Most small businesses doubt usefulness of social media
According to the Forum of Private Business’s (FPB) latest Referendum ballot, 21 per cent of respondents described social media sites as being ‘not useful’ while a further 6 per cent labelled them ‘useless’.
Just 7 per cent said social media was ‘very useful’ for their business.
Phil McCabe, spokesperson for FPB, said: “We believe that social media does hold a great deal of potential for many SMEs. Its conversational, real-time nature makes it ideal for entrepreneurs and small, dynamic firms, which often have much more relaxed attitudes towards public relations than big corporations. Also, sites like Twitter can provide valuable and cost-free feedback on customer and client satisfaction.
“However, small businesses are a diverse bunch and what works for one company may well not be suitable for another, so it’s likely that our figures reflect the business owners whose firms aren’t suited to social media because of the sector or market they’re in.”
Communication is key
Small restaurants in particular that utilise social media are seeing a marked increase in covers.
At a Restaurant magazine roundtable earlier this year, Alexis Gauthier, Chef-patron of Gauthier Soho, said using social media sites is vital to a business’s performance.
“We use everything at our disposal: Twitter, Livebookings, Toptable, Facebook. You need to get out there and remind people about your offer and get customers excited about visiting your restaurant.
“It is time-consuming, but the benefits are worth it. You will have a lot of young staff that are familiar with these communication tools so make sure you use them.”
Will Beckett, co-owner of city steak restaurant Hawksmoor, said operators should use social media sites that specifically target their market.
Eighty per cent of my customers are men working in the City; they’re not on Twitter or Facebook and probably don’t read my newsletters. But they are in LinkedIn, so we’ve managed to attract business by signing up to that. A significant proportion of our customers are foodies, and they’re on Twitter.
“It’s very important to make your restaurant personal for people – social media is ideal for that.”
To watch a video from the Restaurant magazine roundtable, where operators and experts give their advice on how social media can help restaurants to survive the next 12 months, click here.
