Social Media Marketing

I’ve been putting out a weekly article for probably the last five or six years. In this little world, I love hearing back from subscribers. Any time I can provide inspiration, education and humor, I consider what I do a success.

Every reader of this blog should thank the other readers. I love hearing success stories and marketing case studies to learn from and share.

Joe Montes, owner of The Red Cadillac and I talked a while back about how he was using social media. He penned some thoughts below and emailed them to me. I’ve cleaned it up a little, without changing the impact. Here it is…

Social Media is the freebie the Internet has thrown to all the mom & pop establishments in the hospitality biz. The communication between our business and our guests has never been so at hand. Many say it's free. It's not. Monetarily it costs nothing, but the effort to make it work, takes time and dedication.

When my wife and I decided to open our new restaurant, it was May of 2010. The economy was collapsing, and it didn't look good for a new restaurant to open its doors. We began on a three inch letter board located on the street side of the restaurant. We wanted, before ever making the deal, for all the car traffic to see. The letter board read....

Mexican Food

Text Your Vote

(my cell #)

We had our response in 30 days; 1809 yes's and 5 no’s. We made the deal and gave ourselves eight weeks to open. The next day we started our Facebook page telling anyone that would listen, “We are about to open our restaurant, and this is the behind the scenes as to how it's done. Keep posted.”

We went to all the local township Facebook sites and began requesting Facebook friends. We then looked for local businesses, mothers clubs, little league pages, police, etc. Before we knew it, in a week or so, we had over 200 people following us. We accepted each individual as a friend and replied with a personal welcome note. And we still do today, to EVERYONE.

We documented EVERYTHING, EVERYDAY on Facebook… going to the bank for a loan....going to salvage yards for decorations...us painting the walls and cleaning the kitchen & stoves...our kids helping out....uniform / menu / cocktail list meetings...

The followers started growing immediately. We put up our "to do" list. It was on a chalk board, and it was a big list. LOL.

And finally, when we had it in our sites; “Opening Day Friday August 13, 2010.” And you know what? Over five hundred people showed up.

Our business today is very, very successful, and our social media has brought with it social responsibility. We are an information center for our followers on Facebook in times of trouble, storms etc.

They come to us. Police ask us to post events. We help people find things or give away things. We support many charities and local teams & events. We say happy birthday to friends, EVERYDAY...post our specials...ask them what they want to eat.

We have become The Red Cadillac with over 4,000 friends on Facebook and another 2,000 followers on twitter.

The key is to use it everyday. We say good day EVERYDAY, and we say good night and thank you...EVERY NITE.

I could go on...but I won't. I just wanted to get you out a quick blurb, as I told you I would months ago. I’ve been busy, really busy…hahaha. 

Stay Busy

CHEERS

\_/  \_/

Joe Montes

Chef / Owner

www.TheRedCadillacNJ.com

https://www.facebook.com/#!/theredcadillac

My hat’s off to Joe. He took a very simple marketing tool and used it consistently to create and grow his business.

There are so many low to no cost marketing tactics available to you. There’s no excuse to not be successful.

Well That’s All For This Issue!

Michael Attias

Restaurant Catering Software

P.S. – If you need help growing catering sales, then please go to www.RestaurantCateringSoftware.com and download my free eBook: Cater or Die!

P.P.S. – I make a limited number of time slots available each week for a free Catering Strategy Session with me. (You also get a catering menu critique and free analysis of your website for “Catering Effectiveness). For complete details and to grab one of the limited spots, please go to: