Social Media as an Effective Communications & Marketing Tool for Small Business

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February 2010

Social Media as an EffectiveCommunications & Marketing Toolfor Small Business

A Case Study with Alegria Cocina Restaurantin Long Beach, CA

Written by:

Geoffrey Kutnick and Julie KreislerThe Kreisler Group


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2 | The Kreisler Group Social Media Case Study

ABSTRACT. Large corporations like Dell, Zappos.com and Best Buyhave had great success with using social media as a communications,

marketing and sales generating tool. But would a similar model using socialmedia work for small businesses? That is the question we attempt to answerwithin this case study. The Kreisler Group (TKG), a Marketing and PublicRelations Firm based in Long Beach, CA, developed a ten-week social mediatrial with Alegria Cocina Restaurant. Through this trial TKG was able toconfirm roles social media play to help small businesses sustain and grow.We will be discussing in detail the roles social media can play and how thatdirectly affected sales for the restaurant.

KEYWORDS: Social Media, Small Business

INTRODUCTION

With Social Media being the buzz words for the latter half of this past decade,and tweets being talked about by everybody from the President Obama toOprah to Ashton Kutcher and back again, it made sense why pundits,marketers and so-called social media gurus were debating the viability ofsmall businesses using social media as a business tool. But what trulysparked this case study were findings from a Citibank and GfK Roper surveythat TKG had trouble processing. First, here is the data reported from thesurvey release on October 9, 20091:

500 Small Business Executives interviewed across the US 76 percent did not find social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter

and Linkedin to be helpful in generating business leads or expandingtheir business

86 percent say they have not used social networking sites to getbusiness advice or information

61 percent of respondents say they rely on search engine sites likeGoogle and Yahoo for business advice or information

1 Wulfhorst, Ellen. (8 Oct. 2009). Small Business, Social Media Not Mixing. Reuters.Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE59759L2009ten08


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TKG doesnt question the validity of the results mentioned above. We justbelive they asked the wrong people the wrong questions. According to a2002 Survey of Business Owners (SBO) conducted by the US Census Bureau,

almost 1/3 of business owners are above the age of 55. Here is a graph oftheir findings.


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The data from the US Census bureau (while a little old, 2007 numbers stillbeing analyzed and interpreted) illustrates that a majority of businessowners (60 percent) are age 45 or older.2 This means that most businessowners were born during or before the 1960s. The original Internet, entitledthe ARPAnet, was not invented until the end of the decade in 1969. So, of

course a majority of business owners may not believe that social media willhelp sales acquisitions and overall growth if they do not understand the fullcapabilities of the technology. Secondly, because social media grows at anunprecedented rate with thousands of startup companies, the knowledgedivide between those whom get social media and those whom do notcontinually grows every day. While younger generations further integratedifferent applications of social technology into their lives, those not exposedlack vital knowledge essential to current business and profit models.

The process in which people find information about retailers, products andservices has changed dramatically over the last few years. According to

research conducted in March of 2009 by Penn Schoen & Berland Associatesin partnership with LinkShare, 81% of respondents participate in onlineresearch most of the time before buying a product.3 Data released fromExperians Hitwise after 2009s Black Friday shopping holiday revealed that4.3% of Facebook users and 2.3% of Twitter users visited the website of atop 500 retailer immediately after visiting the social networking sites. 4

Lastly, with the large percentage of internet users consulting the web forinformation and reviews, 1 out of every 5 internet users use a status updateservice like Twitter.5

These findings led us to pursue a case study with Alegria Cocina Restaurant,

to establish and prove the roles social media could play and mostimportantly show significant sales growth from the previous ten weeks andthe same ten-week period of the previous year.

THE TOOLS

TKG established that there were 3 social media tools that would allowAlegria to communicate their message effectively and efficiently to a largeaudience while playing to its strengths. The selected social media platformsused include: Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

2

United States Census Bureau. Survey of Business Owners. Retrieved fromhttp://www.census.gov/econ/sbo/02/cvbosof.html3 Dietrich, Liane. (15 Jan. 2001). How the Online Marketing Landscape Looks in 20ten.UTalkMarketing.com Retrieved from http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=164284 Zmuda, Natalie. (7 Dec. 2009 ). Retailers Go Nuts for Social Media in Holiday Marketing.

