s always room for improvement. But with so much to consider, social media can sometimes seem overwhelming. Luckily, there are steps you can taketo amplify your social media reach. And the best part? You can put these simple steps into action right away.

1. Engage with your followersSocial media is about relationships. It’s important to respond to customer questions and complaints, ask customers’ opinions,and carry on conversations. If you do this, customers will be muchmore likely to care about your business.

2. Update your profilesWhen your Facebook page hasn’t been updated since last year,you don’t exactly look exciting. What’s worse, people may evenassume your bar or restaurant is closed! It’s important to keepthings current. Make sure your photos are new and relevant, and make sure all links and info in your profile are correct.

3. Put social media buttons on all your contentHow can people follow you if they don’t even know you have social media profiles? Make sure to include buttons for your preferred social media networks (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram,Pinterest, etc.) on your blog posts, your website, and anywhereelse you have content. Make it as easy as possible for people to find and share your content!

4. Use visualsWe’re visual creatures, and this is especially true for the bar andrestaurant industry! People will be much more likely to like andshare your content if you include visuals. Pictures of your food,your drinks, or your great parties will all excite your followers and encourage new ones.

5. Be an early adopterIt may already seem like there are tons of social networks, butnew ones pop up all the time. It’s a good idea to at least checkthem out to see if they’re right for you. It can’t hurt, and in thebest case scenario, it will introduce you to a whole new base of customers.

6. Pay attention to what time you’re postingAre people ignoring your updates? Take a look at your post times.If you’re posting your best content at 5 a.m., it’s probably gettinglost in the shuffle while people sleep. It’s important to post whenyou have the best chance of your desired customers actuallyreading and sharing your content.

7. Guest postsSometimes the best way to amplify your social media reach is to borrow someone else’s! See if another business or a local publication is willing to let you write a guest blog post or column.This can introduce you to a whole new audience online.

8. Make sure you have something your customerswant to readAre your tweets just descriptions of your specials? Are your blog posts boring? Are your social media feeds nothing but self-promotion? If you truly want to extend your social mediareach, you have to give customers a reason to follow you. Make sure your content is great!

By keeping these tips in mind, you can reach more people onlineand get more attention on social media!

infographic by

quicksprout.com

Jan. 31, 2014

Instagram Catches Twitter for U.S. Users

Positive statistics continue to roll in for Instagram, as the Facebook-owned photo- and video-sharing service’s announcement that ithad reached 200 million monthly active users was followed by a report by market researcher eMarketer that favorably comparedInstagram usage in the U.S. with that of Twitter.

According to eMarketer, nearly 35 million U.S. Internet users accessed Instagram at least once per month by the end of 2013,double-digit growth when compared with 2012. They projectedthat by the end of 2014, nearly one-quarter of U.S. smartphone userswill sign into Instagram or share photos at least once per month.

About two-third of Instagram users in 2012 were female, but eMarketer projects that by 2016, the discrepancy between the two genders will drop to 55 percent female, 45 percent male.

In comparing Instagram with Twitter, eMarketer wrote:Although Twitter and Instagram are quite different, their user countsand demographics are strikingly similar. They estimate 43.2 millionU.S. consumers used Twitter monthly last year — or 17.6 percent of the total Internet user population. Meanwhile, Instagram usersrepresented 16.1 percent of internet users in 2013.

On smartphones — where Instagram activity almost exclusivelytakes place — Twitter had just 30.8 million users in 2013, and thisnumber will increase to 37.3 million in 2014, or 22.7 percent of U.S.

smartphone users. Both figures fall slightly below those for total Instagram users — 34.6 million in 2013, increasing to 40.5 million in2014, eMarketer estimates. (Instagram’s smartphone user base is likelyhigher than Twitter’s, but it is possible for Instagram users to use theiraccount only to look at pictures on a computer or tablet. That small minority of users is included in our total figure, but not broken out separately from smartphone Instagram users.) As a point of reference,eMarketer pegs U.S. smartphone Facebook users at 123.7 million this year.

Overall, Twitter’s U.S. user base shows signs of maturing in its demo-graphic composition, spreading the user population more evenly acrossage groups, while Instagram is still largely limited to a pool of millennialand Gen X users. Last year, nearly 70 percent of Instagram’s U.S. userswere ages 18 to 44; this year, that figure will drop, but only to 67.5 percent. In 2014, Twitter’s user base from 18 to 44 will account for about60 percent of its overall users.

