Using PR & Social Media to Promote Restaurants – A Case Study

At Sterling Cross Communications, we’re very proud to have been a recent case study focus by Meetings: Minnesota’s Hospitality Journal Magazine’s Winter 2010 Issue.  The Case Study covers the work we have been doing for our client moto-i, the first sake microbrewery outside of Kyoto, Japan, located in Uptown Minneapolis.   It goes into detail about the behind-the-scenes efforts that were put into place to promote this restaurant via social media channels as well as integrating media and blogger relations. Here is the article:

Sake & Social Media

Placing his trust in Sterling Cross Communications, restaurateur Blake Richardson turned to social media to market his latest venture, Moto-i sake microbrewery and restaurant.

By Ellie M. Bayrd

Nearly seven years ago, Blake Richardson, owner of the Herkimer Pub & Brewery in Minneapolis and the mind behind Triple Caff draft energy drink, fell in love with sake. Inspired by what he calls an “amazing beverage,” the beer brewer embraced the possibility of creating a sake microbrewery restaurant in Minneapolis. The labor of love took him to Japan several times, where he studied the art of sake. At the same time that Richardson was becoming enamored with the drink, he was also in a love affair with Asian cuisine like many other Americans. “The synergy between the two just came together at the right time,” he says.

The idea percolated and his studies progressed, and about two years before his restaurant idea would become a reality Richardson had a chance meeting with Chris Lower, director of marketing, public relations and social media at Sterling Cross Communications. A company touting its traditional storytelling in a modern world,Maple Grove-based Sterling Cross has embraced online marketing tools. While Richardson wasn’t really thinking about how he would market his new restaurant concept at the time, his conversation with Lower spurred him to action. “I don’t want to allude to that I wouldn’t have had a plan,” Richardson says. “But I came in contact with Sterling Cross long before that segment of my responsibilities to the marketing would have come along.”

 Click HERE to read the rest of the article

Horizon Realty – A Case Study in how not to handle online reputation management

It started out fairly innocuously, it was a single retweet on Twitter of a news source I monitor, but the headline was too intriguing not to read – Will one Chicago woman’s Tweet cost her $50,000? I immediately thought to myself; “boy, someone is in trouble…,” but as I clicked on the link and read the first article here, and then I saw it was a headline here and here, I quickly saw the writing on the wall, it wasn’t the person that was in trouble, it was the company referenced: Horizon Realty.

The company in their response and defense of the single tweet by a woman, Amanda Bonnen, with the Twitter username:  @abonnen, initiated legal proceedings seeking $50,000 in damages for claimed defamation.  This is the company’s right to do so.  It is even a recommended course in traditional public relations crises communications tactics, yet, it is never the first recommended course when trying to manage your brand and reputation online. It should be the last resort.

When someone brings out the giant cannon of litigation, without having investigated and addressed the message in a public forum, it is immediately seen by the public watching, as overkill.  The giant corporation is now seen as bullying, callous, and unfeeling towards its tenants in the actions it has taken in response.

The response the company was initially hoping to avoid (that of their reputation being besmirched by the remark, has instead inflicted 1000’s of remarks to their own reputation, when word of the lawsuit reached the Twitter community.  The Twitter community took the side of the woman, and began to tear the company to shreds online for its “heavy-handedness”, “Lawsuit-happy management”, and generally being “clueless” (all words being mentioned online as descriptors of the company).

The response by Horizon’s Jeffrey Michael in a Chicago Tribune interview  , was that they were a “Sue first, ask questions later, type of company.” Once again this irked the general public online. Michael later (1 day, an eternity online)  released a press release claiming the comments were meant to be “tongue-in-cheek”, and then delved into the details of some ongoing issues that Horizon has had with Ms. Bonnen and some prior complaints she has had with them.  AS you can imagine, this release was not received well online, and for a second day, Horizon was listed as a trending topic on Twitter as the negative conversations continued fueled by Horizon themselves.

In the first 72 hours that this occurred, the damage on the net was done.  It’s been classified as an example of the Streisand Effect – an Internet phenomenon where an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information backfires, causing the information to be widely publicized.  Companies can no longer scoff at the idea that their reputation online does not matter, and that they have to participate in and listen to the conversations.  Horizon failed to do so, and the end results so far are these:

• They became a trending topic on Twitter, meaning that they went from the 22 followers of Ms. Bonnen’s to being seen potentially by over a million people (of their own doing with the news of the lawsuit). The most recent 1500 comments can be seen here (it would be more, but that is all that Twitter has room for in their search tool).
• If you Google “Horizon Realty”, four of the eleven first page listings are negatively related to the lawsuit. (Think of how that looks to a future potential tenant or someone searching for a management company).
• Their reviews on Yelp have exploded from three listings prior to this event to 26 listings (ranging from annoyed to enraged) as of today keeping their ratings as a lowly 1 and a half stars.
• Google Blog search shows over 16,000 blog posts that are already indexed, of which over 1000 include the phrase: “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization.” There are also over 14,000 posts mentioning Jeffrey Michael (predominantly in a negative manner)
• Not only has Horizon Realty earned the onus of being attributed to the Streisand Effect on Wikipedia, Horizon Realty has its own entry page.
• The story jumped to traditional media as well – earning mentions in the Washington Post, Chicago Sun-Times, The Wall Street Journal and too many other outlets (over 512 stories as of today’s writing) to mention.

