Downtown Raleigh restaurants turn to social networking to bring patrons in and keep them coming back

Note to readers: This is a revised version of an article written as an assignment for a course on digital writing that is part of the UNC Certificate in Technology and Communication.  You can also read the original post.

By Noelle Talley

RALEIGH: Next time you’re hungry, you might want to check Twitter or Facebook to decide where to grab a meal or snack. Restaurants, including some in downtown Raleigh, are using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to bring in customers and to keep them coming back by highlighting specials, seeking feedback, and offering prizes.

Eric Harris started using social media to promote The Pit in March 2009, soon after becoming manager of the barbeque restaurant on West Davie Street. He said he’d read and heard about businesses using Twitter for marketing and decided to try it.

“With everyone having smart phones and being linked in with each other, the timing was right for it,” said Harris, who posts to both Facebook and Twitter on behalf of The Pit.

Gaining fans and followers

Harris estimates that he spends about an hour and a half a day using Twitter and Facebook for The Pit, which has 373 members in its Facebook group and more than 1,600 followers on Twitter. He initially gained followers by following local breweries and other people who posted about barbeque.

Harris posts photos of The Pit and lists weekly beers on tap on the restaurant’s Facebook page. He averages around six tweets, or Twitter posts, a week.

Recent tweets by Harris included a pre-lunch reminder about the restaurant’s pulled pork barbeque and ribs, a promise of a special desert for people who dined at The Pit that night, and a link to a song about southern barbeque on YouTube.com.

Staying local

Harris credits social networking with helping The Pit build and maintain relationships with its local customers following a wave of national publicity that helped turn the restaurant into a destination for barbeque lovers from beyond the Triangle.

“We want to keep our hometown, local flavor,” Harris said. “Our focus, when I finally figured out what I was doing with it [social networking], was to really emphasize local things. For example, highlight specialty beers on tap and that brings in customers.”

From no cell phone to social media marketer

Blaine Nierman, executive chef and general manager of 518 West Italian Café on West Jones Street, said he didn’t even have a cell phone until four years ago, but his restaurant started using Facebook and Twitter to reach customers in January of this year. Nierman, who had previously started a blog on 518 West’s website, liked the idea of viral, friend-to-friend marketing made possible by online social networking.

“It’s one more marketing tool to use to keep your name in their frontal lobe, in the top three or four choices,” Nierman said.

Enticing customers with gift certificates and prizes

518 West posts messages about once a day, with most posts appearing on both Facebook and Twitter. The restaurant tries to bring customers in by listing specials and giving away gift certificates and other prizes, Nierman explained.

For example, in early November, 518 West gave two tickets to South Pacific to the first person to comment on a Facebook post about the musical. Every Wednesday, 518 West offers gift cards to the first person to re-tweet, or repost, its drink special.

Nierman said he initially offered gift certificates more frequently and counted on word of mouth to bring in fans and followers. 518 West has 314 fans of its Facebook page and 242 followers on Twitter.

“Cost-effective and timely”

Sara Coleman, owner of The Cupcake Shoppe Bakery located at 104 Glenwood Avenue, said she started using Facebook as a marketing tool soon after she launched her business in July 2007, and then opened a Twitter account for her bakery under the name bakeshopgirl in 2008.

“We have a pretty varied client base, from stay-at-home moms to corporate clients,” Coleman said.

She thought Facebook and Twitter would be good ways to communicate with her customers quickly and cheaply, especially compared to printed advertisements and mailings, which must be planned months in advance and cost money.

“It’s a cost-effective, timely way to reach customers,” Coleman said.

As the owner of a busy small business, Coleman also said she likes the convenience of posting to Facebook and Twitter.

“I can do it at 5 AM, or I can do it at midnight,” Coleman said, describing her posting schedule. She said she spends one to two hours on social media in an average week, and three to four hours during busier weeks.

The Cupcake Shoppe Bakery has 853 fans of its Facebook page and 476 followers on Twitter.

Flavor of the week

Coleman uses Facebook and Twitter to share The Cupcake Shoppe’s special flavor for each week.  Recent cupcake flavors of the week include sweet potato with marshmallow frosting, cranberry orange, chocolate bacon, and German chocolate.

Coleman also uses social media, especially Facebook, to invite customers to events at the bakery, like a holiday open house.  To gain more fans, she said that she makes sure Facebook users can share her invitations with other friends.

Responding to customer feedback

Facebook and Twitter aren’t one-way streets; customers can also share their own views and respond to businesses’ postings.