Advertising Age. Retrieved from http://www.AdvertisingAge.com5 Fox, Susannah, Kathryn Zickuhr, and Aaron Smith. Twitter and Status Updating, Fall2009. Pew Internet & American Life Project. October 2009. Retrieved fromhttp://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/17-Twitter-and-Status-Updating-Fall-2009.aspx


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WHY FACEBOOK?1) Communicate messages to a large targeted audience effectively

and efficiently2) Boasts a user base of over 350 million people

3) 14,600 Long Beach Residents and Workers participate with statusupdates6^4) 64,000 people within Greater Long Beach use sites like Twitter &

Facebook7^5) Very multimedia friendly: videos, pictures, links6) The ability to reach out to potential and existing customers with

friend requests*, events, groups*, fan pages, fan page suggestions& friend suggestions*.

WHY TWITTER?1) Communicate messages to a large targeted audience effectively

and efficiently2) One of the fastest growing social networking sites in 2009.

Experienced 1382% year-to-year growth from Feb. 2008 Feb.20098

3) The amount of residents, workers & tourists in Long Beach and thesurrounding areas on Twitter and Facebook (approximated numbersincluded in Why Facebook section)

4) Extensive amount of Third Party Applications (TPAs) that assist inmessage dissemination, link shortening, file sharing, linking to othersocial media sites, etc.

5) Ability to reach out to local users based on ZIP code and key words

(e.g. salsa, Latin, dinner, etc.)6) Trackability Because of link shorteners like Bit.ly and Ow.ly you

can track your click-throughs from the links you sent out via socialmedia. Web site analytics also allows users to check referringsites, to see what percentage of the audience came from where.

WHY FLICKR?

6 Downtown Long Beach Association. Downtown Long Beach Residents and Employment.Retrieved from http://www.downtownlbbusiness.com/learn/information7

Long Beach Redevelopment Agency. (2009). Downtown Long Beach Market Study. LongBeach: Strategic Economics.^ Numbers estimated from Pew Internet Study and Long Beach Population Numbers

8 Ostrow, Adam. Twitter Now Growing at a Staggering 1,382 Percent. Mashable.com. 15Jan. 20ten. Web. 13 March 2009.*Alegria Cocina had created a Facebook Profile before Facebooks user agreement changedand forced businesses to use Business Pages in 2008. We used this profile because of theirestablished audience and ability to make friend requests to increase our audience base.


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1) Ability to create shareable photo slideshows, allowing users toassociate the food with the brand for an extended period of time

2) Alegria had professional photos on file ready to be uploaded3) One of the top photo sharing services with wide audience base

BUILDING AN AUDIENCE

Before we focused on the proper messaging and dissemination for Twitterand Facebook, TKG built an audience for Alegria on the respectiveplatforms. Because Twitter and Facebook have their differences in socialinteraction we developed strategies to build audiences for both. Thefollowing strategies allowed us to generate an audience quickly and thenallow the base to grow organically.

Targeted Prominent Groups, Media Outlets and UsersOur Alegria Facebook profile allowed TKG to connect with individuals of

similar interests including users interested in Latin American cuisine, LatinAmerican dance, Long Beach restaurants and the city of Long Beach.Facebook Groups and Fan Pages were essential to grow our audience in thebeginning stages.

We targeted potential customers geographically and by tracking textqueries on Alegrias Twitter profile. For instance, TKG could potentiallywitness every tweet that originated in the 90802 area code. However, wetracked key words like Long Beach and Downtown and were able toparticipate in those conversations and add our input or information.

TKG also connected with many prominent Long Beach media outletsincluding Long Beach Post, 562 City Life, The District Weekly & OC Weekly.TKG promoted Alegrias information (events, live entertainment, etc) thatwould bring people down to the street - Pine Avenue.

Alegria Cocina also had a VIP Email list that allowed TKG to engage with theregular customers that were engaging in social media. Finding and invitingthose passionate about Alegria through social media, only helped TKGexpand Alegrias audience and spread their messages.

Lastly, we listed Alegria on Twitter Directories that can help lead people to

your specific profile based on location, type of food, genre of entertainment,etc. TKG listed Alegria Cocina on Justtweetit.com, Twellow.com, andWefollow.com. Through these strategies we were able to increase Alegriasconnections on Facebook and Twitter by hundreds in a few weeks time.

ROLES SOCIAL MEDIA PLAYED

Building Loyalty & Brand Recognition


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TKG discovered new data reported from GroupM Search and comScoreabout the role social media plays in regards to organic and paid search. Thefindings are as follows.

- 50% Click Through Rate (CTR) increase in paid search when

consumers are exposed to social media- Consumers whom have been exposed to a brands social marketingcampaign are 2.4 times more likely to click on organic links to thebrands site9

This study proves that interaction with social media strengthens relationsand builds brand recognition. But the question was, How do we measureour relationships and interaction? The answer involved tracking thedifferent types of interactions available on each social network: likes,comments, requests, mentions, retweets, direct messages, etc. These tworoles gave TKG inspiration to create a custom report that tracked our

different levels of interaction week-to-week to measure Alegrias progress.

