Restaurant Social Media Marketing Results In The Flesh

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“I love it when a plan comes together!” – Hannibal Smith, A-Team

I’ve worked on my fair share of social media campaigns, and every once in awhile, a project comes my way that I have an extra ounce of vested interest in making a success.  A few months ago I had the honor of taking on doing some social media consulting for one of my favorite local restaurants Emory’s, a fine dining establishment north of Seattle and in my neck of the woods.  I’ve been a regular there for some time, and had a good friend that opened up the door for me to work with them.

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Say Hello To ShowPony

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It’s been a whirlwind month or so and my blog and personal social media use has certainly suffered.  Finding time to attend to my personal stuff is always going to be a significant challenge with a full time gig.  The anxiety of a shrinking Klout score and Alexa rating always seems to reel me back in.  I’m so vain.

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How I Fail At Social Media

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Nobody is perfect right?  I’m certainly not, and that is also the case as it pertains to my social media usage and strategies.  I’d like to think I get a few things right of course, but I’m not without my failures and what better way then to parade them out into the open for all to see right?  Some might think I’d be foolish to do so, but part of the reason I think I’ve found the level of success with my blog over the years is by delivering an authentic, transparent voice.  I believe that the most amazing folks in the world are those that are very driven, successful, confident, but balance it with a big dose of generosity and humbleness.

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Solving The Mystery Of My Highest Blog Traffic Day Yet

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Yesterday was the day.  Yesterday was the day I broke my long standing one day traffic record on my blog.  And I can honestly say, I have no idea why.  I continue to dig into the numbers, but I only have a few ideas of what may have caused the spike.  At the very least, it’s an interesting look into the steps I take when I typically post to my blog, and I thought it would be a useful post to share.

Back in May of 2009 before I took my blogging seriously, I was laid off of Microsoft.  As a method of therapy that night, I wrote a long blog post about what I had experienced, published and went to bed thinking nothing of it.  However the next morning, I woke up to find that my post was picked up by Mary Jo Foley, a prominent Microsoft blogger on ZDNet, and my traffic spiked big time.  About 1,800 page views for a blog that rarely got 20.  That was the moment I decided to take my blog seriously.  And ever since, I’ve never been able to crack that many visits in one day.  Until yesterday.

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Think Before You Tweet

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It never ceases to amaze me how many people (mainly professional athletes and celebrities), communicate on social media platforms so carelessly.  I think it’s great that many of these folks are using these channels to connect with their fans and provide glimpses into their professional lives.  However do these folks not realize the power of their words when they reach so many?

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Asked For Your Social Profile Passwords In An Interview? Look The Other Way.

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There’s been quite a bit of hoopla this week on the story of interviewees being asked for their Facebook login credentials as part of the interview process.  I’m sure it’s not a practice that has just taken shape of late, but for whatever reason, this week it surfaced and has caused all kinds of discussion on the matter.  Their are interesting opinions on both sides of the issue, but my take is quite simply, look the other way.

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