During the week of November 8-15, 2009, other people mentioned The Pit more than 40 times on Twitter, including several re-tweets of Harris’ posts. A re-tweet means that followers of The Pit shared several of his posts with their own followers. During the same week, 518 West garnered four re-tweets on Twitter and six comments, or online responses from fans, on Facebook, while The Cupcake Shoppe got x re-tweets and 10 Facebook comments.

Nierman said he thinks responding to customers’ comments is key. A customer identified as Pamela posted a comment on Facebook on October 30 questioning a recent health rating of 90 for the restaurant.

“I hope this is something that is being addressed b/c [sic] it’s a shame to have such a low rating for such an otherwise fantastic restaurant,” Pamela commented.

518 West responded to the comment by explaining that the restaurant had purchased new coolers to fix the problem and had requested a re-inspection.

Nierman also recalled a comment from a customer criticizing a dish and suggesting ways to improve it, feedback he says was helpful.

“Any comment, whether good or bad, is going to help us be a better restaurant,” Nierman said.

Coleman said that most of the comments she’s gotten via Facebook and Twitter have been positive, although she recalls one post from a customer who was unhappy about having to stand in line for cupcakes on Valentine’s Day.

On The Cupcake Shoppe’s Facebook page, customers share photos and comments about cakes they’ve ordered for special occasions, like birthdays and wedding anniversaries.

“We send the cake out in a box.  We never really get to see where it goes and who’s enjoying it.  It’s nice to get to see that and nice to get the feedback,” Coleman says.  She also pointed out that other potential customers get to see those positive comments, too.

Free marketing?

Neither Facebook nor Twitter charges money for posting to its site. The low cost of marketing through online social networking is a large part of its appeal for Harris and The Pit, and for Coleman and The Cupcake Shoppe.

But Facebook and Twitter aren’t free for 518 West. After starting the restaurant’s Facebook and Twitter pages, Nierman hired a marketing firm to take over posting duties. He’s considering bringing those duties back in-house to save money.

“We feed them ideas and they actually post it for us,” Nierman said, adding that it’s expensive.

Nierman said he recognizes the irony of paying to use a service that is usually considered to be free. He also thinks it’s hard to tell whether online social networking has actually helped his business’ bottom line.

Advice for other businesses

Doug Sutton, Jr., marketing and community relations manager at NBC 17 and MyNC.com, believes that most businesses can benefit from using tools like Twitter and Facebook.

“This is how people are getting their information. They’re not watching TV all day anymore, but they have their computer or their mobile phone with them,” Sutton said. However, he recommends against relying solely on social networking to bring in business.

Harris recommends that businesses strike the right tone in their messages, which he describes as jovial but professional.

“The real pain of it for me was getting what I wanted to say down to 140 characters and not sounding cheesy like a used car salesman,” said Harris.

Messages posted on Twitter can be no longer than 140 characters, spaces included. Messages posted to Facebook can be up to 420 characters.

Both Nierman and Coleman recommend against posting too many messages because customers may find it annoying, and Sutton cautions that businesses need to make sure they’re using Twitter and Facebook to communicate with their customers, not just to promote themselves.

“Don’t necessarily make it about selling something. People like to make friends online. People go to match.com to find dates. People go on Facebook to find friends. Make it about relationships,” Sutton said.

He recommends finding someone with the business who has the right personality to develop relationships with potential customers through online social networking.

Harris, Nierman and Coleman said they would recommend that other businesses consider using Facebook and Twitter.

“In this economic time, you don’t know what’s driving people to come to a restaurant,” Nierman said. “You need to be willing to try anything to see what’s going to work.”

“You’d be crazy not to use it,” said Coleman.

Tips for Businesses: How to use Facebook and Twitter

• Learn how Facebook and Twitter work before you start using them for your business.
• Find someone entertaining and engaging to post on behalf of your business.
• Check out what the competition and similar businesses are doing and saying online.
• Focus on building relationships with customers, not just on promoting your business.
• Encourage and respond to comments from customers.
• Don’t go overboard by posting too many messages.
  Know your customers and think about how much information they’ll want to receive
• Make Twitter and Facebook work with traditional marketing, not replace it entirely.
• Be patient. It can take time to gain fans and followers online.

Sources:  Sara Coleman, Eric Harris, Blaine Nierman and Doug Sutton.

FAQ: icanhazcheezburger.com

Note to readers:  the original version of this post appeared on November 22, 2009)

This is the FAQ for the website icanhazcheezburgers.com, a site for sharing humorous photos of cats.  The photos are often captioned in the voice of the cats, who speak/write in their own version of English. A human version of this FAQ is also available.

