However, social media offers a lot more than just discounts and deals when it comes to food and beverage. Restaurants and bars are giving social media users a backstage pass to the food and the people who make it. Chefs and restaurateurs are using social media to reveal how their dishes are made, generate familiarity with chefs and provide a means for diners to share feedback.

Revealing How A Dish Is Made

You can blame it on the rise of celebrity chefs or the success of The Food Network and shows like Top Chef, but now more than ever, people want to live vicariously through others who cook. Many restaurants, including Chicago’s Piccolo Sogno and The Bristol, are posting videos to YouTube or Vimeo of new dishes being prepared. “The general idea is to pull the curtain back,” says Phillip Walters of The Bristol. “Allow people at home to feel more involved and engaged with that you are trying to deliver.”

Getting To Know The Chefs

Instead of attracting customers with deals, many restaurants strive to use social media for a tailored, personal experience. “People love to go into a restaurant or bar and know the owner or the chef,” O’Keefe says. Think of it as instantly becoming a regular.

That’s why chefs like Joanne Chang of Boston’s Myers and Chang and Flour Bakery personally tweet photos of the kitchen staff at work. “If you’re in a PR firm, you’re not going to get the same feel,” O’Keefe says. “It’s her and you know that it’s her.”

Grant Achatz, the man behind Chicago’s Alinea — named best restaurant in America in 2006 by Gourmet — also does his own tweeting. “Who would you rather hear from?” he asks. “Me directly or some weird person I paid to represent me?” When Achatz is not in the restaurant, he continues to tweet — from where he’s eating in Chicago to where he’s visiting in Japan. It lets people get to know him better and maintains a base, he says. “I’m not a celebrity, but I have a following.”

Achatz’s approach to helping his audience learn more about him is spot on. “Who we are” is the primary message of any effective marketing campaign, says Syeed Mansur, CEO of Sentrana, a firm that uses mathematical models to determine the most effective marketing strategies for companies.

Do you follow your favorite chefs or restaurants? Share your thoughts in the comments.

The Obvious Social Network Route

As the movie The Social Network hit screens, the time came to reflect on the phenomenal success of Facebook and other social media sites. Facebook has an estimated 500 million users and this is likely to increase even further. Twitter now has well over 100 million users and is attracting an average of 300,000 new users a day. This makes it plainly obvious as to your main 2011 social media strategy. Facebook seems to attract users in the ‘right’ age group for marketing purposes, so dedicate a considerable amount of your budget towards setting up campaigns both on Twitter and Facebook.

Video Kills The Behind The Times Company

Yet it is important to push yourself to the front of the queue when it comes to jumping on the video marketing bandwagon. A recent whitepaper by Cisco suggested that more than half of all web traffic will be video-related by 2014. The days of the 30 second advert are dying out with more and more consumers skipping these dull and unimaginative productions. Sites like YouTube need to used more frequently with thought provoking and lengthier adverts the key to success. If you want someone to buy your cereal, don’t depict a happy family with 2.4 children eating the product by the kitchen. Edgy, new and deep will sell in future where fast, predictable and cheesy once ruled.

Email And Mobiles

As one might expect, email marketing is moving with the times. An extraordinary 97% of American households use email so a well constructed email campaign will reap dividends. It is a fact that social networks such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are being integrated with email. The smartphone, Android and iPhone are linking even more users to their mail. The challenge facing digital marketers is to find a way to tailor their campaign for customers who view their email on a mobile device. The best strategy is to use a tool such as Litmus to find out more about your audience and tailor your campaign to them. This is necessary because it is difficult to find a current strategy that will work well for all mobile users.

SEO Is Still King

Believe it or not however, despite the huge budgets set aside for the all of the above, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is still top of the list when it comes to 2011 digital marketing tactics according to a poll carried out by Top Rank. Yet in order to get your content to the top of the search engine ladder, you still have to know your targets and audience. If you know your audience but not their triggers, start surveying. If you know what you want to market but have no idea to who, check out sites like eMarketer for market statistics. It should be remembered that no amount of marketing will work if your content is poor, sort it out. Oh, and avoid those nasty “please stay on my page and click on cancel for something special” pop-ups, these REALLY annoy consumers!

So where will this leave your marketing strategy for 2011?  All four of these pieces will make your marketing plan come together and keep up with the ever-changing trends for digital marketing.

You may still be a little unsure of how Digital Street’s video marketing service can help drive traffic to your website. Rather than confusing you more with a bunch of technical explanations, we want to compare it to something simple—a store’s salesperson. A lot of times you’ll go into a store to just browse, but when a salesperson helps you out and points out things that you may be interested in, you are more likely to buy something. Well, online videos are a lot like having a sales force on your website by adding a human element to highlight your services. Essentially, they are short snapshots of a business that can help turn online browsers into buyers for the same reasons a store’s salesperson does.

They greet customers.
Just as a salesperson greets you when you walk into a store, online videos allow you to speak to customers interested in your business. They show your brand’s personality in a way that might not come across in your website’s design or text.

They talk about promotions.
When you have a lot of products or services to offer, online videos can help draw attention to specific capabilities that may be new, updated, on sale, etc.

They bring you something quickly.
Even though everything about your business may be found on your website, a video can show people information faster and in a more entertaining way. This is especially helpful when explaining something complicated. For instance, wouldn’t you rather watch a 5-minute video over reading several pages of text?

They let you see something first.
If a person can watch a video about a product and how it works, they are more likely to consider buying it. Videos are a great way of showing product demonstrations, tutorials, training, and customer testimonials.

Have you checked out our demo reels? We would love to help your company with adding video to your marketing efforts! ]]> http://blog.digitalstreetinc.com/2010/06/14/why-use-video-in-your-marketing/feed/ 0 http://blog.digitalstreetinc.com/2010/04/20/did-you-know-we-do-awesome-video-marketing/ http://blog.digitalstreetinc.com/2010/04/20/did-you-know-we-do-awesome-video-marketing/#comments Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:40:35 +0000 Michael Herman http://blog.digitalstreetinc.com/?p=165

We try and stay humble here at Digital Street and refrain from tooting our own horn very much. Having said that, every once in a while it becomes necessary to boast just a little bit.

Our email marketing, search engine marketing, and social media marketing abilities are well known, but did you know that we also do mind blowing video marketing as well?

From simple YouTube videos to full blown television commercials, Digital Street can make it happen. Our in-house video production team is second to none. Schedule a free consultation with us today and we'll help take your brand to the next level!

Here's a little taste of what we can do:

(hat tip ReelSEO)

I think Ari is absolutely right. The proliferation of video content of all kinds makes the use of in-stream advertising inevitable. I think this will become the primary method of advertising for many companies both large and small. Forget about expensive TV and radio ads, that stuff is expensive and outdated. Internet video is the way to reach your audience. Create new opportunities for your business in 2010 by calling Digital Street and setting up a free consultation. We can create a killer video marketing campaign that will rival anything you see on TV.

Here's what we can do:

Contact us for a consultation:  (888) 350-3611