As social media has become a more important tool for brands in general, the stakes are especially high for high-profit services such as catering. Hence, a panel during the recent Restaurant Franchising Innovation Summit in Louisville explored ways to fine-tune social media programs for catering. Chris Grundell, vice president of sales at Soci, a social and reputation management platform, served as moderator. The panelists agreed that as online and social media have become popular methods of placing orders, foodservice establishments have had to “up their game” and be able to respond to changing customer expectations. “Consumer behavior changed considerably,” said Zaid Ayoub, founder and CEO of Sajj Mediterranean, a San Francisco restaurant that has grown to nine stores and two food trucks. Online ordering, according to Ayoub, has empowered consumers to expect service on a much shorter notice. Sajj Mediterranean went from requiring a 48-hour notice for catering to a four-hour notice.

Before social media emerged as a powerful marketing tool, Sajj Mediterranean used what Ayoub called “old fashioned guerilla marketing” to promote its catering service — having salespeople knock on doors. Ayoub said his company now lists its recipes online since customers nowadays want more information about their food. Stacey Kane, chief marketing officer, Mahana Poke & Firenza Pizza based in Ashburn, Virginia, agreed that catering services must be capable of executing on demand. “Catering is not easy,” said Kane. “It’s not something you can just press the button on.” Kane said it is important to offer visual images in social media content for catering. Two types of images — pictures of what the food looks like and lifestyle pictures to give context to the food, such as pictures of a tailgating party, are both needed. “You have to have both kinds of imagery nailed down,” she said. How to manage customer reviews. It didn’t take long for the discussion to move to responding to customer reviews. Having an effective response plan in place can be especially difficult for franchise organizations, but is not insurmountable, Kane said. She said a qualified marketing person should work with owners to make sure they do not take reviews personally and respond with messaging that will win back guests. Yelp presents a challenging channel since foodservice providers have little recourse with Yelp in regard to negative reviews.

But Kane said she has nonetheless used Yelp to promote her company by taking a proactive approach. She likes working with Yelp’s community manager team to create events where the brand can be showcased to the valuable Yelp community. “These events allow you to control the message,” Kane said. Sebastian van de Rijt, owner of Bamboo Asia, a San Francisco restaurant which specializes in Indian and Vietnamese cuisine, said he tries to respond to all reviews on Facebook and Instagram. “It (social media) has taken word-of-mouth (marketing) to a whole new level,” he said. Social media tools evolve. Measuring the effectiveness of your social media is important, the panelists agreed. Fortunately, the social media channels have improved the analytics reports they offer to users, said Brittany Warren, director of content marketing, Networld Media Group, owner of the Restaurant Franchising Innovation Summit. Warren said companies need to know their cost per click for their social media orders, a metric she said is available from social media platforms. Companies also need to be able to connect brands’ social media marketing to actions that can be tracked, she said. Social media platforms also offer targeting tools that can be very effective, Warren said, referring to tools that allow companies to target specific groups of customers. “Use the tools the social platforms have put out there to your advantage,” she said. These tools are available for a fee, she said, and they require a certain amount of testing. Ayoub, who concurred that the data provided by social media programs today is helpful, said he wants to know who ordered what through what marketing channel. Companies also have to know what their social media programs are trying to accomplish, Warren said. “What are the problems you are trying to solve for your audience?” she asked. Warren urged listeners to involve local people in social marketing posts, since consumers like to do business with people as opposed to products. She also said it is important for a company to be authentic in their social media messages. Kane agreed, noting that customers like it when a business posts their pictures on Instagram. “The (marketing) content has to be cool,” Ayoub said.

Franchise issues: Franchise operations sometimes have unique challenges with social media programs, several of the panelists agreed. Van de Rijt said he looks for ways to make it fun for franchisees to participate in social media programs. Kane said her company’s franchisees have become far more supportive of the company’s social marketing program since they’ve learned how important it is to their success. While everyone agreed that social media is important for improving catering sales, the panelists were not sure when asked if the company should have a separate web page for catering. Kane said it could work for a company that does not have franchises, but for franchise organizations, she thinks it would be problematic.