Word of Mouth Magnified & Communicating in Real TimeIt has never been easier to share information with people you know. Twitterculture encourages Re-tweeting (now a viable action on the service), or re-broadcasting information that the user enjoys or wants to pass on.Followers of the restaurant could now send Alegrias original message totheir specific audience; a group of people outside Alegrias own reach. UsingTwitters search service (search.twitter.com) in combination with theirmentioning function (e.g. @Alegria), TKG was able to reach out to people inreal time with inquiries about food, restaurant choice, entertainment, etc,

while also sending out an update to Alegrias followers.

1) Searching for people tweeting Key Terms like Salsa Long Beach2) Twitter Search displayed people talking about Salsa in Long Beach within

the last 7 days

9 GroupM Search & comScore. (2009). The Influenced: Social Media, Search and theInterplay of Consideration and Consumption. New York: Chris Copeland.


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3) Tweeting messages and mentioning relevant users from our search

This allowed us to introduce Alegria to new people in the area and stayconsistent with updates, further allowing for our message to be spread toour audience and potential new audiences with every update.

Customer ServiceTwitter allows for the constant flow of two-way communication in real time.This means when people had questions regarding Alegria, we couldpotentially answer them in real-time. TKG was able to answer questions,resolve disputes and mend relationships in a number of ways. Here are justa few examples of topics addressed:


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- Parking Availability and Location- Directions, Best Route and Address- Special Event Information- Specials, Discounts, Promotions- Any Issues with Service, Food, etc.

- Customer Reviews

Public and Media RelationsWith the development of the 24-hour news cycle and the increasing numbersof news being viewed digitally, Public and Media Relations have also evolvedwith the times. Traditional public relations communications (email, fax,phone, paper) now must be combined with digital methods (social media,digital files, blogs) to capture the full scope of todays media outlets.

Most traditional print outlets (newspapers, magazines) are engaged in socialmedia platforms like Twitter and Facebook because of its free usage, real

time dissemination and instant promotion. More often than not, writers fromthese same publications are also on the social media platforms. Writerswhom are utilizing social media translates into another means for PRpractitioners to develop relationships and share story ideas.

During the course of 2009, practitioners saw the Seattle-Post Intelligencerand the Rocky Mountain News both transition into online publications, endingtheir print distribution altogether. Because digital news has little overhead incomparison to the print and deliver business model, some major outlets havegone completely digital and hyper-local digital media outlets are popping upeverywhere. Long Beach has seen its fair share of digital media outlets

including LBPost, Everything Long Beach and 562 City Life.

In this instance, TKG did not initiate a specific media-relations campaignwith Alegria, but did facilitate the relationship between the restaurant andthe media. Through social media relationships created and maintained byTKG, Alergia was organically picked up from online publications including aglowing food review in 562 City Life. The article from 562 City Life can befound at: http://www.562citylife.com/profiles/blogs/alegria-a-gem-on-pine

Collaboration of Ideas & NetworkingDuring the ten-week case study, TKG met with Alegrias management team

nearly every week to discuss promotions, events and general brainstorming.Weekly meetings give management time to express thoughts that couldenhance our social media communication and/or the business itself. Themeetings led to new and improved in-store promotions, targeted localaudiences and created brand new events for the restaurant.

The most specific example led to a collaborative effort between Raq-C, 96.3Latino FM DJ, and Alegria Cocina. Alegria planned a Pre-Halloween event with
http://www.562citylife.com/profiles/blogs/alegria-a-gem-on-pinehttp://www.562citylife.com/profiles/blogs/alegria-a-gem-on-pine


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Raq-C and obtained free radio and social media mentions. Connecting withRaq-C and becoming aware of her frequent patronage to Alegria throughTwitter is what led to the event creation.

Becoming a Pundit or Expert in Your Field

Alegria Restaurant has two niche features: its classification of food beingLatin-American Cuisine and its location Pine Avenue in Downtown LongBeach. Because Alegria did not have blogging capabilities at the currenttime, using tweets and status updates as mini blog posts was a great way tosend information regarding these two topics.

TKG was able to describe and send pictures of any entre, appetizer,cocktail and dessert on the menu. Management from Alegria also gaveinsight into how dishes were prepared and why certain specials were offeredduring different seasons. The pictures and descriptions of food became oneof the main sources of social media content. TKG distributed this content to

various social media channels throughout the week to keep Alegria top ofmind to its growing audience.

