Caterers using Social Media to attract customers

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Permalink Reply by dennis yu on January 10, 2010 at 4:36am

Erin,

I'd love to see some, too! Please do share. We have seen via our Google Analytics for several franchise clients that Twitter and Facebook traffic do lead to more catering requests, but the conversion rates are REALLY low.

Dennis

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Permalink Reply by Michael L. Atkinson on January 10, 2010 at 6:19pm

Hi Erin,

I agree with Dennis, conversions are low here, there and everywhere. Social media marketing is really about building relationships, finding and empowering your brand ambassadors to leave a trail of positivity to you and your company. I recommend using MS tagging and join other social networking sites where there is a combination of geo + mobile. That's the future, for sure.

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Rachel on February 17, 2010 at 7:40am

I've found that using LinkedIn, Twitter, etc are beneficial mostly to interact with fellow vendors. Again, the success rate is minimal, but I still think it's worth it as those relationships are huge in bringing in additional business. The longevity of those relationships is more substantial than a client.

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Permalink Reply by Phil Novara on February 18, 2010 at 9:41pm

Try and shift your idea of what Twitter and Facebook are. This is social media, not traditional advertising. Use these platforms to listen to your customers or potential customers. Then talk to them through these platforms. It takes time...you have to constantly work at it.

Twitter search or Topsy are great ways to do this. Type "catering" into the search feature. Here you will find real-time results of what people are saying about catering. Start talking to these people. That is the best way to utilize Twitter.

In the end, it's not promotions but more networking and customer service. If your looking to buy advertising and be done with it, than Twitter and Facebook are not the way to go. They are tools to build a following/network. Provide value to your followers and they will find you business:)

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