Over time, Instagram’s user base in these age groups will approach, butnot surpass, Twitter’s, and eMarketer does not expect significant shiftsin usage by age for either site within our forecast period. Instagram’suser count among users aged 18 to 44 will remain about 1 million fewerthan Twitter’s in each year throughout our forecast.

www.allfacebook.com March 27, 2014

4 Ways To Encourage Your Customers To Instagram Their Experience

1. DecorIf you want people to take pictures of your local business, youneed to look good. People would much rather take a picture of something pretty than something ugly. The decor is the firststep. Think about creating an Instagram-able area in your store. This could be a corner that people can try on your goods and snap away. It could be something thought provoking or intriguing. The bottom line is that it has to have appeal. By changing the way your business looks, you have better odds of getting snapped.

2. Encourage Users To Snap AwayPeople need a little encouragement. Think about hanging signsencouraging Instagram usage. I know it sounds simple, but itworks. When someone is asked to do something, you have a better chance of them doing it. No one reads minds. Ask andyou shall receive.

3. DiscountsTake a tip from the world's first Instagram Hotel, who offers excitement for the Instagram crowd. They even give away freenights if you have a certain amount of followers. You could givediscounts for people who say they have come to you through Instagram, or even make a scavenger hunt out of your place andgive discounts to certain items if they share on Instagram. You can make a contest out of it and see ask people to share a wish-list using a specific hashtag and in return you might grant that wish for them.

4. Connect With Local InfluencersInstagram's new direct messaging feature allows you to connectwith Influencers in a way that has never been seen before on theplatform. Win their favor and add a persuasive voice to your social media marketing strategy.

I recently followed along with "live tweeting" on Twitter during the Social Media Club LA (SMCLA) Foodie Event. While I wasn'tphysically there, I was still inspired and through social media I was able to "be there" virtually. God, how I love social technology.One of the panelists, a local restaurant owner said that theybring more foot traffic through their doors via Instagram thanany other network. It makes a lot of sense. #foodporn anyone?

Restaurants are a no-brainer for adding Instagram to their overallsocial media strategy. People love looking at food. I know I do. But restaurants aren't alone in this. Other small businesses can utilize Instagram to bring people through their doors.

The value is two-fold. One part of the story comes from the business side of things – the images shared by the business thatbring the business to life through images. These images tell thebehind the scenes story of the people and the products they sell.

The other side is the story the consumer paints for you on Instagram. There are millions of people taking pictures and documenting their lives through Instagram on a daily basis. While the businesses' story matters, it is no longer the only one. In fact, the much more powerful story is in the hands of your consumers, customers, and passers-by. It is the side of the storythat you can't control that really influences people.

Social media is the new word-of-mouth marketing. People shareexperiences with their friends, fans, and followers all day long. And many times those friends, family, and fans will follow theirlead. Instagram has brought about a new type of Influencer, the photo sharing Influencer. And through their shares, they areinfluencing the decisions of their friends.

As a business you have to learn how to tap into that and encourage that behavior. After all, people are already sharing their experiences, good and bad, online. Instagram, because of the visual nature, is very powerful.

How to make your local business more Instagram-ablesocialmediatoday.com January 5, 2014 Article by Stephanie Frasco

January 23, 2014article by Steve Minks www.socialnomics.net

10 Social Media Marketing Tips for Small BusinessesSocial media can be an excellent opportunity for small businesses because of its high return on investment.

The tips below can help your small business succeed on social media and help you identify a wide range of resources available.

1. Set goals. Goals will help you to understand where you need to direct your efforts and how you hope to measure your success. Be as concrete as possible; for example, instead of saying “increase sales,” say “increase sales by 50 percent.”

2. Be personal. One of the great values of social media is the ability to put a personal spin on interactions. As a small business, your opportunityto do this is even greater. Interacting with customers in a way that makes them feel like they are dealing with other humansinspires a greater feeling of loyalty toward a business.

3. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Find out where your customers are and spend your time and energy there. It can be too tempting to try to succeed on every social network, but that will only lead to spreading yourself too thin, particularly as a small business.

