Social Media and Hospitality Spiro Pappadopoulos

Ok I grant you this: Intimacy is a personal feeling, Social Media Intimacy in marketing, is a slightly foreign concept. Some have even told me they think it is almost an oxymoron, that people run from intimacy online. Here is why they are wrong, especially in restaurant marketing.

First why intimacy in social media is crucial to effectiveness: When you write a blog post, manage your twitter or facebook, create content with photos and video, send out an email newsletter, etc… remember one thing: You are writing to one person. Although you may have 950 followers, 1500 facebook friends, an email list of 3200 names… each and every one is viewing as an individual. You can and should speak to them as such, do not dumb down the intimacy because you reach so many. Pick a name out of your list, Sandra Octavio for instance, she is reading the email newsletter alone… in that moment it is just you and her. Take advantage of that intimacy by treating it with care and a genuine desire to connect and communicate with her.

This is doubly important for restaurants as they use social media to market themselves, intimacy is a basic foundation of the business itself. When you open a restaurant, you are asking members of the public to purchase and eat your food and drink, what is more intimate than that on a business level? There is a fundamental level of trust and intimacy involved in the act of eating. On that foundation the social aspect of visiting a restaurant is clear cut and undeniable, people love to get out of the house and interact with the bartender, the server, other patrons, the owner/manager… spend and evening in a successful restaurant and watch it happen all around you. By joining your email list, following you on twitter or facebook, or visiting your blog they are actively continuing that interaction outside the walls of your establishment. It is an amazing and fortunate position to be in, it is also a new responsibility in hospitality. That is; if your restaurant has a presence in social media you must continue the interaction or seem indifferent to their value to your business, and to wholly tap the value of the interaction, you must maintain the intimacy throughout.

You are not communicating with your followers ‘en masse’ you are doing so individually one at a time. Remember that and it will make all the difference. That is what I do when I help restaurants market themselves via social media with my company GuestFeed so I know it works. Try it and let me know.