Social studies, c. April

If you’re one of the holdouts who suspects there’s more hype than substance to social media, consider a story behind the story of the Social Media 50, our ranking of the restaurant industry’s most avid and successful users.

I collected the data with a few days of help from an intern beginning in mid-January. As we tabulated the Twitter and Facebook posts of some 120 operators—chains, independents and celebrity chefs—we noted the aberrations, thinking they’d make a good sidebar.

There were plenty of them, including a number of big brands that have yet to embrace one or both of the two major social media channels.

Similarly, there was a rough correlation between an operation’s size and the amount of buzz it generated online, but not a perfect one. Who’d have thought Buffalo Wild Wings would promote more keypad activity than some of the fast-food giants?

But perhaps the biggest surprises were the numbers for In-N-Out, the burger chain whose die-hard fans define a restaurant cult, replete with its own secret ordering language. It seemed cut out for social media, yet its voice wasn’t nearly as loud as even a casual observer might’ve expected. Twenty-thousand Facebook fans? Pffft. We even called attention to the situation in our roundup of curious findings, or what we termed Jaw Droppers.

Fast forward to a few days before the release of the report via our April issue and exclusive content on MonkeyDish.com. One of my colleagues sent me an e-mail with the subject line, “Rut-roh.”

She explained that some work on another project took her to In-N-Out’s Facebook page, which indicated the regional chain had more than 1 million fans. Clearly we’d made a mistake.

Still, I was puzzled. We’d checked the numbers several times. Was it possibly a mistake? Had we visited one of the unofficial pages that fans set up for a brand they adore or abhor (OliveGardenHate had more than 300 fans)? Was it just a typo, a number misread off a list and mis-entered there?

It might indeed have been a mistake of one sort or another. But in researching mini-profiles of the social media strategies wielded by the Top 50 finishers, I started noticing other discrepancies.

Numbers had soared in the few weeks since we conducted our first canvass of Twitter and Facebook. Jumps of 2,000 Twitter followers weren’t unusual. Neither were leaps of 10,000 or more “likes” on Facebook pages.

In the case of Buffalo Wild Wings, the increase was in the 600,000-fan range.

Might In-N-Out have really seen its numbers jump by nearly 2 million in a month? Consider that Charlie Sheen collected 2 million Twitter followers in a night.

I’ve yet to get a clarification one way or another from In-N-Out, a chain notoriously uncommunicative with the press.

But I’m thinking that we just saw a market rectification of sorts. The power of social media is gravitating to the more powerful of brands in some sort of online natural evolution.

Skeptics will have to change their argument. The preferred form of social media might change. But the phenomenon is growing, not waning.

Dirt and dish from the RLC

Here’s some of the gossip from the RLC. It’s bad journalism (no attribution or verification of most points), but some interesting reading:

ITEM: The U.S. Department of Commerce is bringing representatives from 13 American restaurant chains to India to interest local operators there in developing the concepts.

ITEM: If Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel makes good on his promise to legalize truck restaurants in Chicago, look for one of the city’s most respected operators to hit the streets with a bao or dumpling concept.

ITEM: Mark Levy of Levy Restaurants fame is expected to make a splash in Chicago’s already-crowded steakhouse market with his entry, Chicago. It’s going into the downtown space formerly occupied by Wolfgang Puck’s Spago. Michael Jordon’s namesake beef house is also returning to the Windy City. Game on.

ITEM: Among the upstarts snagging attention from concept scouts was Los Angeles’ Veggie Grill. Ditto for Texas’ Twin Peaks and Phoenix’s Wildflower Bread Co.

ITEM: Chain restaurateurs were griping incessantly a few months ago about not being able to calculate an ROI on social media. Now benchmarking research is pouring into the marketplace (including from Restaurant Business; see our Social Media 50 report on MonkeyDish.com starting tomorrow). I hope to do a roundup on the other sources in this space sometime next week.

A grab-bag of concepts from the RLC

After roughly 48 hours at the restaurant industry’s Restaurant Leadership Conference brain summit, a few unexpected trends are clearly emerging:

--We’re heading back into a deal-o-rama environment. Much of my networking time has been spent fielding questions from would-be buyers of restaurant chains. The criteria for acquisitions vary widely, but there are some similarities: A solid concept with an entrepreneur at the helm who needs the foundation to blast out new stores. Curiously, part of the new pitch from buyers is their ability to provide operational expertise as well as money and infrastructure.

--The restaurant-trucks phenomenon is still on the upswing. Sally Smith, chairman of the National Restaurant Association, called it the trend of 2011. That observation is echoed by the constant mention of trucks in sessions dealing with far-afield topics.