4. Incorporate video. Instructional video, customer testimonials, tours of your offices or retail spaces – anything you can think of that your customersmight find useful or interesting that can be expressed through video will make you stand out. You can upload videos easily onYouTube and embed them on other social media as well as on your company website.

5. Provide valuable content. Think about the questions you hear most often from your customers; search the web for the problems in your field that tend togo unanswered. This will point you to content you can provide that no one else has, and your value to customers will skyrocket.

6. Visit other homes and neighborhoods. “Social” is a key aspect of social media. It means that you don’t just wait for people to come to you; you need to go out and engage with customers, comment on blogs, respond to tweets and more depending on the channels you have chosen. This is an excellent way to draw in new customers as well.

7. Seize the local advantage. Get yourself listed on Google places, and be sure that you have accounts at places like Yelp, TripAdvisor and Foursquare. Talk toyour customers; remember that complaints and dissatisfied customers are an opportunity. Leverage your advantage as a local business to stand out from large corporations that don’t have the same stake in the community.

8. Stay consistent. Maintain consistency with your brand and message, and try to post at regular times each day and each week.

9. Be generous. Social media is no time to be guarded. Share information, share discounts and push promotions. You can even identify othercomplementary businesses and help to promote them. This makes you look like a member of a wider community as well.

10. Measure success. Based on your goals, use Google analytics and other tools to measure your ROI and see what approaches are producing the best results.

For not very much money, small businesses can builder a larger and more loyal customer base through savvy use of social media.

Supercharge Your Restaurant Website With These Tips

Your website does an enormous amount of work for your restaurant.It gives customers necessary information, tells them about yourbrand, and often serves as the customer’s first impression ofyour business. So it makes sense that you want to have the verybest website you possibly can! There are a few things you can do to supercharge your website and turn it into a tool that can help yourcustomers and increase your business.

Keep it simple.When you’re trying to make a better website, you might think moreis better. But crowded, noisy websites usually turn off customers.They just want to find out the important facts about your restaurantwithout being distracted by music or Flash graphics. Simple is better! Don’t make it a chore for customers to find info about your location, hours, or phone number.

Make it mobile.More and more customers are looking at your website while they’re on their phones. If your website isn’t easy to read on a customer’s phone, they might get frustrated and just decide to go somewhere else.

Stay connected.Make sure your website is connected to your social media profiles.Include simple, easy-to-find links to your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Yelp, etc. profiles, and make sure all of those profiles link back to your website.

Focus on your brand.Your website should be an extension of the experience your customershave in your restaurant, so keep everything on brand. If your websiteuses entirely different colors and a different tone than your restaurant,you’ll just confuse people.

Ditch the PDF menus.Downloading menus is a hassle many customers don’t want to dealwith, especially if they’re looking up your restaurant on a phone or a work computer. Instead, include your menu directly on your website.

Showcase photos.Yes, you should keep your website simple, but that doesn’t mean it hasto be a list of text with no graphics. Great pictures of your food can really draw customers in. Don’t forget about photos of your diningroom and bar, as well. Pictures that make your restaurant look inviting can attract customers even better than words.

Online reservations.If customers can place reservations with a simple click of the mouse,they’ll be much more likely to come in.

Online ordering.The same goes for ordering! Depending on what type of restaurant youhave, online orders might be the way to go. Customers appreciate theconvenience of placing their orders while at work and simply swingingby to pick up their food on the way home.

Your website is an important and useful tool, so don’t let it fall by thewayside. By keeping these ideas in mind, you can supercharge yourrestaurant’s website and attract more customers!

www.buzztimebusiness.com/smarts March 21, 2014

10 Ways Technology Will Rock Your Dining Experience in 2014

www.forbes.com February 7, 2014 Article by Carol Tice

Technology is not the thing most restaurant owners have devotedtheir lives to mastering. But, as smartphones become increasinglyubiquitous, managers are catching on fast.

The talk at restaurant conferences and on dozens of training webinars in the past year revolves around how best to implementtechnology to make customers happier — and bring restaurantowners more sales.

Restaurant chains have been busy behind the scenes, exploringnew tech solutions to help diners get in and out faster and keepthem coming back.

