Great interview with Roger Drake, senior vice president of marketing and communications for Morton’s The Steakhouse by Chain Leader on how this restaurant chain uses social media. What I found really interesting from the interview was how Morton’s uses all different social media channels like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to read different audiences.
YouTube
What are the benefits of YouTube?
It is a great way to get your message out. Whether it’s a special event or a promotion, we are trying to post more and more video on YouTube and other Internet sites.Give me an example.
We are doing a celebrity-server series. These are fund-raising events where we close the restaurant for a night and professional athletes actually serve the guests. We had one recently with Larry Fitzgerald and the Arizona Cardinals. Kurt Warner offering pepper for steaks. Beanie Wells was pouring wine. Larry was running entrees. There’s an 8-minute video on YouTube highlighting the event.
This is a great example of a video that works on Facebook. Morton’s was able to get almost 3,000 views of its video because the video focuses on the event not the restaurant.
You also promote events on Facebook.
Yes. For Valentine’s Day we asked guests on Facebook to send us photos of their Valentine’s Day experience at Morton’s. We got more than 50 photos. One couple has recently got engaged [in the restaurant]. That was a great way to bring our Facebook page to life.Lots of photos seem a perfect way to show off the restaurant.
We are looking at doing more of that kind of thing with special occasions. Mothers Day is coming up, and we will take photos of groups. We will be saying, “Hey, go to Morton’s Facebook page, and you can post your favorite Mother’s Day Morton’s dinner photos if you like.”
Morton’s is building up its community on Facebook by not directly selling to fans. It is being part of the community. Morton’s is using social media to position itself as more than a steakhouse. It is where people go to get engaged, it is the place to take your mother for Mother’s Day.
Twitter and Blogging
Which social-media tool does the best job of providing feedback?
Probably Twitter. Just because it’s only 140 characters there’s more frequency on Twitter. You can engage in a conversation where there are a lot of exchanges back and forth. We are on our Twitter account on a daily basis. Facebook allows you to do that, too.These are the people who follow you on Twitter, correct?
Yes. We offered them bar bites in our bar. We encouraged people to tweet from the event. It drove bar business. We have also done other events at other Morton’s. We call these events Burgers for Bloggers. We’ve served mini Prime Cheeseburgers.How do you get the word out?
Through our Twitter account and sometimes on Facebook. We are not using the local PR firm channels for these events. It’s strictly through social media.What type of bloggers show up?
Usually people who blog about restaurants, people doing travel information on a blog, or those who blog about activities and events in the city.
What a great way to reach out the blogging/twitter community. Again, Morton’s is not the story here. They are providing a destination for Tweetups and Bloggers to get together. I also like how they are reaching out to bloggers in their space; restaurant bloggers, travel bloggers and local bloggers.
A really nice strategy they have there. It’s really something to learn from.