--Similarly, mentions of social media crept into discussions of all sorts of issues, including the political scene. Rick Berman, the Doberman of restaurant lobbying, noted how Facebook has become a battleground for advocacy issues affecting the industry. He noted that The Left seems to have the edge over The Right in wielding the internet as an opinion shaper.

--Restaurateurs have a great sense of humor. My favorite comment so far, offered at the end of a sessions on mobile marketing: “We’ve come a long way since the Sullivan nod was the cutting edge of marketing.

Restaurants' use of social media by the #'s

How much is social media worth to restaurant chains? A new study has pegged the values for the nation’s largest fast-food brands, proving in the process that Twitter and Facebook can be great levelers.

Jamba Juice, for instance, wracked up the equivalent of $2.1 million in marketing exposure through social media mentions—its own, plus consumers’—during September, October and November. That provided more online exposure than what bigger players like Dairy Queen fostered, and roughly as much attention as Subway snagged, according to the study, which was prepared by a company called General Sentiment. You can see the study here.

The report is part of a recent wave of statistics on restaurants’ use of social media. A San Francisco-based company called Freshendo, for instance, recently benchmarked Twitter use by the local restaurant community. Only 10% of local places use the micro-blogging service, the upstart found. Yet some of the users generate as much as 20% of their business through that medium, with the number of followers averaging 900.

The concern intends to help more restaurants hit and exceed that number by using Twitter as a real-time promotional tool.

The unexploited potential of social media is also underscored by the survey that was recently conducted by MustHaveMenus.com and covered by Technorati. The research revealed that only 42% of restaurant operators and managers use social media to promote their establishments, and 23% see no value in starting.

The figures taken together suggest that the opportunities afforded by social media are still largely neglected because restaurateurs lack the time to tweet, post or blog themselves, and are short on the funds to hire a keyboard jockey.

Yet the ones that have embraced the new media are clearly reaping dividends. The supply of social-media-susceptible consumers is clearly outstripping demand, at least at the present.

Another leap

A fiftysomething friend confessed yesterday that social media is where he’s watched the rocket pull away. My acquaintance has spent decades in the restaurant industry. But web capabilities are advancing faster than his ability to grasp the implications for the business. “It’s just happening too fast,” he lamented.

Mercifully, he didn’t know the trade was taking another quantum leap while we were munching our fiber-rich breakfasts.

You likely missed it, too, though a significant portion of the consuming public probably is probably aware by now of McDonald’s social-media scavenger hunt, the event it’s staging to introduce a seasonal caramel-mocha coffee. Clues to the whereabouts of 27 oversized McCafe coffee cups—three in each of nine U.S. markets—are delivered to Twitter followers of the brand. The first ones to find the cups win the contests.

A promotion built on social media is still rare in the restaurant business. One taking the form of a scavenger hunt is decidedly novel. But what makes the program revolutionary is the structure on which it’s based.

The restaurant industry is by its nature a local phenomenon. Brands may be national, but consumers interact with branches in their area. They deal with neighborhood businesses.

The chain sector has had a hard time addressing that reality in its use of social media. The chains typically entrust tweets about a brand to a corporate staffer in headquarters, often thousands of miles from some units. How does that tweeter foster a relationship between a far-removed unit and its local customers?

The obvious solution is letting the units do the tweeting. But the possibilities have been too daunting for all but a few foodservice companies. How do you keep thousands of voices singing the same song? And what about franchisees who might have different ideas about products, services or promotions? How do you make sure they’ll even tweet anything?

McDonald’s broke new ground with the scavenger hunt by letting the nine participating regions tweet individually, each with its own Twitter ID. Their messages are tailored to the region.

It’s the bold move that few chains have been willing to take—a national program executed on a regional, almost local basis. It’s the chain equivalent of letting a teenaged son take the car on a Friday night for the first time.

Barring disaster, the move will no doubt convince other systems that they can take the risk. Eventually that risk will be re-evaluated, and a major, more effective use of social media will become part of the marketing mix.

If so, I’ll need to break it to my friend gently. I may have to use sock puppets.

When worlds collide

One of the stranger aspects of this year’s show is meeting people you previously knew only through Twitter. It would’ve helped if they’d worn a sign that read "#acquaintance," because it takes a minute to place someone when they're freakishly using their real nam, not their Twitter ID. Having a microscopic picture as a reference point isn't a huge help, either.

Fortunately the conversations haven't come in 140-character bytes.

In one instance I looked up to realize I was sitting two rows behind a new follower during a presentation.

She and I were of course both tweeting.

Tweet this

Social-media and other online marketing may be all the rage for restaurant chains right now. But when Red Robin wanted to generate some buzz for a limited-time promotional product, it decided the Old Media approach of a coupon drop would work just fine. And it bet right.