Frequently Asked Questions

Deh kittehs respond to ur qwestshuns.

1. What is icanhazcheezburger.com? Icanhazcheezburger.com is a website where u can look at and share funny picshurs of kittehs.
2. Do cats really like cheeseburgers? Of course.   Don’t u?  Next qwestshun, plz.
3. What are lolcats? Lol = laf out loud.  Lolcatz r funny picshurs of kittehs that make u laf out loud.
4. Why do you spell things funny? Thatz how kittehs spell.  Maybe u deh one that spellz funny.
5. Where do you get the pictures on the website? Hoomans take picshurs of us kittehs and upload them to icanhazcheezburger.com.  (Notice how hoomans do all the work.  Thatz not a cowincidents.)
6. How can I add pictures to icanhazcheezburgers.com? Follow direcshuns in our lol builder.  It iz e z.  Step 1: Upload ur picshur.  Step 2:  Add ur capshun.  Step 3: Save.  Dats it.
7. How can I get my cats to pose for funny pictures like the ones on icanhazcheezburger.com? Kittehs do funny things all deh time.  Just keep ur camera ready.  If that duzn’t work, try offering ur kitteh a cheezburger.  On second thought, u shud definitely offer kitteh a cheeseburger.
8. I have a better idea for a caption for a photo that already has one.  Can I change the caption? Yes.  Just clik “Recaption this!”  Now u can type ur new capshun and save it.
9. Are there other ways to get the latest lolcats pictures? Yes.  Give us ur email and we can send u lolcats.  U can also follo us on Twitter or we mite let u be our friend on Facebook.   We haz an RSS feed u can subscribe to but sadly it duz not give u real food.  We also haz widgets u can download to see lolcats on ur fone or ur desktop.  (U may be suprized to learn widget iz not a small, furry creatshur like we thought it waz.)
10. Why is this website only for cat photos?  I have a dog. Doggies haz their own website for loldogs called ihasahotdog.com. Sumtimes we allow fotos of other animalz on icanhazcheezburger.com.
11. Why does this website need to exist? If u haz to ask, then u must not haz kittehs.  Maybe u shud get a dog.
12. How did you come up with the brilliant idea to start this website? Eggcellent qwestshun, but shhh!!!  We want the hoomans to think it waz their idea.
13. I have additional questions that aren’t answered by this FAQ. How can I get help? Kittehs r inscrootable.  We don’t always answur ur qwestshuns.  But u can contact the hoomans for help at 1-800-lolcats or by email.

FAQ: icanhazcheezburger.com (Human Version)

This is the FAQ for the website icanhazcheezburgers.com, a site for sharing humorous photos of cats.  The photos are often captioned in the voice of the cats, who speak/write in their own version of English.  A kitteh version of this FAQ is also available.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is icanhazcheezburger.com? Icanhazcheezburger.com is a website where you can view and share humerous picture of cats.
2. Do cats really like cheeseburgers? We’re not sure, but our cats claim they would, if we’d ever let them eat one.
3. What are lolcats? Lol = laugh out loud.    Lolcats are funny pictures of cats that will hopefully make you laugh out loud
4. Why do the cats spell things funny? Well, that’s part of the humor.  That’s how we and our users imagine the cats would spell.
5. Where do you get the pictures on the website? People like you take pictures of cats and upload them icanhazcheezburger.com.
6. How can I add pictures to icanhazcheezburgers.com? Follow the directions in our easy-to-use lol builder.  Step 1: Upload your picture.  Step 2:  Add your caption  Step 3: Save.  That’s it.
7. How can I get my cats to pose for funny pictures like the ones on icanhazcheezburger.com? We find that cats do funny things all the time, so the best approach is just to keep your camera ready.
8. I have a better idea for a caption for a photo that already has one.  Can I change the caption? Yes.  Just click, “Recaption this!”  Next, type your new caption and save it.
9. Are there other ways to get the latest lolcats pictures? Yes.  If you give us your address, we can send you lolcats by email.  You can also follow us on Twitter or Facebook.   We also have an RSS feed that you can subscribe to, and widgets that you can download to see lolcats on your phone or desktop.
10. Why is this website only for cat photos?  I have a dog. We also have a website for loldogs (funny pictures of dogs) called ihasahotdog.com. Sometimes, photos of other animals appear on icanhazcheezburger.com as well.
11. Why does this website need to exist? We say, “Why not?”
12. How did you come up with the brilliant idea to start this website? Because our cats frequently make us laugh, and we wanted other people to be able to share in the fun.
13. I have additional questions that aren’t answered by this FAQ. How can I get help? You can call us at 1-800-lolcats or contact us by email.