1. Find a Restaurant Near YouAt this point, it’s a snap to use restaurant-finding apps such as LocalEats or Foodspotting to locate restaurants near you whileyou’re on the road. If you’re obsessed with a particular brand, look for their location-finder app — more chains are releasingthese by the minute.

2. Customize Your OrderMcDonald’s and White Castle are both testing touchscreen kiosksthat allow customers to hold the lettuce or otherwise alter theirburger order, industry trade magazine QSR reports.

3. Place Your Order on the GoWhile some restaurant chains are just getting into this, others are already cooking on mobile orders. Trade publication PizzaMarketplace reports Pizza Hut gets half its orders online — and mobile devices are used to place half of those orders.

Pre-ordering means less hassle for both diners and restaurantchefs and servers, who deal with fewer annoyed customers standing around waiting for their order to come up.

4. Order and Pay at Your TableForget the waiter: Chili’s, Applebee’s, and Uno Chicago Grill areamong the brands adding tableside tablets that allow patrons to place their own order. Presto! No more delays if your server fails to appear.

Once restaurants have an order tablet on your table, the obviousnext step is to have that same tablet pull up your bill and let youswipe your own card. Since taking a credit card into the back torun it is a common opportunity for card-number theft, solutionsthat don’t let the card out of your sight are understandably popular with diners.

5. Be EntertainedVisit the food court of Toronto’s mammoth Eaton Centre mall, and you’ll find video walls that offer mini-movies about the 11 eateries featured in the court, games for kids to play, and more. Expect this sort of virtual “eatertainment” approach to spread.

Some of those games are on your phone, too — more chains are finding ways to “gamify” their brand with apps that let youplay on your phone (and keep their name in your head). Sandwich chain Blimpie’s Blimpie Run game enters you in drawings to win free sub sandwiches for a year.

Chipotle created a stir last year with its Scarecrow game, whichraises awareness about the company’s pro-sustainable farmingphilosophy. Some parents try to make restaurant times non-digital, but others delight in having a game the kids can play on the phone while they wait for their order. If the game comeswith a social message, that just might swing some votes.

6. Share the LoveMany diners are already sharing photos on phones. Restaurantchains including Taco Bell and Wendy’s have been busy buildingtheir social media audience. Now, restaurant apps will help us shareour raves about our favorite eateries and photos of the meal we loved.

Sometimes, there are also rewards in it for diners. For instance, Rita’s Italian Ice offers an app that earns you bonus points towardfree ices in return for shares and reviews on Facebook and other social-media platforms.

7. Pay with Your PhoneSome restaurant chains jumped on the pay-with-your-phone bandwagon early, but look for more to join in soon. New advanceswill help make the process easier, too.

For instance, Canadian doughnut chain Tim Horton’s recently upgraded its TimmyMe mobile-pay app to enable Blackberry usersto tap-to-pay, QSR reports. Bringing that feature to Android phonesis next in the chain’s sights.

8. Get DiscountsThe rise of virtual wallets such as Apple Passbook and Google Wallet, and rewards tools such as Punchcard, now allow you to takeyour loyalty cards virtual. No more wondering if you’ve eaten 10tacos and can claim your free one now — and no more scrabblingaround in your wallet for flimsy paper punchcards.

Besides discount-tracking apps, smartphone owners can look to get more discount deals than their digitally challenged friends. If the hot session topics at restaurant conferences are any indication, more and more restaurants are laying plans to text you local discount deals.

9. Eat and DonateIf you feel fortunate to be able to enjoy a restaurant meal, Los Angeles-based LivnGiv wants to help you use your meal to benefit the less fortunate. When you use the company’s virtualrestaurant gift cards, it generates a donation to the charity of yourchoice of 20 percent of tab. It’s only in L.A. for now, but this is anidea that’s sure to catch on with socially conscious diners.

10. Get Food DeliveredToo exhausted to go out? A few clicks on The Hunger App, andEat24 will deliver food from over 25,000 restaurants in 1,000 cities. If they don’t have your favorite, there are plenty of other services to try, including DoorDash and GrubHub.

If you think the new-tech solutions you see at your local restaurantare exciting, you should see what’s going on in the back of thehouse. Menu analysis, scheduling, and even hiring of workers are all being revolutionized by new software as well.

These tech advances may not be obvious when you visit, but they’llbe helping restaurant owners deliver tastier menus and better service when you arrive.