Last summer a friend of mine, Marlon Lee of IT Outlaws, called me to say he was working with a client to redo their website and the next step was social media. Could we help out? I said sure.
The client was Marco Abdi who owns La Brezza Ristorante, a delightful Italian restaurant in the heart of Bridgeland. I have known Marco for years and I had been to La Brezza many times but not recently. This was a great excuse to meet with him again.
There is an excellent write-up about Marco meeting his adorable wife, Filomena, on a bus. The full story is on the Alberta is Energy website. See http://www.albertaisenergy.ca/marco.
Marco and I sat down for lunch a few days later and he told me that he wanted to improve the reputation of his restaurant on the Internet. He had been reading up on social media and thought that he should stir-up a strategy. For lunch we had calamari, probably the best I’ve had – ever. I would highly recommend trying it.
After some chilling online research we figured out that in contrast to other Italian restaurants La Brezza online presence was half-baked. The presence they did have was limited to about 8 reviews on Google Places (a few were unsavory) and a 67% rating on Urbanspoon. Not much to be proud of after 25 years of hard work.
The recipe we cooked up included the following:
- Launching a page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LaBrezzaRistorante
- Developing a process to encourage guest to write a review online
- Creating a small card to handout to guests
Marco is very happy with the results:
- Likes on the Facebook page increased dramatically – they now have nearly 100.
- There are many many more reviews online.
- But most dramatically, the rating on Urbanspoon increased to 85% saying that they “like it”.
- Nearly 20 reviews on Google Places
- And #1 ranking on TripAdvisor for “Calgary Restaurant”.
Update: January 19, 2012 – Mario Toneguzzi added a blog post on the Calgary Herald site about this, see: http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2012/01/19/calgary-restaurant-owner-cooks-up-recipe-for-business-success/. Thanks Mario.
Facebook page: Liked
Urban Spoon: Voted
Food: Loved!
It’s been my pleasure to dine at LaBrezza. It has a very welcome, unpretentious atmosphere with friendly staff and excellent food.
I’m thinking that a minor modification to the $15 Off Next Meal offer might boost results even higher… I’m a firm believer in maintaining the value of an offer. For example, if a restaurant were to offer either a) a 2-for-1, the perception is that the meal is half or devalued in the mind of the consumer, potentially reducing tips as well. And, b) where a bonus is given, such as complimentary starter, drink, or dessert, where the impression is that the diner is receiving extras without extra costs. To the restauranteur, the cost is lower when opting for “b”, and to the diner, the value is likely to be seen as greater. And who knows, it just may result in higher tips as well.
My 2ยข. Thanks for a great post Jeff.