(Note to readers: the original version of this post appeared on September 13, 2009)

How newcomers to my changing hometown helped expand my world

If you’d asked the 16-year-old me if I’d live in my hometown in my thirties, I would’ve shouted, “No!”  Home was comfortable and familiar, and I was restless to try life somewhere else.  I craved the adventure and excitement of a bigger city.

I’ve lived other places since then: a mind-expanding semester in France, a soggy year in Seattle after college, and a romantic few years in Washington, DC, where I met my husband. But somehow, I always end up back home.

Home is Raleigh, North Carolina. The house where I grew up, a 1970’s split-level where my parents still live, sits among pines and poplars on a dead end street in what used to be the country outside of town but is now the suburbs.

Thomas Wolfe, a North Carolina native like me, wrote, “You can’t go back home to your family, back home to your childhood, [...] back home to the old forms and systems of things which once seemed everlasting but which are changing all the time.”

But I didn’t come back here because it’s the scene of happy memories past. I like this place because it keeps changing with me.  I think that growing up where I did and when I did helped open me to the world.

Bhangra in the land of barbeque and sweet tea

My best friend got married here in Raleigh a couple of years ago.  We met on the long school bus ride home from the first day of eighth grade, and we’ve stayed friends ever since. She asked me to help her pick out clothes for the wedding.  Instead of the usual white bridal gowns and taffeta bridesmaid dresses popular at most American weddings, we hunted through racks of jewel-toned saris and beaded lenghas at a shop that specializes in imports from India.

Her wedding day bloomed with bright colors, rich fabrics and garlands of flowers.  The groom rode in on a white horse, and the bride floated down the aisle upon a golden litter.  In a ritual that lasted several hours, they exchanged jewelry, shared coconut and rice and walked together around a ceremonial fire while a priest chanted in Sanskrit.   To celebrate the marriage, all of the guests, from children to grandmothers, danced late into the night to hip hop and bhangra.

This was my fourth Hindu wedding, and I’ve been to a few more since then, all for friends who grew up in North Carolina.

The new kids in school

Growing up in Raleigh, I made friends whose families came from England, Egypt, China and India.  I rode horses when I visited my cousins in Texas, but another friend rode camels with her cousins in Cairo, which sounded way cooler, especially to a ten year-old.  I went to church most Sundays, but some of my friends worshipped at altars that held statues of elegant many-armed ladies and men with elephant heads.

I remember when I started to notice all the growth and change happening in my hometown. The first day of third grade, my teacher asked each of us to name our birthplace.  “New York,” said one kid.  “Pennsylvania,” said another.  “New Jersey,” a couple of students replied.  “Canada,” said another new classmate.  Only a handful of us said, “North Carolina.”  Many of the new students had just moved to Raleigh that summer, transferred when their parents’ jobs with companies like IBM and Northern Telecom moved south.

All grown up

People keep moving here every year (see census data for Raleigh).  I hear the complaints about growth:  too much traffic, crowded schools, and too many people from someplace else.   Some of the changes have made my hometown bigger without making it better.  Raleigh has more people to meet, more places to eat, more movies, plays, and art shows to see, but also more tract houses, more strip malls, fewer trees and less patience.

I can’t help but feel optimistic about the changes on the whole.  Raleigh’s growth helped expose me to the wider world.  All these new people bring with them tastes and traditions that make Raleigh a richer place to live, and I’m thankful for that.

On my own wedding day, I stuck to the traditional white gown.  My husband entered the church on foot, not on horseback.  I guess it’s no surprise that I moved away only to meet and marry a Raleigh native.  We both left home and found someone who would bring us back to it.  We came back home, and home just keeps getting more interesting.

I read the privacy policy for Facebook, a website that I use daily.  I actually did read the privacy policy before joining Facebook, but I read it even more carefully this time.  The policy was recently updated on November 19, 2009.

Ways to improve Facebook’s privacy policy

To improve its privacy policy and better protect its users’ privacy, Facebook should consider making the following changes:

1.  The privacy policy should be written in a larger font.

The first thing I noticed was that the privacy policy is written in much smaller font than is used for wall posts and other content on Facebook.  The contrast made the information difficult to read and would likely discourage some people from reading the information.  If Facebook cares about privacy as much as it claims to, it needs to make the privacy policy easier to read.

