Learn How To Explode Your Restaurant’s Sales Using Twitter

They say learning is a never-ending process.

For restaurant operators, here’s the opportunity to learn something very important: Twitter might just be the killer application that could turn your restaurant brand into a household name. It’s social, it’s easy, and most importantly, it’s cheap.

Let’s learn something from the success of Naked Pizza.

Naked Pizza is a small pizza joint in New Orleans, described by AdAge as a “healthful” pizza shop. Its co-founder Jeff Leach wanted to build an online following. So he decided to market the brand using Twitter. He created an account, tracked people within a three-mile radius, and then started conversations with folks he felt might be interested in what his store has to offer.

Guess what? The idea clicked. On April 23, 2009, sales from Twitter accounted for 15% of the day’s earning. Not a bad number, if you ask me.

Here are five tips on how to market your restaurant effectively using Twitter:

1.    Track every sale
Build a simple point-of-sale system that will allow you to distinguish the origin of the sale. This way you’ll know if your efforts on Twitter are paying off and by how much.

2.    Twitter isn’t Facebook
Twitter is simpler than MySpace or Facebook, says Greg Sterling, principal of Sterling Market Intelligence. Twitter is also more immediate, more social, than Facebook.

3.    Stir up a conversation
This is self-explanatory, and I have already gone over this a couple times before.

Don’t bombard your followers with product placements, etc. Start a friendly conversation. Then slowly stir the talk towards what you’re trying to sell. The secret is for everything to appear natural.

4.    Sell last-minute inventory
Twitter’s ability to produce last-minute sales is its biggest strength. Zack Steven himself, co-founder of LocalTweeps, caught some discounted tickets at Guthrie Theater simply by founding out about it on Twitter at the last minute.

5.    Alert followers about your plans
Here I’ll be making another reference to KogiBBQ, a rolling Korean taco store that drives around LA, which uses Twitter to alert some 20,000 followers where it’s headed next.

Twitter gives you, the restaurant operator, the power to not just reach out, but also target people within your geographic location.

In many ways restaurant marketing on Twitter is similar to setting something on fire. You gather the materials (your promotions) that would start the flame, making sure they are highly combustible (effective promotions), pile them up together in one location (your target area), drench it in gasoline (start a friendly conversation), and finally flick a lit match onto it. Then step back and enjoy the show.