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The retro and grungy photo filters in thepopular Instagram app can look great onpersonal photos, but most of them makefood look yellowed and old, like a 1960scookbook. Your food should look fresh!

FIND THE BEST SPOT IN YOUR RESTAURANTFOR TAKING GREAT FOOD PHOTOS

Appetizing food photography has immediate, undeniable appeal and is increasingly important as a marketing tool for your restaurant.

In addition to the professionally-taken photos youshould use on your website and printed marketing materials, you should be taking lots of your own shotsto use on all your social media networks. A currentsmartphone can take fantastic photos, but finding the perfect place to take them can be tricky!

Kitchen lighting notoriously makes food look yellow, and bar lighting is too dark. Try to find indirect naturallighting near a window, or even on an outdoor table. Once you find the best spot, tell your staff and snap away!

Avoid using a flash. Use a mini tripod to avoid ‘camerashake,’ a blurring effect that becomes worse in dim light.Download photo-taking specialty apps like Camera+,Camera Awesome or Google Camera for features beyond your phone’s default camera app.

As a species, humans are ‘visually wired.’

Nearly 50% of our brain is involved in visual processing.

70% of our sensory receptors are in our eyes.

90% of the information transmitted to our brain is visual.

We can get a sense of a visual scene in less than 1/10 of a second. (Visuals are processed 60,000 times faster in the brain than text.)

Social media posts with visuals receive 94% more pagevisits than those without.

Facebook posts with an image receive, on average, twice as many comments as those without.

Photos and video need to be part of your marketing plan!

There’s a trend among chains to make their website home pages enormous food photos. Visit panerabread.com,macaronigrill.com, ruthschris.com, or joescrabshack.comto see how they maximize the first impression they make.

Why we love pICTURES

If you want to see food photosdone right, head to your localnewsstand and pick up a copyof Donna Hay, the Australianfood and cooking magazine.

It’s beautifully art directed and visually inspirational. Even simple items like cookiesor spaghetti with meatballsleap off the page, beggingto be eaten!www.donnahay.com

DON’T FORGETYou’re not the only one taking photos in your restaurant. If you notice customers taking food shots, consider adjustingthe lighting in your dining area to be more camera friendly.

CLAIM YOUR LISTINGSON YELP, TRIPADVISOR, URBANSPOON,YAHOO, GOOGLE BUSINESS, GOOGLE +

Claiming your business listings on these sites takes just a few minutes, it’s totally FREE, and you only stand tobenefit from the added visibility to search engines.

There are many ways that both current and prospectivecustomers might find your restaurant online, and it’s inyour best interest to make sure every possible avenueis as up-to-date, accurate and professional as possible.You don’t know which site will be making that critical first impression!

Make sure all the pertinent information is correct: yourbusiness hours, address, website url, e-mail address andsocial media links. Make sure the sites direct visitors to your current menu listings, live entertainment/eventcalendar, Google map/directions to your location, etc.

PRO TIP: Keep your passwords in one safe place; youcan’t afford to lose them. Use different passwords foreach site. Software like 1Password can help keep youorganized everywhere. Visit http://www.1password.com

YELP • http://biz.yelp.comTRIPADVISOR • http://www.tripadvisor.com/OwnersURBANSPOON • Owners/managers can claim an UrbanSpoon listing by clicking “Is this your restaurant?“at the top right of your restaurant’s page. See the extensive FAQ at http://www.urbanspoon.com/faqYAHOO • http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/local-listingsGOOGLE • http://www.google.com/business/GOOGLE + • http://plus.google.com/pages/create

To set up your business page on the major social media networks, here are the links to get started.

FACEBOOK • http://www.facebook.com/businessTWITTER (and VINE) • http://business.twitter.comINSTAGRAM • http://business.instagram.comPINTEREST • http://business.pinterest.com/enYOUTUBE • Set up a YouTube channel through your Google + business page.FOURSQUARE • http://business.foursquare.com

Google+ hasn’t become the‘Facebook Killer’ it aimed to be.User enthusiasm waned, themanager resigned, and manymajor brands like McDonaldsmothballed their Google+ sites.

