The U.S.A. won against Belgium in the World Cup game.
Well .. not really .. but sort of.
The Waffle House, an American, iconic, southern, restaurant company, walked away with the social media trophy.
Paying not one of the 75k dollar sponsorship fees, the Waffle House's followers organically helped score them the win via a social media waffle battle: sweet versus Belgium waffles.
Many saw the battle unfold on Twitter but I wondered ... what was the back-story? How did it begin and what course of action did the Waffle House plan? Meghan Irwin, Waffle House, agreed to tell us what it was like during the heat of the Belgium Waffle Battle. Some of her answers might surprise you.
About Meghan Irwin - Our story teller, Meghan, has been working for the Waffle House, Inc. for almost three years.
She is part of the Communications Department where her role focuses on social media management and event execution.
About Waffle House®Restaurants - Headquartered in Norcross, GA, Waffle House restaurants has been serving Good Food Fast® since 1955. Today the Waffle House system operates more than 1,700 restaurants in 25 states and is the world’s leading server of waffles, T-bone steaks, hashbrowns, cheese ‘n eggs, country ham, pork chops and grits.
Toby/Diva Marketing: I read that the now famous Belgium Waffle House Tweet wasn’t planned. In fact, there was no committee or even social media team brainstorming on how to get into the World Cup social conversation. Would you fill us in on the who-what-why of the back-story?
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House: Goodbull Hunting actually initiated the idea by tweeting at us upon hearing Team USA was moving onto the next round in the World Cup. When asked for our opinion of Belgian waffles, we replied with “We dominate them.”
TMZ Sports got word of this tweet then contacted us to ask more about it. On Monday June 30th, TMZ published the story and we kind of ran with it. So yes, this wasn’t planned.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Not only was Waffle House the darling of the social media world but main stream media picked up and moved your story along. Who was the first media outlet that contacted you?
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House: Van Lathan from TMZ Sports reached out to us on Friday June 27th. Boycotting all things Belgian was a hot topic, so they asked if we would support that. Of course we would! We’re America’s place to eat!
Toby/Diva Marketing: What was it like at work when you began receiving calls and requests for interviews?
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House: Surprisingly, we weren’t in the office for the majority of the day. The team was at a press conference for our valued partner Smithfield. We took most of the calls in our Waffle van to avoid any background noise. It was actually pretty amusing. We’d see emails for requests and we’d take turns by hopping in the van.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Did the excitement and buzz trickle to the field restaurants and if so what was their reactions?
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House: Yes, we received positive feedback from Area Vice Presidents. We also educated the public and our customers that our waffles are not Belgian waffles. They’re sweet cream.
Toby/Diva Marketing: With all of the conversation and RTs that were happening, did the Waffle House tap additional people to monitor the conversation?
Megan Irwin/Waffle House: We work as team in the effort to engage in conversation with our fans.
Toby/Diva Marketing: We saw you were engaging with your community in RTs and responses. For many companies listening is a struggle in terms of the right tool and the time commitment. Would you share how the Waffle House approaches tracking, listening and reporting?
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House: We are one of those companies. We struggle just like everyone else in terms of time commitment and listening. We’re in the process of doing a trial with a couple companies now to see what fits best with our company.
Toby/Diva Marketing: There didn’t seem to be a unique hashtag from @WaffleHouse. Was this intentional?
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House: There wasn’t a need for a unique hashtag. This was an organic conversation with a fan. By adding a unique hashtag in this mix, we feel you lose the genuine feeling of the conversation.
Toby/Diva Marketing: Interesting idea Meghan. Perhaps we can encourage brands to be less "hashtag happy."
In addition to Twitter and Facebook were other social media tactics were included and if so which networks and which worked best to move the engagement?
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House: We focused on where the majority of our community is. We have a strong, vocal fan base on both Twitter and Facebook therefore our efforts to engage was focused on those two channels.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What was the most surprising aspect of the experience?
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House: The fact that our community responded with this playful boycott and ran with it. Also, we saw media outlets that don’t normally cover Waffle House, ending up covering this tweet.
Toby/Diva Marketing: To put your responses in context, what does social media mean to the Waffle House in terms of branding, awareness and customer loyalty?
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House:
To us, social media means continuing the conversation with our customers after they have an experience with our brand. It continues well after they leave the restaurant.
Toby/Diva Marketing: How large is your social team and who does it report up to?
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House: As it falls under Communications, we work as a team.
