An Australian Spin on Mashables’ Article: “13 Best Practices for Restaurants on Facebook”

A few weeks ago Mashable released an interesting article, “13 Best Practices for Restaurants on Facebook”. While giving a pat on the back to some American food institutions, I thought it would be interesting to give a shoutout to businesses operating in Australia who also demonstrate some of the attributes listed. Here are some winners and their best practices:

BEST PRACTICE #2 - YOU MUST RESPOND

Fifteen Melbourne/ The Kitchen Cat

Businesses that engage in social media should encourage two-way conversations to help maintain their online prescence and relationships with customers. Recently Melbourne restaurant Fifteen relaunched itself as The Kitchen Kat. When customers found the Fifteen website closed, they were promptly informed of the business change instead of left hanging for a response.

CIBO Espresso



Feedback of bad customer service should always warrant a reply (providing the reply offers something of value). When Adelaide-born coffee chain, Cibo Espresso, was informed about a customer’s experience, they let the customer know that their feedback was valued and  provided instructions of how to lodge their feedback.
 

(Side note – Cibo coffee is great… The Rundle Street Cibo in Adelaide's CBD used to be my watering hole before moving to Melbourne!)

BEST PRACTICE #3 - EDUCATE YOUR FANS

Taste.com.au

Taste.com.au

Taste.com.au has been a long-time favourite of mine. I love how their Facebook page links to recipes and encourages interaction with their audience... I suppose cooking is one of those hobbies where you can never stop learning.

Coles Supermarkets

Coles has also used Facebook to educate their audience by providing a recipes and a “Video Cookbook”, which you can also check out on their Youtube channel. This seems to be  very useful means of observational learning.

 

BEST PRACTICE #4 - SHOW YOUR GOODS


Earl Canteen, Melbourne

Melbourne eatery Earl Canteen cleverly enticed customers with their food offerings. It’s great how Facebook can be used to communicate “we make YUMMY food!" and show what  they're made of. I’ll bet this brings forward some purchase intentions? While an image wouldn't go astray, imagining a salted caramel macaron is making me hungry...

Domino's Pizza

The image of this delicious, topping-heavy pizza makes me feel like... pizza.

BEST PRACTICE #5 - DON'T JUST SELL, BE INTERESTING

Jim Beam

Jim Beam ran a promo where Facebook fans could download selected music tracks for free. Offering more than just a sell (as well as something of value) could possibly result in more page views… which may have an affect on sales.

BEST PRACTICE #10 - BE CHARMING

Midori Australia

Midori Australia

Midori Australia is constantly asking cute questions and posting little quips to interact with customers and display their brand values of enjoyment and ‘celebrating the fun’.

CIBO Espresso

Good manners can’t be a bad thing at the best of times. For Cibo Espresso, it shows their friendly and courteous nature when interacting with customers online, and probably attracts more customers to interact with them.

BEST PRACTICE #13 - TARGET CONSUMERS WITH FACEBOOK ADS

KFC Australia

KFC used Facebook to attract fans to “like” their page in exchange for exclusive deals. Not a bad offer! Considering as some company pages won’t even let you view their page without “liking” it beforehand…

Be sure to check out the original Mashable article... and let me know any other places that also fit the bill and deserve some love!

Carlton Draught's 'Slow Mo' Advert... Trying to go viral?

I’ve been chuckling to myself quite a bit lately about Cartlon Draught’s current “Slow Mo(tion)” TVC instalments. HILARIOUS!

Carlton Draught seem to be one of those beer brands at the forefront of consumer advertising. Their adverts reflect what Dawes (2008) refers as the ‘Australian beer advertising trifecta’ of manliness, national pride and beer. Not to mention humour, a common ingredient in alcohol advertising. And of course, who can forget their “Big Ad”, which went viral – 800,000 people viewed the advert online in just ten days (B&T, 2005).