Still, some Search Engine Optimization experts believehaving a Google+ page for yourbusiness increases your visibilityon Google, and improves yourranking in Google’s undisclosedsearch results algorithm.

“As social is where consumers' eyeballsare, businesses must take ownership of their online company profiles.

By providing their customers with a place to share content, social mediamanagers can monitor and track contentwhich directly relates to their brand.”

Ryan HolmesFounder and CEO, Hootsuite

TAKE CHARGE

ADD PHOTOS TO YOUR LISTING pages,ESPECIALLY YELP and tripadvisor

In many cases, prospective customers may visit yourlistings on Yelp or TripAdvisor before they ever visityour restaurant. And although it’s encouraging to seeyour current customers happily snapping pictures oftheir meal, you never know how those photos will actually look or where they’ll be posted.

Visit your listings regularly to read and respond to reviews, and post your BEST photos there to maximizethe first impression when prospective guests drop in.

Owners/managers can post as many photos as theywant on these sites, and you need all your most professional food photos and restaurant interior shots in the mix to compensate for any unflattering or poor quality photos your customers might post.

It’s one way you can quickly and easily improve your digital identity and turn the sometimes-irritating reviewsites into a marketing tool. Great visuals can persuadenew customers to give your restaurant a try!

YUM OR YUCK:The photos above were posted by different customers on thesame restaurant’s Yelp page. One is bright and appetizing,but the other is dark and unflattering. If that dark photo wasthe only one on that page, would you consider dining there?

PRO TIP: When taking food photos, get closer and LOWER than you think you need to. Taking the shot from about 30 degrees above the table top gives the food the appearance of height, and makes a more dynamic composition.

At left: A restaurant’s Yelppage with loads of photos.It makes the business lookpopular and appetizing.

At right: A review pagewith no photos posted. There’s no life, no color, no visual interest. It makesthe business look unloved.

The owner of this pagecan dramatically improvethis first impression, justby posting some photos!

EVALUATE THE FIRST IMPRESSIONYOUR WEBSITE IS MAKING

Pull up your restaurant’s website on your laptop andyour phone and put them side by side.

Those two screens are the crucial first impressionmany prospective customers will have of your business - they’re the heart of your digital identity.

Is your website working hard to communicate yourbrand and connect with your target audience? What would a first-time visitor think? Does the site makeit easy for them to find the information they need?

Are you promoting what makes your restaurant uniqueand sets you apart from the competition?

Are you using compelling food photography to hook visitors from the moment they arrive at your site?

If you identify any weaknesses, make a plan to fix them!

Over 50% of the people searching for you online aredoing it from a mobile device, so a well-branded, mobile-optimized website should be a top priority.

“Being effective at social media, whether for business or personal use, means capturing people who have short attention spans. They’re only a click away from a picture of a funny cat, so you have to make your thingmore compelling than that cat. And that can be a high bar.”

- Alexis Ohanian, Founder of Reddit.com

MAKING A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION – TWICE! The desktop and mobile websites for Romano’s Macaroni Grill echo each other in content and visual branding, with the same logo placement, dominant (and appetizing) food photo and overall color scheme. The featured item is unique to their restaurant and they make sure you know about it! The mobile navigation is scaled back to the most important elements: Find Locations, View Menus, Online Ordering.

ORDER YOUR FREETRIPADVISOR COMMENT CARDS

Finding tactful ways to ask your loyal customers for reviews is an ongoing challenge for restaurateurs and managers everywhere. One of the more professional waysto solicit their review is by handing them an invitation.

