Guest Post by Jamie Garantziotis
Since making the journey from Australia to New York, I continue to be blown away by the use of social media communication by brands and businesses, and the hyper-connected nature of their communities.
This was taken to a whole new level recently during a birthday dinner for my friend at downtown restaurant Lowcountry.
What set this experience apart as the greatest social media-friendly dining experience I’ve had?
Lowcountry listened, acknowledged, responded and added value both online and “in real life” (IRL).
How did it do this?
Listening
Beverage Director Tisean Daniels paid attention to the tweets (below) and mentions of the restaurant coming from our table of social media-loving guests.
He then communicated promptly to staff and Executive Chef Oliver Gift that there was a birthday being celebrated and content relating to the restaurant being shared in social media.
Acknowledgement, response and added value
With a small team running the social media accounts, Tisean and Oliver were empowered to acknowledge and respond in real time – welcoming our group and offering a special complimentary round of birthday drinks – just check out the tweets!
In addition to the digital hat tip, both Tisean and Oliver took the effort to introduce themselves in person, check on our experience and engage in some great conversation (taking it offline).
In between calling orders and coordinating meals, Oliver even managed to read up on our Twitter bios and spoke to one member of our party about their shared home state – doesn’t get more personal than that, right?
If that wasn’t enough, they were kind enough to tweet out that a complimentary serve of pork belly sliders were on their way (delicious!), and Oliver also warned us from the kitchen via Twitter that we’d need to save room for dessert.
Shortly after, two complimentary chocolate-caramel cakes arrived to finish an incredible meal (I’m still working off the calories).
In amongst that, they were also kind enough to send a hat tip and mention to their suppliers – a nice piece of real time business-to-business promotion and acknowledgement.
Here’s a selection of the Twitter engagement:
Following through with the conversation
Needless to say, we were all blown away by the experience and the service from the team, and weren’t shy in tweeting our praises.
Still paying attention, Tisean and Oliver again responded immediately, thanking us for attending and asking us to let them know when next we visit so they can take care of us.
The lessons for businesses?
The power and importance of real time recognition, acknowledgement and action cannot be underestimated in gaining and retaining fans and consumers, and adding to the wider brand value and experience as you connect on and offline.
Sure, it’s hard for businesses to scale this kind of attention and response. But it’s something that small and large businesses alike are allocating resources to as they seek to take advantage of this opportunity to service their community in an ongoing fashion through these channels.
As for social dining, this experience certainly sits at the top of my pile … and I’ll definitely be a repeat customer.
That said, I’d love to hear about any great social dining experiences you’ve had, or real-time interaction with brands that have met and exceeded your expectations.
Jamie Garantziotis is an Australian communication professional who he began his career with Southern Cross Austereo, and was most recently the Member Communication Chair for IABC Victoria. Normally based in Melbourne, Australia, he’s currently in New York City for three months exploring and enjoying the convergence of media, communication and technology as he looks for work opportunities. When not indulging his passion for media and communication, you’ll find him cycling in search of the perfect cup of specialty coffee.
Going to burst your bubble Jamie even though what happened is a great example of the power of Social media. First you can only afford this service if you can charge what they do for a burger. Most businesses can’t spend on this. Secondly for twitter there is only 15mil people in the US active on twitter each day so I have to figure the number of tweets they have to respond too is small.
But here is where this falls apart. This is brand new for them. Yep. They have only sent 73 tweets since they opened their account. This they technically aren’t active on twitter but seems they are starting to be. I also checked to see if maybe they just have a ton of people calling them out and maybe they just respond in person vs on twitter but since april 15th the only action has really been from this blog in terms of mentions on twitter. But won’t let me go back further than April 15th in twitter for some reason so hard to tell.
So I guess my comment is the experience you had would be amazing if businesses could afford the resources to be like this but many don’t have the people power. I do this service for a client in terms of 7am-9pm monitoring with help of interns but we don’t always react so fast and sometimes people get pissed because the business is mobile and they have to drive to get there. And for a big brand that gets thousands of call outs this is impossible to give such service. It seems there is a business size vs resources that social is the perfect customer service fit.