Image Source: B&T (2005)



According to Smith (2009), online engagement is paramount to building long-term supporters, who will purchase the brand but also recommend them to others. However, the Full Version Slow Mo Carlton Draught Ad hasn’t had the same reach of the Big Ad, with just over 390,000 views versus 1,200,000 views respectively.  I wonder if the difference in hits has resulted in fewer sales this year, and whether the guys at Foster’s were aiming for their current campaigns to once again, achieve incredible viral status. That being said, we marketers sometimes say that you cannot make an advert with the sole intention of becoming a viral. After all, it’s customers that make adverts go viral and continue to spread the message.... we just need to make it damn good so it gets that far.

A study by Dawes (2008) found general concepts of buyer behaviour and brand performance, such as repertoire buying and double jeopardy also were prevalent in the Australian beer market. Dawes (2008) goes on to suggest that beer advertising should then a) remind customers about the brand (which I’m sure is why beer adverts are quite common), and b) make the brand simpler to purchase. So perhaps online engagement is the right way to go to boost awareness and keep brands at 'top of mind' status, which hopefully leads to more sales.

Something else… I wonder if the guys at Foster’s are worried about cannibalisation for the other beer brands in their portfolio, and the product category overall…?

References:

Dawes, J. (2008). Regularities in Buyer Behaviour and Brand Performance: The Case of Australian Beer. Journal of Brand Management, 15(3), 198-208. doi:10.1057/palgrave.bm.2550099

Smith, T. (2009) The Social Media Revolution. International Journal of Market Research, 51(4), 559-561.

See Also:

Lee. L., Frederick, S., and Ariely, D. (2006) Try It, You'll Like It: The Influence of Expectation, Consumption and Revelation on Preferences for Beer. Psychological Sciences, 17(12), 1054-1058. 

Watch Out! Bad Customer Service Can Go Viral

Image Source: gourmet.com

Last night’s A Current Affair aired an interesting segment about customer service. Someone on the Gold Cost had recently established a blog, Undercover Customer, to rate customer experiences in retail and hospitality. To make sure that reviews were consistent, three visits would be required prior to posting an evaluation online. While heaps of review sites are available on the web, I still think it’s a great concept.

For businesses, the reach of online reviews can push (or even frighten) them to step up their product and service offerings. Now more than ever, bloggers are not shy to ‘name and shame’ offending companies (Ramsay, 2010). However, this also presents businesses with the opportunity to listen to customers and take their feedback on board. For example, Undercover Customer has a “Room for Improvement” section on their blog for this purpose. Still, it is important that businesses know how to tailor their responses, such as using appropriate tone, content and language (Ramsay, 2010). In 2008, Lorraine Pacey had an average experience at Casa Flamenco, a Brisbane restaurant. When sending them an email detailing her experience, she was sent the below reply:

"Dear Lorraine, Your (sic) are an idiot we don't want your feedback."

After forwarding the email to friends, the email went viral and even was picked up by American site The Consumerist, which received 20,000 hits (Courier Mail, 2008). 

To read more about Lorraines’ experience at Casa Flamenco, click here.

A co-owner of a café I once worked at was unbelievably rude to customers. After their exposure with customers, I’d feel bad (even embarrassed) and be extra nice them. It was often a sombre moment when the customer would say, “I feel so sorry for you, having to work with that lady behind the bar.”

On the other hand, the shoe can fit on the other foot.  I certainly agree that horrendous customers are out there. I worked in the hospitality industry for almost eight years, and have seen the worst of the rude, ignorant and downright snooty. It can be hard, but often the best thing to do is smile and continue doing your job well. Try to overlook their poor manners and discourtesy, see past their indoor-sunglass-wearing (a pet hate of mine) or talking on the phone while ordering and try to falsify eye contact with a smile. At the end of the day, their money is as green as anyone else’s, and they can sometimes be your most loyal customers. You never know, those customers could very well be “undercover”…

If you’ve ever had a terrible customer service experience eating out, please let me know!

