Mobile truck growth, while very much in its infancy is massive, and arguably its success has been founded on the clever use of Social Media.
We recently learned of some research by Citibank which illustrated that social media has yet to penetrate the small business world, finding that 76% of the 500 organizations surveyed have not found social media useful in generating business. Maria Veltre, Executive Vice President of Citi’s Small Business Segment was quoted to say: “Our survey suggests that small business owners are still feeling their way into social media, particularly when it comes to using these tools to grow their businesses.”
That may be true, however all that tells us is that this new phenomonem is still only understood by a small minority, but has the potential to grow to levels that really are not yet imaginable.
One emerging industry that has demonstrated the power of social media is of course the Mobile Truck business. While, still in an embryonic stage, mobile trucks have proven the power of leveraging social media, and are reaping rewards:
Take Kogi BBQ, a mobile Korean BBQ trust that travels around Los Angeles selling Korean tacos. They’ve built up an impressive 45,000 follower base on Twitter by simply tweeting where their truck is going to appear next. The company also recently ran a crowdsourced t-shirt competition, with fans voting on their favorite t-shirt design.
The story behind Kogi BBQ is decidedly home-grown, showing that with a personality and a good product you can build up a loyal community. The now-famous taco truck has almost reached cult status and is an excellent ‘how-to’ social media model for any business who wants to get involved with Twitter.
Kogi has basically proved that social media works - Mobile food trucks are not considered the edge of food innovation – yet a branded mobile food truck that tweets around the City of Angels has enough cache to generate interest and the social media component adds sought after street credibility.
We should never forget the 3 golden most powerful sales drivers in marketing:
- Free
- Limited availability
- Sex
Indeed the most powerful promotion available would be:
Free sex available today only!
Social media plays its part here - the big advantage for restaurants using social media is its immediacy – it deals with now, therefore if used correctly it can generate some major psychological turn ons:
- Suspense – what will my restaurant do today
- Must have now factor – by announcing limited time offers restaurants can generate immediate demand
- Cool factor – does anyone read direct mail anymore – restaurants need to be embracing change and the modern world,
- Tell your friends – provides customers with the ability to be a pack leader by being the source of good news
So points 1 – 4 above take care of price and immediacy – but what about the sex?
Well social media is basically that – social. Indeed almost all of the large media sites, including leaders – Facebook and My Space, asks members to list relationship status, therefore the potential is somewhat exacerbated.
Indeed there is even a site called: http://www.sexysocialmedia.com/
However Social media has even broader powers - The ability to electronically communicate with a large audience based on the exponential reach of ones network built upon your friend’s network and their friend’s network and so on provides those active online a unique opportunity to quickly if not immediately reach others that would have been out of reach only a couple years ago. But the real beauty that no-one really likes to mention is – ITS CHEAP !
Yes, its certainly true that there are marketing agencies charging an arm and a leg for their ‘knowledge’ of social media, and their ‘sophisticated’ media models, but truthfully – do you think Kogi has employed them? With a clear strategy, and a solid understanding of building an engaged social media network, operators can do this themselves, reducing huge direct mail costs, while helping the environment, and redeploying hard earned marketing funds too.
In summary –
The success of social networks marks a dynamic shift in how people are using the Internet. We’ve evolved from just searching for information to creating and participating in social spaces with other individuals through the Internet. This model is based upon the hive mentality where people identify themselves as part of a group with similar likes and interests that draw them together. This is easy to do online because the traditional communication barriers of physical locations no longer exist.
Social networks make viral marketing and word-of-mouth marketing much easier than before. The best use out of social networks does not have to be making money ‘directly’, but to harness their marketing potential and to use them to promote a brand. Essentially this is the primary strategy that will generate interest in any restaurant, and provide the restaurant with the best platform to talk to its customers.
Article written by Robert Ancill, CEO of The Next Idea, Restaurant consultants, visit: www.thenextidea.net