@HowieSPM Great points @HowieSPM – really appreciate the extensive feedback. I agree that this experience is extremely hard (not to mention expensive and resource heavy) for most businesses to scale and replicate. As for the team at Lowcountry, they certainly are new to the channel, but I think it’s a great start for them, and if they can continue to listen and respond (without compromising their existing product and service to all clients), then I think they’ll do really well utilising social media. As I said, I’ll certainly be going back to try another one or two things on the menu …. in different sittings though hehe. Will they keep up this listening, and will their reach and footprint in social grow? … only time will tell I guess. Mostly, I love the last line of your comment. The way I see it, businesses that want to engage in the space need to find that balance of resources and business size that is sustainable with customer service. That will absolutely be different for each business, depending on industry, size and budget – and I’m going to be really interested to see how businesses evolve in this space and more case studies emerge. As a communicator, I was just wrapped to see a business taking the initiative to dive right in and totally unexpectedly enhance our dining experience and exceed all expectations I had for my visit. Have a great weekend!
@JGarant “…businesses that want to engage in the space need to find that balance of resources and business size that is sustainable with customer service.”@HowieSPM I will add that businesses that want to engage in the space, and understand the importance of doing so will FIND the resources/people power they need to do so.
And as far as big brands go… look at southwestair as just one example (and one that has been touted as the perfect way to use SM as an engagement/customer service channel)… if they can figure it out, anyone can. It doesn’t mean it’ll happen overnight, or that it will happen in the same way. But if you get it, you get it.
@Shonali @HowieSPM Interesting to see that Oliver Gift (Lowcountry exec chef) today responded to the post & let us know that he also live blogs/snaps his cooking nightly on Instagram. Cool idea – hopefully he can keep it up. The beverage manager also got back to me thanking me for the post & letting me know that they will continue to keep their eye on their social presences. Great to see them each embracing and experimenting with platforms that work for them and the business.
Ummm this makes me so excited! How dorky am I? It reminds me of my experience with Port City Brewing Company…but umm way more cool! I bet you and your friends will return…and even if you don’t…you will definitely recommend the restaurant to all of your friends. The fact that they were really listening and responding to your needs and accommodating you in any way you can, now that’s service. Man I want to find a restaurant in DC that does this. When I do I will be sure to let you know first Jamie!
@rachaelseda Please do Rachael! Alternatively if you’re in NY before June 17 let me know so we can visit and enjoy the Lowcountry awesomeness!
Thanks Shonali! I think I can basically recommend everything on the menu at Lowcountry!
I love stories like this. I wish we had more of them.
Isn’t it great, Ken? I thought Jamie did a terrific job… and so did Lowcountry!
@JGarant This is an awesome post !!!! I’m so visiting this place “whenever” I’m in NYC… :)
@Ancita Thank you Ancita! I highly recommend a visit to the restaurant when you visit the Big Apple. The food is deeeee-licious! :)
@Ancita Me too! Literally, @JGarant , when I read your post, I immediately bookmarked lowcountrynyc as a “must do” for my next trip. See how influential you are?!
What a great post, Jamie, and such a vivid description of social media use in a truly “social” setting! I plan to use this as an introductory example for a new “Social Media Communication” course that I will be teaching in the fall. I want the students to understand that social media is more than rapid-fire communication of news and commentary in the “business” sense. It is (or can be) a means of communicating good experiences and positive perceptions…a “connected-ness,” if you will. Finally, how cool that the folks running the restaurant are ahead of the game in the responsiveness area! I plan to visit @LowCountry the next time I’m in the City!
@KirkHazlett thanks so much Kirk, I highly recommend visiting @LowcountryNYC when you’re next in the city. Aside from being switched on in the social space they have great food, beverages and service. I’m so glad that this serves as a case study to share in you Social Media Communication class. Don’t hesitate to reach out to the team at Lowcountry via Twitter – they are extremely responsive and friendly, and Im sure they’d be delighted to look after you when you visit. Perhaps if we’re both in the city then we can meet there for some good ole Southern style cooking!