And if Undercover Customer wants someone to eat and review their way around Melbourne, give me a call if you’re willing to pick up the tab J

References:

A Current Affair. (2011). Bad Service Gripe Site. Retrieved from http://aca.ninemsn.com.au/article/8362576/bad-service-gripe-site

Courier Mail, The. (2008) Casa Flamenco Gives Feedback Patron a Serve. Retrieved from http://www.couriermail.com.au/restaurant-earns-global-scorn/story-fna7dq6e-1111115622897

Ramsay, M. (2010) Social Media Etiquette: A Guide and Checklist to the Benefits and Perils of Social Marketing. Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management, 17, 257-261.

Look What I Made... Ricotta Cheese!

My sister and I loooove ricotta. My partner, who’s a chef, suggested that I have a crack at making it at home. He said it would be a piece of cake, but he would also say that the most complex recipe out of Larousse Gastronomique is easy. Before following my gut (literally), I decided to conduct a little information search to know what was really involved.

I looked at a few food blogs on the topic, such as Made by Lex, The Italian Dish and The Food Lab, as well as some cookbooks at home (which I love to collect) to get a bigger idea. I found that all the recipes were pretty similar; the ingredients and methods differed slightly but weren’t poles apart. In particular, I relied more on the blogs, which in this instance, were more interesting to read. As someone who loves to cook at home, blogs can be beneficial for both blogger and reader. For bloggers, informing and exchanging useful information with others about special interests has been identified by Hollenbaugh (2011) as some of the motivations behind maintaining personal blogs, which I felt was present in this situation (and I'm sure provide the blogger with a sense of fulfillment).

As the reader, my first attempt at making ricotta, thanks to the information gleaned beforehand, was a success! And as my partner predicted, unbelievably easy!



My first attempt at making ricotta at home! (1.) Using a thermometer to accurately (and slowly) heat the milk, whilst watching the curds come to the surface. (2.) Carefully lifting the almost raft-like curds out, where they went into (3.) a colander lined with muslin/cheesecloth. (4.) Suspending the wrapped ricotta to drain any leftover whey and to form its shape. 


References:

Hollenbaugh, E. E. (2011) Motives for Maintaining Personal Journal Blogs. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 14(1-2), 13- 20.

Get Together and Share a Coke...

Everyone seems to be talking about the latest "Share a Coke" campaign, where Australians are able to:

a) Purchase bottles of Coke with 150 different names (or their own) on them, or create a custom can

b) Share a virtual Coke with friend via social media platforms such as Facebook and their website, shareacoke.com.au

c) View various adverts and songs themed around the names printed

d) Enter a competition to win one of four $50,000 cash giveaways

e) Develop their own Coke adverts, starring their own friends (soon)

I read a 2010 article where Coca-Cola’s CEO, Muhtar Kent, mentioned that the company would be investing billions of dollars into the US market, as the only Western nation with a growing younger demographic. I’m curious why Australians, with an aging population, are the blessed recipients of this campaign and not the American youth. By putting my name on the bottle (pictured below), I feel enticed to build an emotional attachment with the product. This campaign inspires actions that can be hard for marketers to achieve: increasing the rate of trial (in non-users), purchase and an increased rate of re-purchase.

Perhaps the objective is to develop and strengthen a lifelong brand preference that will continually offer ROI as Aussies get older?

Executing the purchase can be fun as I rummage through the other Coke bottles labelled Kate, George, Luke and Jess to find the one manufactured just for me. I’m sure this can only strengthen the relationship that heavy consumers of Coke, who are sure to have a pre-existing emotional attachment to the brand.

Some may be concerned about the increased calorie intake this campaign might encourage, but at least Coca-Cola offers lower-calorie options such as Diet Coke. This leads me to think, should they start printing names on this product too? And, as a product with a strong female customer base, should the majority of names printed be feminine?

What do you think about the latest Coca-Cola campaign?