2.  Users should get a direct link to prevent their information from being shared with advertisers.

The policy highlights three key areas at the top of the page:  privacy settings for Facebook, privacy settings for outside applications you may use through Facebook, and advertising.   Facebook provides direct links where users can establish their privacy settings and application settings. However, while the site states, “ We will not share your information with advertisers without your consent,” it does not provide users with a direct link or detailed description about how to do this.  Of course, it is in Facebook’s financial interest that its users not request that the site stop sharing their information with advertisers.

3.  Facebook should clearly tell users how long it retains information once they delete it from their profiles.

The privacy policy states, “you can visit your profile at any time to add or remove personal information about yourself” but does not indicate how long the site retains information that you delete.  Users to deserve to know if Facebook keeps information that they have chosen to delete from the site.

The policy indicates that Facebook may keep information from deleted profiles for up to 90 days, but it’s unclear if this also applies to information deleted from existing profiles.

4.   Facebook should not default any privacy settings to “everyone.”

The privacy policy states clearly what it means to let “everyone” see your information:  that everyone on the Internet can access that information, even people who are not members of Facebook; that the information can be indexed by search engines; and that Facebook and others can use the information without regard to privacy settings.

The policy goes on to say that Facebook still uses “everyone” as the default privacy setting for certain types of information.  To protect users’ privacy, all settings should default to “only friends” or, at a minimum, “my network and friends.”

5.  Restrictions on information shared with third parties needs to be much clearer.

Facebook’s privacy policy outlines a number of instances when Facebook may share users’ information with third parties.  “The privacy policy states, “Sometimes we share aggregated information with third parties to help improve or promote our service.  But we only do so in such a way that no individual user can be identified or linked to any specific action or information.”

This is vague and does not inspire confidence.  Facebook should provide an example that illustrates when, how and why users’ information would be shared with third parties, and what types of information may be shared.  Being specific would build trust with skeptical users.

Good things about Facebook’s privacy policy

Facebook’s privacy policy does some things well:

• Uses fairly plain language, especially compared to other website privacy policies I’ve read.
• Provides contact information clearly and conspicuously if people have questions or comments.
• Always links the words “privacy settings” directly to the page where users can establish their privacy settings.
• Provides examples to illustrate points that might otherwise be unclear to some readers.  In explaining what types of information Facebook shares about its users with advertisers, the policy gives this example: ”we might use your interest in soccer to show you ads for soccer equipment, but we do not tell the soccer equipment company who you are.”
• When discussing security, links to a helpful series of security tips on the latest threats on Facebook and ways to protect yourself.

The libel suit filed by David Simmons argues that that the article is libelous because it reported that he was guilty of drunk driving and portrayed him as stupid, both of which he says are false.

To win his suit, Simmons will have to prove six things:

1.   That the article defamed him. The article stated that Simmons was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, which would qualify as defamation.  Simmons would prevail on this point.

2.   That the article identified him. Simmons is identified by his full name, age, and his status as a Brooklyn College student, so Simmons would prevail on this point.

3.   That the article was published. The article was published on December 2, 2009, so Simmons would prevail on this point.

4.   That MyFacebookSpaceNews.com is at fault.

I believe the court is likely to classify Simmons as a private citizen.  This means that Simmons will have to prove negligence rather than actual malice.

The article states that Simmons “was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving and faces ‘more very serious charges.’”  Cited as the source for the information is New York Police Sgt. Rocco T. Ruggiero.

To defend itself from allegations that publishing this statement was negligent, MyFacebookSpaceNews.com will be expected to discuss its practice and policy for use of official law enforcement sources.  Does the site routinely publish information received from an officer at the scene of a crime without verifying that information through official documents such as incident reports or arrest warrants?  If the site has a policy of considering on-the-scene officer’s statements to generally be sufficient, that will be helpful in defending against this allegation.

Also, Simmons specifically charges that the article reported that he was guilty of drunk driving.  The article make it clear that Simmons was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, but does not explicitly state that he is guilty of drunk driving.  We will argue that a reasonable person would know that being charged with a crime does not mean that the individual is in fact guilty, that our justice system holds that people are considered innocent until proven guilty, and that only a court  (and not an arresting officer) can determine guilt.

The article also quotes a passerby, Robin Hubier, as saying, “’I think people like that guy are just too stupid to know when it’s unsafe to drive.’”  We will argue that this is not libelous because Hubier’s statement does not refer to Simmons by name and clearly describes his alleged actions, not his overall intellectual ability.

