Did you know that 8 out of 10 out-of-home decision makers feel that social media and online communications are becoming more important than traditional trade press? As the leading out-of-home agency, we posed the industry a number of key questions about our shared digital future. The answers, just as with the above, can be found here and certainly make for interesting reading.
What our survey found was that the foodservice industry is reflective of a much wider culture shift. With a print press in decline, many news outlets are future-proofing their businesses by adopting innovative online presences. It’s in evidence across all sectors; Fry magazine, for instance, has just launched its own smartphone app, Caterer & Hotelkeeper’s journalists use their Twitter feeds to issue news while its website has also very recently been updated. Restaurant magazine is just about to start distributing a digital copy to subscriber’s inboxes more than likely before it has time to find your desk through the regular channels.
Facilities Management title, Tomorrow’s FM, has done away with the printed medium altogether, opting for an innovative digital format that encompasses expanding pages and video content. The future is happening before our eyes and while it’s at once exhilarating and relentless, sometimes it can feel like a bit of a jungle out there.
“First, you have to be visible in the community. You have to get out there and connect with people. It’s not called net-sitting or net-eating. It’s called networking. You have to work at it.”
Ivan Misner
Social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook should be simple, cost effective, and, if harnessed in the right way, a pathway to building a more robust, open business model. But, just as in almost all cases, you have to be in it to win it. One of the most frequent (albeit paraphrased) comments that we get from companies is ‘what if someone is less than complementary about our product or service?’ The truth is, people will most likely say those things anyway and, if you’re not part of the conversation, it will be their peers, as opposed to you, who hear about it first. The beauty of social media is that you have a direct line-in to quell any such complaint before it becomes an issue. Social media gives you the unique opportunity to acknowledge any problem, make a personal connection with the consumer and resolve it in the open, quick and clean.
But, as Ivan Misner says, to be able to engage your consumers in this way, first, “you have to be visible in the community”.
Yet how do you know which social media platform is right for your operation? And, if you have the right platform, what’s the best content to attract, build and engage an online community?
This is why we’ve created Bloom, a game-changing social media solution to help foodservice businesses make their way in social media and take the upper hand in the digital marketplace.
Delivered in three affordable, tiered packages, each designed to play to the strengths of your out-of-home business, the brand new service can work for those with or without a current social media presence and features, at its heart, a unique and innovative ‘digital audit’, based on sound PR theory and practice.
Jellybean’s audit is specifically designed to show businesses, through a number of key indicators, where they sit in the digital foodservice arena. To listen to conversations where your brand is being mentioned, assess sentiment and, crucially, expose opportunities for growth. The packages are then reinforced by a comprehensive measurement, monitoring and reporting system. Those that sign up can select the package that is right for them; Jellybean will then work proactively to devise the very best communication strategy and allow your brand to bloom in the digital arena.
7 out of 10 respondents to our survey believe that brands targeting the out-of-home market should use Facebook and Twitter to do it, a finding that signals a real step change in attitudes. There really has never been a more pertinent time to look more closely at your online content strategy, over and above a website, and we are here to ensure you don’t get left behind.
To find out more about how Bloom can help your business, call Jellybean on 01372 227950 or email: [email protected]
For further information please follow us on Twitter. (#jellybeanbloom)