References:

Ignatius, A. (2010) Shaking Things Up At Coca-Cola. Harvard Business Review, 89(10), 94-99.

Look What I Made!

That's right... the buttermilk cake from the front of this months' Masterchef Magazine!
You can find the recipe within the issue...
(Not exactly within the scope of this blog, but I wanted to share this with you!)

Digital Magazines - Is the Price Right?

I've been noticing the increased availability of digital magazines, which are available via outlets such as the iTunes store (Magshop) and Zinio ("the world's largest digital newsstand").

I like that digital magazines are a modern way to indulge your interests and offer features that traditional print media cannot. For example, the Masterchef Magazine iPad app also offers the reader interactive features such as video, behind-the-scenes footage and "Cook Mode", which enables recipes to be displayed in a larger font for use in the kitchen (ballsy move against the underwhelming Telstra T-Hub?).

 

However, I find myself questioning the pricing behind digital magazines, and considered the following points:

• I feel as though a part of the price consumers pay for printed magazines is partially to have a tangible product in hand (likewise with newspapers). Digital magazines are often hefty downloads and can be can be priced very similarly to its printed counterpart.  Sure, where the digital version doesn't deliver on the 'tangibility USP', it delivers value via other features such as the interactive options mentioned above. Still, does this merit the price of the digital product? Isn't it possible that there are other ways to entertain one's interest? One way could be through other apps, which arguably don't interrupt the consumer with as many advertisements as a magazine has the potential to do.
• I feel the digital costs aren't as justified as it is often a case of uploading and leveraging off the outputs of the printed version.
• I suspect that digital magazines are an approach to boost slipping readership and circulation rates of traditional print media (including newspapers), but this trend may face its own problems if  the digital version is perceived as too expensive to download.
• On the other hand, I understand that the connotations of lowering a product's price and how it can affect its brand positioning. (Significant discounts of Gourmet Traveller may not reflect its brand values.) Also, magazine publishers would also need to recoup their costs and maintain margins despite shifts in consumption habits.
• A printed issue of Masterchef Magazine costs $4.95. According to the iTunes store, the current and two latest back issues are priced at $2.99. With the digital version costing 40% less than the printed version, the deliverance of value may be achieved. As someone who has a subscription to Masterchef magazine, I would certainly be pleased if this was offered to me as a type of "gift with purchase". Think of what this can do to increase long-term usage and loyalty!

The digital front cover of the current issue of Masterchef Magazine is nearly identical to the print version (shown), except the digital version obviously does not show the barcode and the price.

Overall I'm still sceptical about the cost of digital magazines. I don't feel they should be free, but would prefer to see them offered as such when the consumer has purchased the printed version.


What do you think?

Food Porn, Forkly and Foodspotting... Not Weird Erotic Terms, But Social Dining!

Recently I've become engaged with social dining sites, in fact I'm sheepish I didn't find these sooner!

Applications such as Foodspotting and the recently- launched Forkly stimulate my hunger and expand my appreciation of beautiful-looking food. They are also useful ways to capture, rate (or 'nom') and upload images of individual meals and share them with others beyond the dining table via other SM platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, all with the incentive of gaining status and rankings similar to Foursquare.

Some things to note:

• These sites are based on the notion of communicating only stellar dishes - not an avenue for consumers to complain about their dodgy satay beef or crappy service. I think I like this feature, sometimes I get tired of hearing scorned customers' complaints and just want to know what's good to eat.
• As inspired by previous entries and their comments, I wonder if establishment owners would use this as an opportunity to show off their 'edible art' incognito. I think I would be tempted...
• As someone who has the annoying habit of taking photos of food when it arrives to the table, I now have somewhere to put them. It feels like the "time-poor man's" option of blogging. See my first entry submitted below from a local cafe in the Western suburbs (which on a side note, is highly recommended!):

You can view Forkly's YouTube video describing their attributes below.

What do you think of this trend of social dining... apart from feeling famished?

Sheep, Ghosts and Twitter...