Once you register your restaurant on TripAdvisor, they willprovide 250 customized comment cards – business cardsprinted with your restaurant’s name – that you can give to select customers to encourage them to post reviews of their dining experience. (see pictures below)

You can order your cards from the Management CenterPage. The first batch of 250 is free. You only pay shipping.

It’s a win for TripAdvisor, because it drives people to theirwebsite - people who’ll be required to sign up for a freemembership before posting a review.

The more members and visitors they have, the more theycan charge businesses for advertising on the site, and thegreater chance those new members will recruit their friends to become additional new members.

TripAdvisor is the world’s largest travel site with nearly280 million unique visitors each month (compared toYelp’s 132 million unique visitors each month).

It could be considered a massive social network of itsown. The bulk of the site’s content is generated by over60 million members who have contributed over 170million reviews of restaurants, hotels, airlines, spas, etc.

TripAdvisor made over $944 million in revenue in 2013,mostly from selling advertisements on their site tobusiness owners like you, so take advantage of the free comment cards!

The front and back of the TripAdvisor comment card attrue size. Once you distribute your 250 free cards, you canorder additional batches from TripAdvisor for a minimal fee.

Although social media is a relatively new form of communication, it has become the primary way retailers and customers are interfacing.

- Ryan Holmes, founder Hootsuite

Economists at the University of California, Berkeley,found that a restaurant with a rating improved by justhalf a star (on a scale of 1 to 5) was more likely to be full at peak dining times. The study found “Social mediasites and forums...play an increasingly important role in how consumers judge the quality of goods and services.”

A Harvard Business School study found that a restaurant that boots its Yelp score by one full star can see revenues increase 5 to 9 percent.

ASK FOR REVIEWSVIA TABLE TENTS, SOCIAL MEDIA, E-MAIL BLASTS AND IN PERSON

Fresh reviews are vital to a strong digital identity. So theTripAdvisor comment cards are just the beginning.

Use all the communication outlets you can to enticeyour customers to post reviews: check stuffers, a posterin the restroom, comment cards, table tents, e-mailmarketing and perhaps most convincingly, a genuinerequest from the server at the end of a good dining experience. Encourage reviews on Yelp, UrbanSpoon, TripAdvisor, and your Google business page.

Why are recent reviews so important?

When prospective customers see lots of recent activityon your social media pages and review sites, it indicatesthat your restaurant is popular and thriving. If nobodyhas posted a review in the last year, that’s an indicationof a tired business that lacks an audience. And on themajor review sites, once a review reaches a certain age, it may drop off your business page or be hidden, even if it was a positive review.

Social media can be a powerful tool to listen to, engage with and gain accessto customers that you would otherwise not be able to connect with.

- Carol Roth, investor and author of New York Times Bestseller ‘The Entrepreneur Equation’

A Prize is Not a BribeMany owners worry that asking for reviews makes theirrestaurant seem desperate. But remember the localcompetition and the chains are doing it, too. Don’t missout on the opportunity to improve your digital identity!

Incentivize your customers to post reviews by offeringthem a token reward (such as a free appetizer) or hold a contest with a small prize. This gives you some control,allowing you to direct them to whichever review site youneed the most assistance with (the one with the loweraverage score or the one with the fewest recent reviews).

“Post a review on Yelp or TripAdvisor by the end of the month and you’re automatically entered in our drawing for a free t-shirt!” Smart managers will use the same strategy to woo new customers to their e-mail marketing list. “Sign up for our e-mail list thismonth and you’re entered to win a free sweatshirt!”

3 OUT OF 5 AIN’T BADEven if your overall star rating is just average, having several recent reviews indicates that people are still goingto your restaurant and you’re still in the game.

MAKE A CALENDAR FOR YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA POSTINGS

Sharing fun, spur-of-the-moment posts make socialmedia compellingly unpredictable. But as a business,you need a marketing plan. When it comes to postingcontent, don’t try to reinvent the wheel every day. Your customers don’t expect you to be a comedy improv master or a current events guru.

