We all have that one friend who’s a bit of a social media fiend. If he’s dining at a popular restaurant, there are bound to be check-ins on Facebook and Foursquare. He’ll then proceed to live-tweet his entire experience, or write a review on Zomato, right from that funny spelling error in the menu to the exquisite cheesecake he had for dessert. Just so that you, and his entire social circle, know how awesome his dinner was.
Eating is becoming an increasingly social activity, and not just in the sense of “the family that eats together, stays together”. More often than not, social media has a big influence on where we choose to eat. Given the number of restaurants that open up every day, it’s extremely difficult to decide where to go. So what do we do? Simple: we ask a friend. Or a thousand of them. Information is so easily available today on social networks and websites; it can make the decision-making process a breeze.
Zomato, for example, carries restaurant reviews written by people who have eaten at these places; these reviews help users decide whether or not they want to eat there. In an age where the customer is king, social media also gives restaurants a great platform to connect with consumers outside the physical confines of their establishment. For example, responding to feedback—be it positive or negative—not only encourages real-time conversation, but also builds a bond with patrons. Personally, I’d be more likely to re-visit a restaurant that listens to me, over one that ended our interaction the moment I walked out of the door.
It’s also impossible to ignore how effectively the smaller restaurants have been using social networks to grow their business. Pune (and now Mumbai) restaurant Faaso’s is a case in point
Rather than spending large amounts of money on advertising, the chain, which sells rolls, just turned to one of the country’s most popular social networks and got its users to talk about it. Its Tweet2Order service lets you place an order without even a phone call. Once you’ve gone through the two-minute registration process, all you have to do is send the restaurant a tweet with your order, and the #faasosnowhashtag. Nothing easier. The restaurant does a great job of starting, and sustaining, conversation with its customers, which further helps to build its popularity. Both by word-of-mouth and, more crucially, online.
One can argue that, at the end of the day, choosing a particular restaurant to eat at is all about personal choice. But that argument pales in comparison to the 50-odd ‘Likes’ your decision is going to be getting once you’ve posted it to your Facebook.
Now excuse me, please, while I upload this Instagram photo of my coffee.
The author is Vice President, Social Media Consulting, Zomato