Twitter has become a haven for celebrities to join the blogosphere, with personalities such as Kevin Rudd, Ozzy Osbourne and Donald Trump getting on the bandwagon. In fact, following celebrities seems like a great way to get started on Twitter, compared to Facebook where the first thing you might look for are your mates.

According to Case and King (2011), some celebrity tweeters (e.g. Britney Spears and Barack Obama) have hired ghostwriters to pen their tweets to compensate their busy schedules. This is interesting because these two celebs are reportedly included in the "Top 10" of tweeters based on follower numbers. However I don't suspect whether their followers wholeheartedly care whether their tweets were directly supplied without middlemen, but why not? Is it because their followers have realistic expectations about who is really administering the tweet... or does this inspire the follower/fan to feel disappointed?

I considered whether other celebrities utilise ghostwriters to tweet on their behalf. Being interested in food I considered (celebrity) chef Giada De Laurentiis. With a number of TV shows on the Food Network (or Lifestyle Food on Foxtel here in Australia), she certainly is a busy bee on Twitter, building a relationship with her some 2,800 followers. I have shown a snapshot of her activity over a ten-hour period below. You can see that a great deal of the content is used in two-way conversation with her followers, but I wonder if it is really her? I think I'd feel indifferent either way...

Do I dare ask, does Giada really have that much time on her hands? Or perhaps it is becoming more common for celebs to enlist specialists to help grow their online presence and reach audiences... what do you think?

Oh, and if anyone wants to enlighten me on the proper terminology for "someone who tweets", be it tweeter, twitterer, or even twit, please drop me a line.

References:

Case, C. J., and King, D. L. (2011) "Twitter Usage in the Fortune 50: A Marketing Opportunity?" Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 5(3), 94-103.

Social Media & Sales Promotion - aka - Communication Breakdown?

On the weekend my partner, sister and I went to a nearby pub for a Sunday pub dinner. Being a few days shy of payday, and frankly not being bothered to cook, I thought it would be a good opportunity to check out the MoneySaver application that I had recently downloaded on my iPhone from Niche Media. I haven't ever presented content on my phone to receive any form of value, but thought, "What the heck?". After all, it sure beats having to carry around a coupon in your wallet (who does that these days, except maybe my mum getting her petrol discount). There was one 'coupon' that offered a "Buy One Get One Free" on meals (or 50% if the meal was over $17) for a pub around the corner, so off we went to the pub at half time on the footy (Geelong vs. Adelaide).

Before we left the house, I wanted to make sure it would work, so I called the number on the voucher. (As a side note, when I pressed the number, my iPhone didn't give me an option to call the number as it usually does, I had to memorise it and manually enter it into the keypad - hard work these days). The first time the phone rang out completely. Hmm. I googled the pub to ensure the number was correct, and then tried again. This time, someone answered. The noise on the other end was loud - they must have been choccer-block-busy in there. I enquired about the app/voucher and asked what the T&Cs were, e.g. could I use it on a Sunday. I was told by the lady on the other end that I just needed to present my phone to receive my discount, and yes, it would work on Sundays. The lady must not have heard me over the noise asking what time their kitchen opened as she hung up. So, off we went.

Once we got to the pub, it was packed, mainly with people our age. We got our first round of beers and ciders and glossed over the menu. Only a few items were below $17 (e.g dips, bruschetta, nothing really substantial), which meant we probably would not be getting a meal for free.

Upon deciding what we wanted, my sister and I lined up to order, with my voucher ready to redeem. Long story short, the person taking our order stated that she could not accept the voucher because they only promoted on Shop-a-Dockets (e.g. the back of supermarket receipts).

When told that I had called earlier to ensure the voucher was legitimate she replied, "Well, we have a lot of girls working here". The waitress then said that she could accept my voucher if I printed it off and brought it in. I was flabbergasted. "How am I supposed to print this off when it is on my phone?" I asked. "I have absolutely no idea," she replied. I grumbled, paid full price and grabbed more beers. I was very annoyed and felt misled, as though I was the victim of bait advertising, lured to this chiched pub with the promise of cheap food. As we had already purchased drinks before ordering and were settled, I figured we should stay put... but I was not one happy camper.