Draw up a calendar of events that are relevant to yourmarket and your customers. This forms the basis ofyour social media posting schedule.

Holidays and major sporting event days are a given, but also look for quirky, lesser-known holidays that willmake great fodder for your social media feeds and addsome fun and character to your marketing.

In short, you’re researching a list of excuses to party. Be creative. Be clever. Be whatever is appropriate to yourbrand. Your customers want to have fun! And tomorow’s another day you’re going to have to dream up somethingto post on Facebook. Good thing you made a calendar!

Any Questions?“The one thing I’ve discovered about social media is thatpeople love answering questions. In fact, it sometimes feelslike at any given moment, millions of people are online whohave been waiting for exactly the question you fire off.”

- Susan Orlean, author and journalistfor The New Yorker, Vogue, etc.

ESPN hosts an ongoing calendar of major sporting eventsat http://espn.go.com/travel/sports/calendar/The calendar can be sorted by sport or city.

PHOTOS ON TAPInclude planned photo opportunities in your posting calendar/schedule. New draught beer from the local micro-brewery? That’s a great social mediaphoto post you can plan in advance.

TODAY IS A DAY TO PARTY!Sites like Daysoftheyear.com offer a comprehensive list ofunsusual holidays. For instance, did you know that October1 is World Vegetarian Day? October 4 is National Taco DayAND National Vodka Day!

These may seem frivolous, but everyone loves an excuse to celebrate, and if you’re the only one in their newsfeed posting something about National Take Your Teddy Bear toWork Day, (October 8), that could be the shareworthy itemthat resonates with your customers and encourages themto share your post, broadening your restaurant’s socialmedia audience and organic reach.

LOVING LOCALIt’s important to show that you care about your community,so remember to promote other local businesses and eventson a regular basis across your social media channels.

Fun Excuses to CelebrateAll major holidays and standard restaurant and bar promotions should be included on your master calendar,even if they recur weekly: Half-Price Burger Night, LadiesNight, Karaoke, Live Music, Open Mic Night, etc.

• Oscar Night Party• Military/Fireman/Police/EMT Appreciation• Staff birthdays• Charity event (Toys for Tots, Cancer Awareness)

NOTE: Don’t post the same photo over and over to promote a weekly event. Keep your feed fun and interesting.

FIND YOUR HERO -THE BUSINESS YOU’LL USE AS YOURSOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ROLE MODEL

Even with a calendar and careful planning, there will be days when you’re staring at your computer screen,wondering what to post on Facebook, how to word an e-mail blast or how to engage your customers on Instagram. That’s when your Hero will come in handy.

Today, take a few minutes – or as long as you need –to research other businesses online and find one that impresses you with their understanding andimplementation of social media.

Reviewing the websites and social media pages of thetop chains will offer you the best role models for yourown posting content and frequency and help inspireyou when you’re stuck in a creative rut. Bookmark yourfavorites in your web browser for quick and easy access.

After all, the chains have huge marketing budgets andpay teams of people to help shape their digital identities.It’s FREE for you to like them, follow them, sign up fortheir e-mail lists and learn from their ‘best practices.’

Begin your research at the Restaurant Social Media Index.http://rsmindex.com, the go-to source for social consumerdata and brand intelligence in the restaurant & hospitalityindustry. They track performance of all the major chains,and can even track your restaurant’s social influence.

Start with their quarterly list of the Top 250 restaurantsoverall, tracked by Influence, Sentiment and Engagement.These businesses really ‘get’ social media and how to useit, and they should top your hitlist for your Hero search.Save time; start with the best!

