Could you name, link, and describe the best social practices of five small businesses that are doing social business right on Facebook, G+, and Twitter?
That would be helpful to understanding what social business is all about.
Social Business – Hit or Myth?
Life before social media….
Before I opened my very first restaurant, I had worked for a number of years in the theatre, musical theatre to be precise.
I was nervous about entering a field in which I had little experience other than the odd part time job as an actor/waiter.
Then I hit upon the key to unlocking my strategy.
The restaurant, like the theatre has a back of house and a front of house.
The front of house is everything you see and come into contact with: host, servers, bar staff, ambiance etc.. (Tickets, ushers, actors, stage…)
The back of the house has chefs, cooks, managers, (Stage managers, lighting & set crew).
The front of house was welcoming with smiles and promises of a great meal or show.
The back was less smiley but as committed to making your experience memorable.
Front and back had to work together to succeed.
When things failed, it was invariably due to bad communication, culture and management.
The best restaurants and best theatres I worked in had in common a culture committed to do what was necessary to exceed customers expectations.
Social wasn’t part of our business vocabulary.
Can you mix business with social?
If I were managing a restaurant today, I’d be all over using social media and I’d start with Google+.
Front of house -
Create then merge my Google+ Places (Local) so clients can find me, interact and leave rhapsodic reviews on my Google+ Page.
- Search for local keywords and mentions about similar products and services (and competitors) on Google Alerts and Google+.
- Circle and engage with potential customers by answering questions and exchanging tips. (and the occasional cat meme)
- Post helpful article, images and videos relating to product/service
- Host regular HangOuts where followers can get inside look at business, meet employees, or learn skills etc.
- Create a Community for “members” where promotions, specials, hangouts, FAQ’s and resources can be shared.
Back of the house -
- Sign staff up for Google+ accounts as main communication channel
- Assign Administrators to Google+ Brand Page
- Hold HangOuts for new product introduction and training
- Use Google Drive to collaborate on Schedules, menus and projects.
- Create an editorial calendar for Google+ posts and claim Authorship
Use the company website/blog as home base and nurture communities on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and LinkedIn.
What is Social Business?
There’s a lot of buzz around Social Business and it’s met with some skepticism by businesses and marketers alike.
Simply using social media doesn’t make a company a social business.
A social business needs:
- to integrate social media tools across the whole organization
- to strategize the use of those tools to best meet company goals
- to have leaders champion a social culture that is collaborative and responsive. (see video)
Companies need to understand that by doing things the same way they always have – by standing still, they are falling behind their competitors.
The rush to Facebook by small businesses has been fueled by a gold rush mentality. Companies that have little understanding of social media, trip over themselves to keep up with their competitors.
Without a strategy, they’re all panning for fools gold.
Companies aren’t leading the social business movement, the general public is - on social platforms, at home and on mobile.
If you want to be where your customers are, you need to be on social media.
If you want them to be where you are, you need to be a social business.
If you’d like to learn more about Google plus, subscribe to my Weekly Google+ Tips Newsletter. You also get an invitation to my weekly Google+ Lunch Hangout. 
About Ray Hiltz
Ray Hiltz is a Social Media Strategist with management roots in restaurant, hotel and performing arts. A strong proponent for the power of collaborative communication and "humanized" digital networking, Ray writes about social media, social business and Google Plus. His clients include hotels, restaurants, consulting firms, entrepreneurs, writers and individuals just trying to make sense of "social". Ray is a popular speaker on Social Media, Social Business and Google+.
10 comments
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Ray, great article, i also use the analogy of back and front of house in my vocabulary, when it comes to talking about social business with clients, i think we have very similar backgrounds, and many of my clients past and present come to me from independent hotels and restaurants, sadly alot are looking at social media as the "golden egg" and one that will potentially save them from certain business death, too little too late, invariably the issues that have got them to this point of near death tend to be well set in and endemic.
While they want to become or be seen as "social businesses" many are looking for the quick win, i fear for these ones, however those who embrace the concept of social business, learn to develop a culture within the business around social, understand that small niche communities are far more productive than hoards of irrelevant followers, and crucially structure their teams around social, they will survive and prosper......
@jonathansheppard1 Well said, Jonathan. Developing any kind of culture is a long term. You didn't become a bad company overnight and it will take more than a day to morph into a good one.
As you say, the issues that got a company to the point where they're looking to social media as a quick fix, are not the sort that can be solved with a FaceBook page.
Though most won't think of using social technology this way (Google+ for =example), they'd be better off to use the media in house to build a "social" internal community, then take it "outside".
Appreciate you stopping by.
Thanks.
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An excellent article, @newraycom! I particularly like this paragraph:
"The rush to Facebook by small businesses has been fueled by a gold rush mentality. Companies that have little understanding of social media, trip over themselves to keep up with their competitors.
Without a strategy, they’re all panning for fools gold."
Strategy is what most brands miss when they start doing social media!
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@cendrinemedia Thank you Cendrine. I recently heard an story from a Director of Marketing who represents a franchise of small food service businesses. When head office surveyed them to see if they wanted to participate on social media, they almost all said no. But they nearly all of them wanted to be on FaceBook because the restaurant next door was on it. ;-)
We've a long way to go....
@newraycom Yes, this reminds me of someone who recently was in one of my social media classes and mentioned that they didn't want to get into social media because it seemed to be a lot of work.
When I asked them how they made their business work, they replied: "Well, that's easy. I work hard."
Need I say more? lol
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I love the way you write Ray, great story telling!
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This is very timely Ray as a friend of mine who owns a restaurant is having difficulty raising interest on their social sites. I will be passing along as they are having difficulty understanding the difference between simply marketing their services and reaching out to their customers in conversation.
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@annelizhannan Hope you're friend will find it helpful. Essentially, networking online is an extension of what you do offline. And in the case of a restaurant, the two overlap as it's a "local" driven strategy.
As the saying goes, it's a marathon, not a sprint. The key planning, measuring, responding.