When my food arrived (pictured below), the fish was cold and soggy.

I wondered whether this problem had arisen because such sales promotions (e.g. via social media platforms) are still new and perhaps aren't well established yet. Perhaps the waitress had not yet encountered this voucher and suspected that I had doctored the offer to score a free meal. On the other hand, I'm not sure where in the 'back-end' this could go wrong. How is communication to employees about this sort of sales promotion different to more traditional methods, e.g. hard-copy coupons? I considered Wag's comment on my previous post (about owners planting information), and darkly thought that perhaps this promotion was used as a bait advertising tool to entice customers and get them to 'stay and pay' via so-called 'unaware' employees. After all, one would think that a hard-copy voucher is much less likely to be denied redemeption by employees. What do you think?

One aspect is that return rates can be a bit distorted through an app/voucher, as there is no barcode to scan, but I'm sure there are (or will be) ways to overcome this.

I went home annoyed and pledged to contact the pub to complain. I am very interested to what they come back with and what their customer satisfaction management is like. After all, mistakes happen. As you can see in the above image of the app/voucher, I have blocked out the pub's details, as I'm not on a vengeful vendetta - hell hath no fury like a customer scorned...? Right now, I might return to this pub depending on how my complaint is handled. Anyway, it is now Tuesday and I plan to call this afternoon after the lunch rush. Stay tuned to hear how this issue is rectified!

And in the meantime, practice caution when taking up offers such as this until this sort of promotion becomes more common. I thought I had covered my bets by calling the establishment beforehand, next time I'll be sure to be even more vigilant!

What Should I Eat Tonight?

This is my first time blogging, and I am certainly excited to become more hands-on in this new, exciting and expanding aspect of marketing. It's funny how there are always new ways to reach consumers - prior to the blast-off of social media it was all about breaking through clutter and exposure via outdoor (or OOH) advertising. Prior to that, it was all about Malcolm Auld and Direct Marketing. Nevertheless, marketers are constantly experimenting with methods to acheive their KPIs. As such, I aim for this blog to be themed around two of my passions: marketing and food. I feel as though food, hospitality, home cooking and eating out have become a lot more... shall we say, trendier in recent years, and so I feel these increasingly popular topics make a fine pair.

 

In addition to FMCG giants utilising social media within their integrated marketing campaigns, we are also experiencing the rise of ‘food popularity’ where chefs become recognised celebrities (iconic Australian chefs such as Guy Grossi and Margaret Fulton are regularly featured in supermarket chains' advertising messages), as well as sites like foodcandy.com enabling ‘foodies’ to congregate over, well, food. Nowadays there are heaps of mobile applications providing recipes and information on establishments. Not to mention an increasing presence of cooking shows such as Masterchef and Iron Chef which are in turn, supported by social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and the like. I plan to disuss topics such as this over coming weeks, so watch this space.

I have become especially interested in food blogs which examines places to eat – as someone not from Melbourne, I enjoy spending time (though not necessarily copious amounts of money!) sussing out suggested places and drawing my own conclusions (try thebreakfastblog.blogspot.com). In addition to blogs, I enjoy utilising other social media platforms (such as urbanspoon on my iPhone) in conjunction with other systems, such as the paperback The Age Good Food Guide and communication provided by the organisation iteself. Personally, however, I do place a higher amount of integrity in the judgement of other peoples' reviews - I feel they are more honest and realistic over someone who eats out as part of their occupation (you can tell I'm not jealous at all!).

I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Marketer or not, do you use blogs (and other social media tools) as a way to find information about your own hobbies, and as it has been suggested, do you rate other consumers' reviews above a paid message provided by the advertiser? Further, why/why not?