Briefly, a four-unit restaurant chain located in the Midwest implemented a social media campaign that resulted in a 30% boost in business on its slowest night. With a relatively modest investment, the struggling restaurant employed a variety of social media tools including Facebook, Twitter, SMS text messaging and email to engage customers using their preferred method.

The campaign was developed with the help of an agency that guided the restaurant owner through the use of social media. Recognizing that it could use social media to improve its failing business, the restaurant’s social media campaign began as a customer outreach program asking guests what it could do to improve. Initially the normally open-minded owner was reluctant to air negative comments, but frankly he had little to lose – one of the four restaurants was failing. The staff at all four restaurants was asked to encourage the use of Twitter as a feedback medium for guests and suggestions quickly started to roll in.

Positive guest response to the outreach campaign prompted deeper immersion into the pool of social media. With little understanding of social media, the quirky owner of the chain made a brief video that was posted to YouTube to promote an upcoming SMS text messaging campaign. Since he really didn’t understand anything about SMS or texts, the owner alluded to these quick informational snippets about the restaurant as “secret messages.” Funnily enough, the name stuck and from then on everyone wanted to receive a Secret Message. These not only included regular communication about goings on at the local restaurants, but incredible specials like:

First 10 People That Arrive at Location X at 7pm eat free.

Secret Messages piqued guest interest, kept guests engaged and generated a lot of business. In addition, this campaign was continually promoted throughout the restaurants using Point of Purchase (POP) materials and the service staff, since it’s something fun and interesting to talk about.

From that point on, the campaign grew to encompass the use of additional tools to broaden its reach to both existing and new customers. Each tool conveys a different message to encourage participation and focus on the individual user group; in fact, guests that didn’t use social media asked to receive email so that they could receive a Secret Message too.

The final result was a 30% increase in business on the restaurant’s slowest night. To offer a guideline for the level of engagement achieved, the restaurant now has:

• Twitter: 1120 Followers + regular interaction -15 Tweets/Day
• Facebook: 4223 Fans + 2 Status Updates/Day
• SMS Text Messages: Unknown
• Email: Unknown

With all that said, here are a couple keys that I see as some of the most important points to this success story:

* Management was Open-Minded
* Started slowly to see what works – Grew from there.
* Engaged with guests – Not broadcasting at them
* Integrated their campaign with other marketing methods

I’d be interested in hearing your take on this case study. Also, what are your experiences? Have you had social media successes or failures? Tell us about them.

UPDATE – Duncan Alney from Firebelly Marketing just shot me a Tweet . Check out his comments below!

Bill Rowland