Alegrias location is on Pine Avenue, in the small metropolis of Long Beachand more specifically one of Southern Californias Top Ten Restaurant Rows(ABC-TV). Through Alegrias social media profiles, TKG promoted specialevents or happenings that would bring people to Pine Avenue. Alegriabecame a pundit for social and entertainment events in Downtown LongBeach in an effort to stay relevant and interesting within its audience.

Sales Acquisition

TKG received the sales data for the ten-week case study and analyzed theweek-by-week data in 3 ways. First, TKG compared the ten-week period tothe same ten-week period the year before in 2008. Secondly, TKG comparedthe ten-week case study period to the ten previous weeks during theSummer of 2009. Thirdly, TKG looked for any sales spikes that directlycorresponded to certain strategies, wording or partnerships.

Please note: No other form of marketing was used during the ten-week casestudy period. Secondly, we are only releasing sales percentages based onthe agreement TKG made with Alegria.

Here are our findings:

Comparing Sales from 2008 to 2009TKG saw immediate growth starting in the second week of the campaign.Once the profiles had been setup and the first connections had been made,we started to send regular updates. Sales spikes in Week 4 and 5 can bedirectly correlated to social media and will be elaborated upon later in thecase study. In the middle of October, sales did start to wane in comparison to


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2008. TKG can attribute that to a lack of social media engagement due toscheduling conflicts with Alegrias management. TKG was not able to meetwith Alegria in this time period, which adversely affected our social mediaimplementation and communication. TKG and Alegria were able to reboundin the last few weeks due to:

1) Buzz surrounding the Halloween Event with Raq-C2) Stronger social media content than weeks prior3) Halloween fell on a weekend4) Connecting with Downtown Events on Pine Ave.

Figure 1Sales Data Table 2008 vs. 2009

Week % Increase orDecrease insales from

2008 to 2009Week 1Aug 31-Sept. 6 2008 vs. Aug. 30-Sept. 52009 -3.23%Week 2Sept. 7-13 2008 vs. Sept. 6-12 2009 +17.18%Week 3Sept. 14-20 2008 vs. Sept. 13-19 2009 +15.76%Week 4Sept. 21-27 2008 vs. Sept. 20-26 2009 +41.50%Week 5

Sept. 28-Oct. 4 2008 vs. Sept. 27-Oct. 32009 +23.84%Week 6Oct. 5-11 2008 vs. Oct. 4-10 2009 +10.71%Week 7Oct. 12-18 2008 vs. Oct. 11-17 2009 -8.87%Week 8Oct. 19-25 2008 vs. Oct. 18-24 2009 -2.53%Week 9Oct. 26-Nov.1 2008 vs. Oct. 25-31 2009 +9.11%Week 10Nov. 2-8 2008 vs. Nov. 1-7 2009 +5.26%

Total +10.33%


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Figure 2Sales Data Line Graph 2008 vs. 2009

Further Sales AnalysisThere were two specific weeks where TKG and Alegria could directlyassociate a significantly large percentage sales increase with the socialmedia strategy being implemented. Week 4 and Week 5 of the case studysaw a 41.50% and 23.84% increase from 2008, respectively.

Because of Alegrias proximity to the Long Beach Convention Center (LBCC),TKG implemented a social media strategy to connect with two majorconventions happening within blocks from Alegria. Social media has become

an integral part of contemporary conventions, allowing conversations tohappen before, during and after the convention itself. ComicCon and TheHispanic Engineers Conference both had Twitter and Facebook accounts thatTKG was able to communicate with. TKG never sought out conventiondirectors or group leaders by phone or email, but all through social media.Through Alegrias social media profiles TKG promoted their events as it wasalso relevant to our Long Beach audience. Through these connections Alegria

Hispanic

Engineers

Conference

Comic- Con


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received endorsements from key individuals at the conference whichtranslated into increased foot traffic into the restaurant.

1) TKG connected Alegria with key representatives of the conferences.2) TKG connected Alegria with the audiences of these conferences

3) TKG communicated essentials to these audiences: location, menu,events, hours, etc.4) TKG made these audiences feel special: discounts, delivery, special

promotions for conference goers only

Comparing Sales June-Aug. 2009 vs. Sept.-Nov. 2009TKG compared the sales from the ten weeks prior (June 21-August 29, 2009)with the ten-week case study period (August 30-November 7, 2009). Manyrestaurant operators might not agree with comparing numbers from Summerwith numbers from Fall because of the seasonality differences. But this isprecisely why TKG wanted to compare the numbers. The ten weeks prior to

our case study occurred in the heart of summer when Long Beach tourism isup and more local consumers are spending money on dining. Other notablefactors include: starting a restaurant case study in the notoriously slowdining month of September and consumer spending dropped .5% nationwidein the same month.10 Yet, TKG was still able to increase total sales in thetime period by 2.43%.

