The Ugly Truth About Restaurants And Social Media

Who hasn’t heard of social media? My kids love their MySpace, I mingle on Twitter from time to time. Even my wife plays her farm and restaurant applications on Facebook.

But here’s the real thing: are restaurants actually using social media? I’ve been raving about them ever since I started this blog, and I’m sure every other consultant and business coach out there is doing the same – trying to emphasize the importance of social media in today’s business environment.

The sad news is that most restaurants don’t seem to be getting the same message about social media.

Chalkboarder.com recently surveyed restaurants in the better parts of San Francisco, New York, and Portland. The survey wasn’t about food preparation or anything like that. They were only interested in one thing: do restaurants actually use social media?

About 80% of restaurants in Portland and New York maintain their own website. Pretty good. But not considering that San Francisco only compares by as much as 50%.

The city is home to Silicon Valley, considered the cradle of the internet. If so, then why is it that only half the restaurants in San Francisco are using social media? I don’t get it either.

This is where it gets more interesting. In all three cities, only 10% of restaurants, just about, are using Twitter and Facebook as a free online marketing tool. This is San Francisco, New York and Portland we’re talking about – not Timbuktu or any other location where internet access is either scarce or banned.

The reason why these restaurants aren’t doing anything is beyond me.

Maybe it’s got something to do with the owners coming from an older generation before the internet. The restaurant is going well even without social media marketing, or they can’t afford to hire someone with the marketing expertise. Or the restaurant owner simply doesn’t believe in the kind of influence social media could have on people.

Since I’m here anyway, I’d like to make one point clear. Put social media to good use. It’s convenient, it’s accessible, and most importantly, it’s free. Trust me. If you don’t take advantage of social media now, you’ll be kicking yourself in the #@$& later on.

Are you using social media to introduce your restaurant? How much do you think is it affecting your business?

Leave a comment below.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 18th, 2009 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Online Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.