State of social media for restaurants
A couple of weeks ago, we at SmartBrief embarked on a large-scale research project in the game-changing area of social media for business.
Working with highly respected B2B research firm Summus, our intent is to create a definitive “State of Social Media for Business” research report that will be updated at least annually to provide a unique look at how companies are adapting to and benefiting from online technologies over time.
A total of 5,500 professionals across all industries have participated in our study so far, and the findings that have emerged about how businesses are using social media now — and want to be in the future — are fascinating.
Some restaurant-specific data to whet your whistle:
- Restaurants are ahead of the curve: 81% are currently using social media, compared with 60% in other industries.
- 52% of restaurants have seen more positive mentions as a result of their social-media presence.
- Facebook is a key platform: only 3% of responding restaurateurs don’t use it.
- Twitter is underutilized: 28.13% of restaurants say they don’t use it.
- While not a major presence yet, Foursquare is more important to restaurants than other industries.
Interesting results? You bet– but here’s the rub: The restaurant industry is widely underrepresented in our sample. We need more voices like yours.
If you take our survey by the close of business Friday, June 25, you’ll be eligible win a shiny new iPad. And, as a bonus, once we’ve heard from you and have completed the study, we’ll report all the highlights here for your benefit.
The survey will take 10 minutes, the results should be eye-opening, and your odds of winning are outstanding.
Image Credit, RobynMac, via iStockPhoto
Posted by Mark Moreno on June 16th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Pretty good insights, I am curious to see how many restaurants are really benefiting from social media. Any insights on independents vs chain restaurants?____As for the survey, how many of the respondents were actually restaurants?
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Posted by MerrittColaizzi on June 16th, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Hi, Mark. Lots more specifics and insights to come, and we promise to post them here.
First, though, we need more restaurant folks to take the survey so that we can get to a critical mass of responses. Anything you could do to spread the word would be really helpful. Here's a shortened link for you to pass along to your networks: http://bit.ly/dhfWlk
Thanks in advance for your help spreading the word!
Posted by roncallari on June 17th, 2010 at 5:17 pm
What other restaurants have integrated Social Media into the daily marketing and operation of their restaurants or chains like 4Food–> http://inventorspot.com/articles/hold_pickle_hold… This novel approach is one of the first – but have to believe others are gravitating toward this approach?
Posted by MerrittColaizzi on June 17th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
Hi, Ron. Great example.
Morton's The Steakhouse is another goodie: http://smartblogs.com/socialmedia/2010/04/21/mort….
In a recent Webinar we at SmartBrief hosted on the topic of Social Media for Restaurants, Andy Sernovitz pinpointed six other restaurants who have interesting social media strategies — more on that here: http://bit.ly/9YQTEn
Posted by Jonathan Trenn on June 17th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
Merritt – you pointed out that the restaurant industry is underrepresented in your survey. Do you think that this skewers the results? Meaning that those restaurants that responded were more likely to be using social media? On its own merits and in relation to other industries?
Also – I work at Morton's.
Posted by Jennifer Batoon on June 17th, 2010 at 7:37 pm
i took the survey, but it didn't ask for my name & e-mail at the end. how will u notify the winners?
Posted by Zurka on June 17th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
I recently was at Techonomy 2010 in Tel Aviv – there was an amazing presentation done by http://www.fiddme.com/about – I thought that this was a great application for restaurant owners to learn what their public is talking about ,
Posted by MerrittColaizzi on June 17th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Hi, Jonathan. You may well be right — this is why we need more restauranteurs to weigh in ASAP so we can make sure our stats are statistically sound. To a certain extent, all surveys are somewhat skewed since the participants are self selecting, but still. We're still in the early stage of results collection. We'll keep you posted, and in the meantime, I'm now hungry for a steak supper!
Posted by MerrittColaizzi on June 17th, 2010 at 8:14 pm
Hi, Jennifer. Thanks for taking the survey; we really appreciate your time and input.
I just doublechecked the survey tool and branch logic (awesome nerdy research term) and everyone who completes it **should** be asked for name and email at the very end. Now that you've written in though, we've made note of your name and will email you if you're the winner.
We'll also post the winner's name in Restaurant SmartBrief http://www.smartbrief.com/restaurant/ and here on this blog, so stay tuned!
Posted by JeffreySummers on June 17th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
How can 4food be a great example when they haven't even opened yet? Social Media Marketing success involves actual sales and profits not virtual sales and profits. I'm reminded of the Henry Ford quote; "You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do." Seems like you're trying to help them do just that.
Posted by Jonathan Trenn on June 17th, 2010 at 8:45 pm
You've got a tough road ahead of you in getting solid stats. The solid majority of respondees to something like this will be users of social media. They're likely evangelists in their own right.
I've seen plenty of restaurants get a social media presence but show no ability in using it correctly. They often see it as a broadcast vehicle. They're winging it. What part of the country are you in? Maybe I could try to help out.
Posted by Jonathan Trenn on June 17th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Maybe check out Eat by Tweet (http://www.eatbytweet.com). One can see what local restaurants are on Twitter and what they're tweeting about. Don't know if that will add to the numbers, but it can give a database of restaurants to contact in the future.