To refute his alleged stupidity, Simmons points out that he is currently majoring in interdisciplinary studies at Brooklyn College.  We will point out that the article as published describes Simmons as enrolled at Brooklyn College.  Because this information precedes Hubier’s  statement by several paragraphs, we will argue that it serves to mitigate any impression that Simmons is lacking in intellect.

Given these arguments, I believe we will be able prevent Simmons from prevailing in proving the article negligent.

5.   That the information was false. This is unclear from the article itself and will require further research to find out if Simmons was indeed charged with drunk driving and possibly other criminal charges in connection with the accident.   If Simmons was convicted or is facing drunk driving charges, it would be difficult for him to prevail in this argument.

Simmons will attempt to prove that he is not stupid by using his grades, test scores and other academic information.  We will refute as described above, by conceding that Simmons is likely intelligent and arguing that the statement in the article described the action of drunk driving itself as being stupid.  We will then offer evidence about how alcohol impairs judgment and motor skills.

6.   That the information injured Simmons’ reputation. Simmons would be likely to prevail on this point.

Another possible defense

If Simmons’ case has received a lot of publicity, we could also argue to the court that he should be classified as a limited public figure rather than as a private citizen.  Limited public figures must prove actual malice rather than just negligence.  I think it unlikely that Simmons would be able to prevail in proving actual malice because the article is clearly written about the event of the wreck and not solely about Simmons.

Note to readers: Here is my attempt to create a FAQ for the website icanhazcheezburgers.com, a site for sharing humorous photos of cats.  The photos are often captioned in the voice of the cats, who apparently speak/write in a patois of English that is spelled mostly phonetically.  I’d always imagined my cats would speak with either a French or an aristocratic British accent, but apparently I was wrong.

Frequently Asked Questions

Deh kittehs respond to ur qwestshuns.

1. What is icanhazcheezburger.com? Icanhazcheezburger.com is a website where u can look at and share funny picshurs of kittehs.
2. Do cats really like cheeseburgers? Of course.   Don’t u?  Next qwestshun, plz.
3. What are lolcats? Lol = laf out loud.  Lolcatz r funny picshurs of kittehs that make u laf out loud.
4. Why do you spell things funny?  Thatz how kittehs spell.  Maybe u deh one that spellz funny.
5. Where do you get the pictures on the website?  Hoomans take picshurs of us kittehs and upload them to icanhazcheezburger.com.  (Notice how hoomans do all the work.  Thatz not a cowincidents.)
6. How can I add pictures to icanhazcheezburgers.com?  Follow direcshuns in our lol builder.  It iz e z.  Step 1: Upload ur picshur.  Step 2:  Add ur capshun.  Step 3: Save.  Dats it.
7. How can I get my cats to pose for funny pictures like the ones on icanhazcheezburger.com?  Kittehs do funny things all deh time.  Just keep ur camera ready.  If that duzn’t work, try offering ur kitteh a cheezburger.  On second thought, u shud definitely offer kitteh a cheeseburger.
8. I have a better idea for a caption for a photo that already has one.  Can I change the caption?  Yes.  Just clik “Recaption this!”  Now u can type ur new capshun and save it.
9. Are there other ways to get the latest lolcats pictures?  Yes.  Give us ur email and we can send u lolcats.  U can also follo us on Twitter or we mite let u be our friend on Facebook.   We haz an RSS feed u can subscribe to but sadly it duz not give u real food.  We also haz widgets u can download to see lolcats on ur fone or ur desktop.  (U may be suprized to learn widget iz not a small, furry creatshur like we thought it waz.)
10. Why is this website only for cat photos?  I have a dog.  Doggies haz their own website for loldogs called ihasahotdog.com. Sumtimes we allow fotos of other animalz on icanhazcheezburger.com.
11. Why does this website need to exist?  If u haz to ask, then u must not haz kittehs.  Maybe u shud get a dog.
12. How did you come up with the brilliant idea to start this website? Eggcellent qwestshun, but shhh!!!  We want the hoomans to think it waz their idea.

Here’s some background on how I put together my article on restaurants in downtown Raleigh that are using Twitter and Facebook for marketing and customer relations.

Interview questions and notes

• Interview with Doug Sutton
• Interview with Eric Harris
• Interview with Blaine Nierman

Other sources I attempted to contact:

• Sara Coleman, owner of The Cupcake Shoppe
• Ian, manager of Café Helios
• Char-Grill
• Seaboard Café
• Wayne Sutton, local social media consultant

Intended Audience:

I intended my article for publication on a website covering news and events in downtown Raleigh.