CURRENT RSMI TOP 10 • Q2 20141. Subway2. Buffalo Wild Wings3. McDonald’s4. Panera Bread5. Starbucks

6. Firehouse Subs7. Taco Bell8. In-N-Out Burger9. Wendy’s10. Shake Shack

Nation’s Restaurant News offers their own DAILY trackingof how the top 200 chains perform across social media. http://nrn.com/industry-data/social-media-200

CURRENT TOP 10 • Sept. 7, 20141. Red Lobster2. Whataburger3. 7-Eleven4. Dunkin Donuts5. KFC

6. Wendy’s7. Applebee’s8. Burger King9. Pizza Hut10. Wawa

• 4,951,306 likes on Facebook• Posted photos get 7,000 - 10,000 Likes, hundreds of shares• Well-branded, mobile-optimized website• Twitter (263,570 followers), Instagram (68,213 followers)

THANK YOUR CUSTOMERSVIA SOCIAL MEDIA

A simple strategy to humanize your business and makea connection with your customers: just say “Thanks.”

Thank you for supporting our little local restaurant.

Thank you for trying our new entrée.

Thank you for that thoughtful review. We’re so glad you enjoyed your dining experience with us.

Thank you for that karaoke number that brought down the house last night.

“We know you have a bunch of dining options out there,and it means a lot that you choose to spend your timeand hard-earned money with our family.”

It’s not the kind of thing you’d post each week, but everyonce in a while, send out a simple message of warmthand hospitality. Thanking your customers creates anemotional connection, and reminds them that you don’t just see them as dollar signs, but as friends. Friends who’ll want to visit you again soon.

It’s a dialogue, not a monologue, and some people don’t understand that.Social media is more like a telephone than a television.

-Amy Jo Martin, founder and CEO, Digital Royalty

“Too many brands treat social media as a one-way broadcastchannel, rather than a two-way dialogue through which emotional storytelling can be transferred.”

Simon MainwaringCEO of social branding firm We First

TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION

COMMIT TO A TIMED GOALFOR TAKING NEXT STEPS

You’ve made a lot of progress today, but some projectsrequire more planning and additional resources.

Now that you’ve enhanced all your web listings, evaluated your web site and researched the industry leaders and their best practices online, you should have a pretty good idea of what your strengths andweaknesses are. This awareness will help you make an informed, specific plan for your next big digital identity initiative.

Videos will be 55% of all internet traffic by 2016. Haveyou started posting video on your website and socialnetworks? Maybe a blog would be a good fit for yourrestaurant. If you’re targeting Millennials but you don’thave an Instagram page yet, that might be a top priority.

The important thing is to set a goal, commit to a firmtimeline, and then make it happen. Keep improving andenhancing your digital curb appeal, and customers willcontinue to find you, online and at your restaurant.

IDEAS FOR YOUR TO-DO LIST☐Hire or designate a Social Media Manager

☐ Take a group photo of your entire staff

☐ Launch a contest to encourage review posts

☐ Reprint business cards with Facebook and Instagram logos and addresses

☐ Record and post a video to Facebook

☐Call web designer to discuss update/redesign

☐Download Vine app and see how it works

☐ Schedule a professional photo shoot ofcurrent menu selections

☐ Buy a sponsored post on Facebook to promote an upcoming special event to thousands of new customers

☐ Establish relationship with local shop ororganization and agree to cross-promote and share each other’s social media content

☐ Let your social media audience vote on your next Limited Time Special (if possible, have side-by-side photos of two options)

visit www.UNODUEGO.comMany restaurants are using short videos on their websitesto communicate their brand personality, their culinary capabilities, and to lure the right kind of customers in with an accurate representation of the experiencethey’re offering. A short, professionally produced videowon’t break the bank, and it’s a very efficient way to communicate your personality to an internet audience.

• 200 Million monthly active users• Over 20 Billion photos shared• 60 million photos uploaded daily• 1.6 Billion Likes daily• Owned by Facebook

• Over 40 Million users(majority are aged 18-20)

• 5 vines are tweeted every second (peakingon weekends)

• Owned by Twitter

Ask your Sysco Marketing Associate for more information about Building and Maintaining Your Digital Identity