When TKG analyzed the sales numbers and percentages, readers shouldtake note of a few things. First, Alegrias average sales in June 09 weresignificantly lower than August 09. So instead of seeing a general risetoward the ending percentage of 2.43%, you will see some larger percentage

increases in the first four weeks, and a decline later in the case study. Thedecrease in percentages in the later weeks is due to the strong salesperformance Alegria had in August.

Figure 3Summer 2009 vs. Fall 2009

Week % Increaseor Decreasein Salesfrom

Summer toFall

10 News Service. (30 Oct. 2009) U.S. Consumer Spending Slipped in September. New YorkTimes. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/ten/31/business/economy/31econ.html


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Week 1June 21-27 2009 vs. August 30-52009

+7.71%

Week 2

June 28-July 4 2009 vs. Sept. 6-122009

+8.68%

Week 3July 5-11 2009 vs. Sept. 13-19 2009

+12.56%

Week 4July 12-18 2009 vs. Sept. 20-262009

+33.37%

Week 5

July 19-25 2009 vs. Sept. 27-Oct. 32009

-3.61%

Week 6July 26-Aug.1 2009 vs. Oct. 4-102009

+5.70%

Week 7Aug. 2-8 2009 vs. Oct. 11-17 2009

-2.33%

Week 8

Aug. 9-15 2009 vs. Oct. 18-24 2009

-9.93%

Week 9Aug. 16-22 2009 vs. Oct. 25-312009

-13.55%

Week 10Aug 23-29 2009 vs. Nov. 1-7 2009

-10.57%

Totals +2.43%

CONCLUSION SUMMARY OF THE TEN ROLES

Building Loyalty & Brand Recognition


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TKGs social media campaign was able to connect an upwards of 1000people directly and thousands more through the infrastructure of Facebook,Twitter and Flickr. TKG broadcasted updates daily with new and relevantinformation to its audience, which led to increases in audience numbers andinteraction.

Word of Mouth and Communicating in Real TimeTKG found and connected with potential clientele for Alegria by trackingsearch terms in real-time. The user-friendly infrastructure of the differentsocial media platforms allowed Alegrias message to spread and penetratedifferent groups and individuals.

Customer ServiceCommunicating in real-time allowed us to answer questions on a publicforum and receive feedback from our customers and the general public.Questions about specific events, parking or cuisine were public conversations

and spread awareness of any resolved issue.

Public and Media RelationsThrough this case study TKG was able to witness the real power ofcommunicating with journalists, writers and publications though socialmedia, predominantly though Twitter. Digital PR is evolving and solelyimplementing traditional PR is now incomplete.

Collaboration of Ideas & NetworkingTKG would never boast that we did any of this on our own. TKG worked witha management team that knew the restaurant, staff, food, floor and

customers like no one else. Every great idea was tweaked to fit the mold ofAlegria AND be effective towards its target audience to bring people in thedoor. Once we were effectively communicating with our publics, networkingwith key individuals came naturally. Most notably, Alegria and TKGpartnered with a popular Latino-FM DJ that never would have occurredwithout social media.

Becoming a Pundit or Expert in Your FieldTKG was able to become more familiar with the true strengths of Alegria bymeeting with its management on a weekly basis. By becoming more awareof Alegrias origins, past events & promotions and the knowledge from their

staff, TKG was able to establish Alegria as experts in 3 areas: Latin-AmericanCuisine, Latin-American Dancing and Downtown Long Beach. Becoming adisseminator of these types of content accomplished a number of objectives.First, it validated and gave credibility to Alegrias social media profiles bysending out newsworthy and tweetable information, not just spam.Secondly, it allowed TKG to tap into a wealth of information that could beused as content for Alegrias social media profiles. This allowed us to staytop of mind throughout any given week, without solely promoting Alegrias


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promotions and events. Thirdly, concentrating on these topics allowed us topursue potential customers by tracking key words and connecting with theseniche audiences.

Social Media Affects Your Bottom Line

TKG compared our ten-week case study in 2009 to the same time period in2008 AND to the ten weeks of Summer just prior to our implementation.Alegrias sales reports displayed a 2.43% increase when compared to theusually-stronger Summer months and a double digit percentage increase10.33% when compared to the year previous.

Bottom Line: Social Media brought customers through the door.

Social Media as an Effective Communications & Marketing Tool for Small Business

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