Facts I checked:

• Spellings of names
• Professional titles
• Opening dates for both restaurants
• Average number of tweets/Facebook posts for recent weeks for both restaurants
• Number of fans/followers for both restaurants
• National press for The Pit
• Locations for both restaurants
• Doug Sutton’s statement that his station was the first on Twitter in this market

Online extras I would include:

• Photos of The Pit and 518 West
• An interactive map of downtown Raleigh that pinpoints The Pit, 518 West and other restaurants with links to their Facebook or Twitter pages; perhaps this could be a wiki that readers could add to
• A place for readers to post their own tips on how local businesses can use social media

Interview: Blaine Nierman/518 West

11/13/09 – 11:30 AM

in-person interview

Name: Blaine Nierman

Title:  Executive Chef, general manager

Contact Info: (919) 829-2518, email

Business name: 518 West Italian Cafe

Been with the business:  since the beginning , since they started renovating the building to open the restaurant 14 years ago (restaurant just celebrated 13^th anniversary of opening in October.)

1.      When did you start using Facebook/Twitter for 518 West?

Within the past year.

2.     How and why did you decide to use FB/TW?

Seemed like so many people in the demographic group they’re trying to reach are using that medium (FB and TW).  “It’s one more marketing tool to use to keep your name in their frontal lobe, in the top three or four choices.”

3.     Did you have a particular plan or strategy in mind when you started?

Started with a blog on their website, which they still do some, but it was too much of a time commitment and didn’t always have a lot of things to blog about.  That morphed into Facebook.  Idea:  “keep the 518 names in front of people.”  Friends of friends, viral marketing.

4.     What kinds of things do you use FB/TW to communicate?

List specials, promotions, give away things (tickets to South Pacific recently, gift certificates)

5.     Do you prefer one over the other (FB/TW)?  Why?

Doesn’t use Twitter personally, does use FB personally and prefers that format.

6.     What kinds of responses have you gotten from customers?  Anything that surprised you?

Doesn’t get as many comments as he expected to on FB.  One customer posted some constructive criticism on a dish, suggestions to improve it.  The restaurant responded to it.

“Any comment, whether good or bad, is going to help us be a better restaurant.”

7.     How did you gain fans/followers?  How did you decide who to follow on Twitter?

 

Started by giving away more gift certificates than they do now.  It spread mostly by word of mouth.  “We find that’s our best strategy.”  Always relied on word-of-mouth.

Getting word out to college kids is hard.  Had $5.18 pizzas during the month of September for college students, but it didn’t seem like that message really got to students.

8.     Do you follow other similar businesses on Twitter/FB?  If so, have you learned anything from them?

Actually, no, doesn’t follow other restaurants, probably should, has no idea what other restaurants are doing with FB/TW.

9.     How do you think using Twitter and Facebook has impacted your business?  Has it helped?  Why or why not?

“Has our business increased [from FB/TW]?  Hard to say, probably not a lot.”  Marketing is hard.

10.  How much time to you spend in an average week on TW/FB?  Is it hard to find the time?

“Once we got started with it, we hired a marketing group to do it.  We feed them ideas and they actually post it for us.”

“It’s expensive to do it this way.”  Irony-TW/FB are free but you’re paying for it.

He says he thinks they average around 3 or 4 tweets and 3 or 4 FB posts a week [need to check this].

11.  How do you think Facebook and Twitter work with other marketing for 518 West?

We don’t have a really marketing strategy.  Advertise in the Independent, probably will advertise in the Raleigh Downtowner, don’t advertise in the N&O.

12.  What do you think the advantages and disadvantages of FB and TW are as compared to more traditional forms of marketing and advertising?

The advantage is: “you know exactly who’s looking at it.”  (know the audience, know who’s signed up on TW/FB to see your updates). FB has analytics, can see demographic info for your fans.  This could be helpful, but they don’t really do anything with it.

13.  Do you think social media is here to stay as a marketing tool for small businesses?  Do you think more businesses will start using it?

Really doesn’t know.  Probably here to stay.  Something will try to supplant FB and TW, people’s interest will come and go.   He used FB more (personally) when he first joined.  Now, uses it about 5-10 minutes a day.  Some people use FB and TW much more, thinks it’s replaced TV for some people.  “It’s just another form of entertainment” for some people.

14.  Do you think TW/FB can work for any small business?  What kinds of businesses do you think can benefit the most from it?

“In this economic time, you don’t know what’s driving people to come to a restaurant.”  People motivated by cost? By quality?  By atmosphere? Etc.  Hard to know.

