Facebook in Rural Montana & Embracing picture posting.

To follow up the earlier post we investigated current Facebook user data alongside the 2010 census. Your customer base is "Face-booking", and waiting to hear from you.

http://sparkgf.blogspot.com/2012/09/community-data-census-or-facebook.html

While you get excited about Facebook, don't forget to set up your restaurant on Foursquare. At this point, Montana restaurant deals are mostly represented by chains. Take advantage of offering check-in deals, it's time to make it local!

Last but not least, remember that your customers will post pictures of your food and restaurant. Embrace it! Encourage your wait staff to offer taking pictures of dining groups, teach them how to make those pictures look as good as possible (freshly served food, no chewing, maybe take a quick series of them), and be amazed of how those pictures will work for your restaurant.

Picture taking should serve as a motivation to add some nice touches to your food presentation, table decor, and interiors. Customers love little details and surprises, whether it is a good joke on your menu, artwork on the wall, or Santa surfing on top of their Hawaiian Holiday Burger.

like my restaurant?

Guiding as many customers as possible to your doorstep may seem tempting, but can be fatal for your business.Social media and online rating opportunities have changed the impact of your customer’s experience. The voice of a single customer leaving your restaurant disappointed or angry, can reverberate and amplify online for years to come. Luckily the same is true for a customer that was pleasantly surprised by the experience. Customers arrive at your restaurant with a set of expectations based on recommendations, physical appearance, or your advertising. Depending on these expectations, the same overall dining experience can be evaluated as a A+ or F by two different customers. Before you spend any efforts marketing or renovation, take some time to spell out which expectations you want to build in your customers, and how you can exceed them from the time your customer first approaches your restaurant. 

Defining Expectations: Forget about “Best Mexican Restaurant in Town”. There is no best Mexican restaurant, simply because people’s tastes and values are different. If you attempt to please all, you are bound to fail. Define your niche, whether it is blow-your-mind spicy New Mexican in an authentic Santa Fe style setting, or you-can-safely-bring-your-Minnesota-grandmother-along American Mexican, and be the best. Choose your customers, and cater to their specific set of values. Your customer group isn’t defined as “all people who like blow-your-mind spicy Mexican food” alone. Reviewing current census and tourism data, as well as local Facebook user and Google search statistics are helpful tools in assuring niche market size. What background do your target customers have, what are their core values, where do they stand in life, and how often do they dine out? Do they value price over atmosphere, or gourmet hand crafted food over price? Finally, set the mood. Do you want to offer the setting for romantic dates and anniversaries, family friendly dining, extended business lunches, live music, or after-fishing-in-waders-with-wet-dog munching?

Exceeding Expectations: Advertise the specific setting, goods, and service level defined above, and find creative ways to over-deliver during the actual experience. The element of pleasant surprise will assure that your customers come back, and bring their friends with them. 

http://spark-architecture.com/dining-development.html