Posted by jjantzen1 on June 17th, 2010 at 9:59 pm
I completely agree–seeing a lot of restaurants in the PHX area embracing twitter–check out a recent restaurant promo we did for a Scottsdale restaurant here: http://www.phoenixmarketingassociates.com/client-…
Posted by JeffreySummers on June 17th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Not only that but there are over 1,000,000 foodservice operations in the US – over 70% of which are independent.. How will you ensure that all segments are represented? What works for fast food concepts won't work for Morton's or what works for a chain with increased resources can't be duplicated by a local independent, etc. There's no way to get "statistically sound" numbers within the industry. Even the National Restaurant Association can't get statistically sound numbers.
The best thing is to stop trying to survey anyone and start analyzing best practices by segment and quit portraying some false sense of scientific method.
My recent post Memorial Day 2010
Posted by Varinder on June 18th, 2010 at 9:15 am
It would have been better if you had mentioned few examples of restaurant businesses who had make it big through social media, specially small businesses.
Posted by Alexandra Carroll on June 18th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
HI Jonathan,
I am part of the research team working on this project. Your point is a good one. In any survey where the sample is self-selecting, rather than random, you will have a natural skew towards interest in the topic. In this case we will have a tendency towards those who are active or interested in social media. However, there is no reason to think the restaurant industry responded in very different proportion to the other industries we reached out to.
However the survey was not meant to accurately measure adoption of social media, which we would not be able to do through a self-selecting sample. The survey was designed to benchmark (and track in the future) -how- companies are using social media. Our cross industry analysis will highlight any instances of one industry relying more or less heavily on certain channels or tactics. And as we track this over time, we will see how these patterns shift or change.
In order to provide reliable cross industry analysis, we need as many people as we can get in each industry. Since restaurants are an important industry that is under-represented, we are hoping to get some more participation.
I hope this helps answer your question.
Posted by chalkboarder on June 22nd, 2010 at 2:50 pm
I view the results of this survey critically. In September of 2009 I studied 2200 restaurant websites to assess social media adoption. The 2200 restaurants were distributed among the 14 major markets in the USA; drawn from Urbanspoon's $$$ category. My findings indicated that less than 10% had adopted Facebook, less than 6% had adopted Twitter and less than 2% had a blog. Here's a link to the summary article: http://chalkboarder.wordpress.com/2010/02/22/10-o…
Paul Barron, Publisher of Fast Casual magazine, confirmed these percentages in April 2010, with a separate study. Perhaps asking the National Restaurant Association how many of their members have adopted social media would facilitate your study. With over 945,000 USA restaurant locations and over 200,000 independent small hotels/bed and breakfast inns in the USA, there's plenty of opportunity to create a fairly accurate assessment.
Posted by Ola Ayeni on June 22nd, 2010 at 3:13 pm
I just got a wind of this study. I believe this study is flawed on many fronts.
# Restaurants are ahead of the curve: 81% are currently using social media, compared with 60% in other industries. WRONG!! NOT THE ONES WE WORK WITH EVERYDAY. I HAVE GIVEN OVER 6 TALKS THIS YEAR AS KEY NOT SPEAKERS AND MANY DO NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT FACEBOOK IS ALL ABOUT.
# 52% of restaurants have seen more positive mentions as a result of their social-media presence. WHAT METRIC DID YOU USE…….. TO DETERMINE THAT STATEMENT
# Facebook is a key platform: only 3% of responding restaurateurs don’t use it. FACEBOOK DELIVERS MORE RESULTS.
# Twitter is underutilized: 28.13% of restaurants say they don’t use it. TWITTER IS A DIFFERENT ANIMAL
# While not a major presence yet, Foursquare is more important to restaurants than other industries. WRONG. WRONG WRONG.
Posted by MerrittColaizzi on June 23rd, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Hi Chalkboarder.
Thank you for your feedback and for the link to your interesting findings! As we've mentioned, the figures listed above are preliminary. What we're looking for now is additional voices from restauranteurs that will either confirm or overturn the data that has been offered up so far.
We'd love to hear from restaurant owners, managers and staff to get a feel for their experiences on the ground. Here's a link to the survey: http://surveys.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?i…
Thanks for calling attention to this initiative!
~ Merritt
Posted by MerrittColaizzi on June 23rd, 2010 at 2:05 pm
Hi, Ola.
Here's a link to the survey (designed in partnership with a top-flight market research firm) so you can see the methodology: http://surveys.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?i….
Hope this helps move the dialogue forward.
Best,
~ Merritt
Posted by Wiley Cerilli on July 5th, 2010 at 6:48 pm
You should checkout SinglePlatform (www.singleplatform.com). We are a social media and marketing platform specifically for restaurants and bars, and we are already working with thousands of restaurants across the country.
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Posted by RGHiller on October 15th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
That 81% number you use is way above any other published information. What was your methodology?
Posted by RGHiller on October 15th, 2010 at 12:22 pm
Ola,
Totally agree with you. There is no fact based info in the article. Just conjecture on the part of a misworded study. As you have said, most restaurants don't even know that Facebook exists for them let alone can be a marketing tool. (It's not just for kids anymore!)
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