They are trying to get the message that 518 uses fresh, local ingredients out there, through all media.

15.  Is it a challenge to use a global medium like the web to communicate with/attract local customers?

Not really.  “Most of our base is local.   We’re a physical business.”  Trying to bring in local customers.

16.  What would your advice be for a small business that’s about to start using Twitter or Facebook?  Anything you know now that you wish you’d known when you started?

Would recommend it.  “You need to be willing to try anything to see what’s going to work.”

Hard to understand the psychology behing TW/FB.  Example of friend who sent endless posts while on vacation.  TW especially, people often seem to post too much, share too much.

 

“People have the sense that you need to be doing something all the time.   FB and TW fall right into that.”

Business advice:

He didn’t get a cell phone until 4 years ago.  Not anti-technology, though.

When he first started FB personally, got hooked on scrabble.  It became addictive.  Easy to see how people can get sucked in.

 

 

Interview with Eric Harris at The Pit

11/4/09 – 5:30 PM

telephone interview

Name: Eric Harris

Title:  Manager, The Pit

Contact information: 890-4500, email

1.     When did you first start using social media for your business?

“I started it probably in maybe Feb or March.  When I came on as manager we didn’t have anything going on [with social media], so I took the ball and ran with it.”

Started with a FB group and then Twitter.

2.     Why are you using it?  Where did the idea to use it come from?

“I had heard about people using Twitter for marketing through different articles and websites.  I didn’t really know anything about it so I just figured my way through it.”

“I think with the boom with Twitter with everyone having smart phones and being linked in with each other, the timing was right for it.”

3.     How are you currently using social media? (FB, blogs, Twitter, etc.?)

Started with a FB group and then Twitter.

4.     How do you think it’s having an impact on your business?

“We get a lot more people commenting on Twitter about experiences [at the restaurant].  I’ve asked for feedback through Twitter, what is their favorite entrée?  There have also  been a few local groups that do tweetups in the restaurant, so I try to send them out appetizers and entrees since we’ve built a relationship with them through Twitter.

(So you’re using it as a conversation with customers? )Yes  “We can’t always be there when our regulars come in, but through Twitter we can know when they’re coming and try to be there.”

Sees it as a way to keep a  local niche for a large restaurant, “We want to keep our hometown, local flavor.  The restaurant has really taken off with food network and [national] TV and magazines.  It’s become something of a destination restaurant, but we still want to cultivate our regular business in downtown Raleigh.  We want our regulars to know they’re important to us.”

Asked for likes/dislikes, didn’t get any dislikes. Also take comments on the website/form.

5.     How do you think social media fits with your other marketing efforts?

“We have sort of a neighborhood marketing program where our parent company hands out $5 gift certificates to local businesses in downtown Raleigh.  It ties into that.”  Cross promoting

“A lot of these people that are in downtown Raleigh are pretty up to date with social media so it’s another way for them to reach us and us to reach them.”

6.     What would your advice be to other local businesses that are thinking about getting on FB (or Twitter)?

“The real pain of it for me was getting what I wanted to say down to 140 characters and not sounding cheesy like a used car salesman, being genuine.”

“People are getting it through their phone so it’s sort of like a text message.  It can be jovial but it needs to be professional at the same time.”

“And it’s important to keep up with it on a daily basis.  As much as I’d like to, I don’t always but I try to.”

7.     Do you follow your competitors through social media?

“I check in with some of our sister restaurants.  We cross promote Raleigh Times, they have our BBQ in their restaurant.  I’ll check on other restaurants just to see how they’re using it, but I don’t really think of it so much as a competition because they have different clientele.”

8.     How much time do you devote to social media daily?

Maybe 1 ½  hour a day.

“To gain people, I did a search on barbeque and followed everything that came up and they started following me.  I went to local breweries and followed them.  My tweets got retweeted and I gained followers that way.

9.     Do you think social media is here to stay?  Will it be a part of marketing efforts for most small businesses?

“I think the thing that’s so attractive about it right now is that it’s free.  I’m not on the cusp of the technological horizon, so I don’t know what’s coming next.  But it’s going to continue to evolve.”

10.  Do you use social media personally as well?

FB yes, TW no.

11.  Anything I haven’t asked you that I should?

“There are so many ways that people use it for personal, or professional, or just for fun.”

 

Should other businesses try it?

“Figure out what you want to get out of it and just stick to it.  Our focus, when I finally figured out what I was doing it with, was to really emphasize local things.  For example, highlight specialty beers on tap and that brings in customers.”