Is there still doubt in your mind or in the minds of your company that social media doesn’t matter?

Crisis Communication on Social Media has to have different rules, since it is different from traditional media.  We recommend the following steps be in place as the basics for any online reputation management strategies and policies that need to be put in place:

1. Always investigate complaints made & verify the facts and source.
2. Responding to a complaint – where:  when possible, respond on the same site the comment was made.  If it was on a blog submit a comment – if the blogger refuses to post your response, notate this and publish your post on your own blog or website.
3. When to respond: respond in as timely a manner as possible, when the complaint has been investigated. 24 hours is a lifetime on the Internet – waiting makes things worse.
4. Legal action may be taken to protect your IP, Brand, & Reputation: but remember, Internet issues are tricky as there are 1^stAmendment issues involved that may require special expertise. Slander, Defamation of Character, Harassment, and online Bullying laws can apply. Legal intervention is required in most cases to force removal of material from the Internet. Copyright Infringement could be involved in the case of brand or identity theft.

As you can see, escalating to legal action is an option, just not the first recommended option, and never until the first three steps have been taken.

The final thoughts I will leave you with are these – the best defense is a good offense:

1. The conversation is happening online whether you like it or not – will you participate?
2. It’s not good enough to be present online – You need to engage your audience and participate in the conversation
3. Transparency and Authenticity rule the net – Lies and misrepresentation will always be found out and called
4. True Customer Service comes from listening, observing, and engaging – then, providing a thoughtful, timely response.
5. Perception online is always a consideration – if you are perceived as the bully in responding to a complaint, using threats, or worse – legal action that could be avoided, then you lose, even if you are in the right.

Sterling Cross Communications Presents Social Media Boot Camp

We’d like to present our Social Media Bootcamps here in the Twin Cities:

 

What:               Sterling Cross Communications Presents Social Media Boot Camp Basic Training & Advanced Maneuvers

 

When:              Wednesday, March 25^th, 2009 – 9:00 – 10:30 am for Boot Camp Basics 11:00 – 12:30 pm for Advanced Maneuvers

*Breakfast/registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. and the beginner session will begin at 9:00 and run until 10:30.  There will be a half hour break and then from 11 – 12:30 the advanced session will take place ending with lunch.

 

Where:             Hilton Hotel in Bloomington (3900 American Blvd West, Bloomington, Minnesota, United States 55437 Tel: 1-952-893-9500)

 

Cost:                 $100 per session or $175 for both – Early bird purchases by March 16^th – $85 per session or $150 for both

 

Registration:   Basic Training Session (or both sessions) http://socialmediacamp.eventbrite.com/ Advanced Maneuvers session http://socialcampadvanced.eventbrite.com/ For more details contact Sterling Cross Communications – 763.496.1499

 

                                               

Social Media platforms are the fastest growing segments of the Internet user population.  New users of Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, Flickr, and so on, number in the millions daily. Besides the basic benefits of networking, there are a myriad of ways you can utilize and incorporate Social Media tools into your business to support and enhance such functions as communication, customer service, PR, marketing, sales, new business development, research, education, human resources, recruiting, training, and more. 
 
Boot Camp Basics will cover:

·         Introduction of Terms

·         Getting Started

·         Early Adaptors vs. Practical Marketing

·         Basic Training – Initiation of Followers

·         Measurement & Tracking

·         Strategy Overviews

 

Guest Speakers –

·         Robyn Flach, Partner from Excellanz, will speak to why a business owner must engage in social media.

·         Julio Ojeda-Zapata, author of Twitter Means Business: How Microblogging Can Help or Hurt Your Company will speak about his book and why businesses are flocking to Twitter, as well as what they are doing once they get there.
 

 

Boot Camp Advanced Maneuvers will cover:

·         Creation of Live Twitter Case Study

·         Integration of a Social Media Campaign

·         How do I speak to my audience in Social Media?

·         Base Initiative Ideas

·         Time Management for Social Media Applications

·         ROI (Return on Investment) /ROP (Return on Participation)

·         Strategy and Tips for Selling Social Media Initiatives to Marketing and Financial Decision Makers (as well as clients)

 

Guest Speakers –

·         Phil Wilson, Partner from Localtone Radio, Comic Twits, & Remain Comm.com, will speak to the transformation of Traditional media to social media.

·         Julio Ojeda-Zapata, author of Twitter Means Business: How Microblogging Can Help or Hurt Your Company will speak about his book and why businesses are flocking to Twitter, as well as what they are doing once they get there.

 

Media Sponsors – MinnesotaBusiness Magazine & Minnesota Meetings + Events Magazine

 

Differentiate or Die?

Why am I here?  What can I bring to the table?  I’m not about to suggest that what will be discussed here is earth shattering (so I got that out of the way), but I hope I can foster a discussion.  I am obsessed with how a business can differentiate itself from its competition and rise above the background noise in their industry.

 

In PR and Marketing it has been my daily task to find that unique story within my clients’ business that will stand out in the crowd of other business stories that run across a reporter’s or editor’s inbox. Great companies are doing this consistently, and the recent economic tides are forcing many companies to also separate themselves from the pack or suffer the consequences of failing to do so.

So how do you stand out?  What are you doing to succeed?  I invite you to share your best practices, rants and raves, or feel free to put out that call for help.  Let’s all rise above the buzz!