A twitter miss from McDonald’s
By now you’ve probably heard about the, um, difficulty the world’s biggest fast food brand had during a recent stab at targeting a new Twitter hashtag. We’re big proponents of bars and restaurants making use of hashtags whenever possible, but the recent McDonald’s fiasco illustrates that social media is done well only when it’s done right.
In case you missed the story, here’s a quick rundown. Last week McDonald’s unveiled a promoted hashtag it hoped would get Twitter users telling positive experiences at the restaurant. They called it #McDStories.
But instead of sharing warm and fuzzy memories of time spent enjoying Big Macs and McRibs, Twitter users began flooding the stream with negative tweets.
Are you fluent in the language of hashtag?
If you aren’t a regular user of Twitter, you may be confused as to why you’re seeing more and more words prefaced by the “#” symbol in your daily life. On the screen during your favorite TV show, in advertisements of various types — the practice is seemingly growing at an exponential level.
The “#” indicates a hashtag, something used by Twitter to organize dialogue on the social networking site. With millions of 140-character messages sent each day, hashtags are a way to group tweets based on subject matter. Events are given a specific word, sports leagues establish “official” hashtags for teams, and celebrities designate themselves with the moniker of their choosing.
Last year, for example, a hashtag appeared for the first time during a Super Bowl ad.
The importance of smart phones to your social media efforts
There’s just no way around it: Despite the best efforts of those nerds at Research in Motion, surfing the internet with a smart phone isn’t as quick or efficient as using a laptop or desktop computer. Between fat fingers and Flash compatibility it can sometimes feels like performing a task on your phone takes 2-3 times longer than on a computer.
And because of that reality there may be a tendency to only update your bar’s social media pages when you have time to fire-up the big machine in the back office. We’re here to tell you that using your phone is an absolute must when it comes to the day-to-day business of maintaining an effective social media presence.
Upcoming Webinar: Twitter Strategies for Bars & Restaurants
Due to the great response to our last webinar on Facebook Strategies, (see below) which was attended by almost 400 bar and restaurant owners, we have put together a similar webinar focused on Twitter strategies that bars and restaurants can easily use to attract more customers and build loyalty among their current customer base:
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Join Barry Chandler, founder of Interactive Hospitality and TheBarBlogger.com for an online training experience designed to help bar & restaurant owners attract more customers by leveraging proven strategies on Twitter.
Date: Monday October 3rd 2pm EST, 7pm London/Dublin time
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/818241121
Over the course of an hour or so, he will demonstrate in depth:
- An overview of Twitter and what it means to bars & restaurants
- Understanding the Twitter language, terms and commands
- How to know if Twitter is being used in your town or by your customers
- How to add twitter into your current marketing strategies
- How to grow your Twitter following
- How to leverage Twitter to see what your competitor’s customers are saying about them
- What content to post, when to post it and how often to post it
- How to attract new customers in the door using simple twitter strategies
- How to use Twitter to improve your customer service
- How to use Twitter to resolve complaints through Twitter
- How to leverage Twitter to allow you proved amazing customer experiences: the WOW factor
- How to track & Analyze your success with Twitter
- What tools to use to manage Twitter most efficiently in your bar/restaurant
Much much more…
Barry will also answer all of your questions during this live online event. You’ll be able to see Barry’s computer screen as he demonstrates different examples and covers each point in depth.
All you need is a computer with speakers to watch and listen or if you just want to hear the audio, you’ll be able to call-in and listen too.
Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/818241121
Feedback from previous webinars:
The Top 5 Twitter mistakes you should avoid at all costs
1. “Shouting” specials at your followers
There is a tendency among businesses new to Twitter to simply use their account as a way to announce daily happy hour specials or menu changes without interacting with their fans. This is a mistake.
While communicating ‘what’s going on’ is one of Twitter’s most natural functions (How else will we know whether Lady Gaga slept well last night?) it shouldn’t be where you stop. Twitter is superior to Facebook as far as the opportunities it provides to listen. To take full advantage of Twitter you have to be engaged in a give-and-take.
Monitor what your customers are saying and answer their questions. When a customer follows you, follow them back. An easy way to figure out whether you’re doing Twitter the right way is to analyze your tweet stream: If the number of one-way broadcasts dwarfs the replies and RTs you send out, you’ll need to find more balance.
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About Barry Chandler
Barry Chandler works with bars and restaurants to bring more customers in the door through effective use of social media, online tools and customer engagement.
Since 2004, more than 2500 bars, restaurants and hotels have used his tools and services to improve their bottom line.
TheBarBlogger.com contains daily tips and strategies to grow a profitable hospitality business.
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