Coupons were sent to 5,000 households within a three-mile radius of participating company-run restaurants, chief marketing officer Susan Lintonsmith explained to financial analysts during a call. The call was held in late May, but a transcript wasn’t released by the financial site SeekingAlpha.com until this morning.

The coupons entitled the recipient to a $3 discount on Red Robins’ Burning Love Burger, a spiced-up sandwich served with Jalapeno Coins, a side made from the spicy peppers. The item was touted as a limited-time item. Translation: Get it while you can.

About 8% of the recipients used the coupon, “Which is significantly higher than what is typical for these type of mailings,” Lintonsmith said. She noted that the targeted mailing was complemented with online advertising, including banner ads and videos.

The acceptance prompted Red Robin to add the Burning Love as a permanent offering last month.

The mall-based chain switched its promotional focus to sliders last month. The key marketing components were 15-second cable spots—and another coupon drop.

The search is on. And on. And on.

KFC is hunting for the next Colonel Sanders. Papa John’s wants to find the muscle car that founder John Schnatter sold in 1984 to fund his first pizza. Applebee’s announced Tuesday that it’s commencing a search for America’s “real heroes.”

Add in the now-routine pursuit of customer’s ideas for new menu items, from doughnuts (Dunkin’ Donuts) to desserts (The Cheesecake Factory), and you have to wonder why restaurant chains still bother with ad agencies. They might be better off with Dog the Bounty Hunter, or even Elmer Fudd.

Call it the American Idol Effect. Restaurants are counting on the intrigue inherent in a quest to snag the attention of a public that avidly tunes into talent searches, “America’s Most Wanted” and the “National Treasure” franchise.

But they’re making a mistake if they view white-bread searches as the way to interact with customers, the arch objective in the age of Twitter and YouTube. They might as well announce a hunt to find America’s most adept flagpole sitter.

Many of the searchers should consider how Papa John’s is conducting its search. The objective is the 1972 Z 28 Camaro that Schnatter sold for his start-up investment in the restaurant business. The funds were used to convert the closet of a relative’s bar into a pizza stand.

The now-3,400-unit chain is backing up the search with live updates on Twitter and postings on a microsite, www.papasroadtrip.com. Schnatter himself is supposedly waging the search, but he brought along two interns to generate photos, videos and blog dispatches.

Papa John’s is also using a new gimmick that’s touted as a bridge between the real world and the virtual one. Customers can scan the image of a Z 28 from a Papa John’s pizza box and upload it as a virtual vehicle. The image then becomes an avatar of sorts, a visual point for taking the user on the search. It's as if the car is the sort of marker you'd use in a Monopoly game.

Finally, the search component is backed up with good ole TV advertising. Schnatter is shown delivering pies, so the focus isn’t completely off the chain’s product. There’s also the teaser of a $25,000 reward for the long-lost car.

The marketing ploy may be a search, but it’s supercharged with plenty of ways of interacting with consumers. That blend of the old with the new is increasingly being cited by social media gurus as the way to really cut through the clutter.

Fingers may be sorer than feet this NRA show

Let it be noted that this is the year social media changed the dynamics of the NRA show.

The convention hasn’t even officially started, yet Twitter and Facebook are already being used with all the ordinariness of breathing to make acquaintances, tout products, provide weather updates, share travel tips, recommend cocktails, bemoan hectic schedules, flag good parties, and promote educational events.

Twitter will be used to solicit questions for show speakers and to cover the convention, by media old and new. There’s an official Tweet Up, as well as a meeting of Fohboh, one of the industry’s social media. Meanwhile, the tweets keep coming, highlighting the mundane, the hilarious, and genuinely rich fodder for thought.

It’s as if one big conversation is underway as everyone goes about their usual show business. And anyone can tune in, with no introduction needed. Eavesdropping is encouraged.

It’s an instant interconnection the industry has never seen before—still small, but used enough already to be felt at the show.

But the phenomenon could prove more than just a curious new means of instant communication. It could be a way to bolster the show’s effectiveness by bringing seeker more readily together with provider. Tweet a need, be it information, a product or a contact, and a 140-character lead could be provided rapid-fire by someone who’s monitoring this extensive and hyperactive foodservice party line.

It could also draw more young people off the sidelines and into the game. Because social media is a preferred form of interaction for industry members of a tender vintage, it’s a comfortable way of plugging into the restaurant community, which in turn can foster involvement—going to shows, participating in associations, working on common causes, sounding off on shared threats, thinking about larger industry issues. In short, contributing more than 140 characters of input on restaurant issues.

But it’s late on Friday night, and I need to be fresh for tomorrow’s inaugural show event: A sessions for chain executives on the use of social networks and other word-of-mouth media. Which, by the way, I'm tweeting.