Toby/Diva Marketing: As we discussed, the response Waffle House received was fantastic. What do you have in mind to build it?
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House: We want to stay true to the brand’s personality and maintain the engagement with our fans. Like I mentioned before, it’s all about keeping the conversation going with our customers.
Toby/Diva Marketing: In retrospect, is there any thing that you would have done differently?
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House: Nothing at all. This tweet allowed us to grow our community and spread the word that Waffle House is on social.
Toby/Diva Marketing: What lessons did you learn that you can share with our community?
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House:
1. Be responsive.
2. Talk back to your fans if they engaged with you.
3. You never know what ideas you’ll come up with when engaging with fans. We were able to use the USA waffle photo by engaging with one of our fans.
Toby/Diva Marketing: It’s become a tradition to toss the virtual Diva Marketing mic to you and give you a chance to add anything else you’d like.
Meghan Irwin/Waffle House: Our community is the reason this happened. We enjoy engaging with our fans and customers and will continue to do so.
Getting to know your community is the best thing you can do on social media.
"Amazing bread does great things for the world. Great bread is inspiring." - James DiSabation
James DiSabatino has a love affair with bread and cheese. It makes total sense when you find out that he's the owner of the Boston based food truck Roxy Gourmet Grilled Cheese.
James kindly agreed to juggle his packed days to judge Diva Marketing's marketing tips contest re: food trucks (sponsored by MSN Business On Main). The winner is highlighted below. Toss of a pink boa to Dorothea Bozicolona-Volpe for the intro to James.
Last week James chatted with me about Roxy's back story, his philosophy on the food truck biz and of course using social media as a marketing tactic. We discovered that in addition to sharing a love of food and food trucks, we are also Emerson College alums .. and the world continues to spin smaller!
Diva Marketing/Toby: Roxy was so new why did you apply for a competition that put you up against more seasoned food truck owners?
James DiSabatino: We didn't .. they recruited us. We thought it was a joke until we got the casting email. They were searching online and we kept coming up in their searches. Guess they liked the Boston focus and brothers from Boston who grilled cheese sandwiches and were in a rock band.
Diva Marketing/Toby: So it seems that social media networks works. Twitter, Facebook not only pulled Roxy up in the search rankings but created an image the producers thought would make good TV.
I found it interesting that the Roxy guys were the only team wearing t-shirts that promoted their city not their brand. James told me although he pushed hard to wear Roxy t-shirts, the Food Network insisted the guys wear "Boston" shirts. They never really found out why. Who knows how producers' minds work?
Diva Marketing/Toby: What's the story behind the name Roxy?
James DiSabatino: A tribute to someone in my life that I want to keep a mystery. People would come up to us and not ask who Roxy was but say things like .. so is Roxy a fill in the blank. They were making assumptions. I thought it would be a good idea to leave it up to their imaginations. Roxy could be anyone they wanted her to be.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Quite naturally grilled cheese lends itself to nostalgia positioning. Roxy's fun branding reflects what I'd call -- retro with an edge.
The Icon/Logo: An innocent young girl, wearing 1950's style pigtails, happily munches on a grilled cheese sandwich. But look closer and you'll find a skull and cross bones tatoo on her arm. The tat pays homage to Blood For Blood a favorite Roxy Boston band.
James was cautioned not to add the tat. Some people thought it could be risky. However, as James said to me, "We don't do safe."
Nope .. they sure don't. Not in their logo design nor in their food. As it turned out the icon fits perfectly with the positioning of a retro feel with contemporary flavors. So who are Roxy's clients? They run from college students to grandparents who bring their grandchildren along. Grilled cheese, even gourmet grilled cheese, crosses generations, "It's not a hard sell," James assured me.
Diva Marketing/Toby: So James, what's your marketing deal?
James DiSabatino: We never planned to spend any money on advertising and we never will. We wanted the experience to create awareness through our community and using social media.
We take time to interact with our customers to help create an experience for them. It’s more than getting the food out the window. Our #1 priority is getting to know our customers one person at a time.
Our wait line is longer than most food trucks. It takes 3.5 minutes per side to grill the sandwich .. it’s just part of the experience. Customers hang out with each out and engage with each other .. creating community. I engage with people on line. I respond to tweets. I ask questions and sometimes get flavor ideas. We’re building culture online and offline.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Perhaps one day we'll find a Roxy grilled cheese sandwich named for a Twitter @!
In addition to building community with and among Roxy's customers, James has a strong focus to support and give back to the communities that host the Roxy truck. Watch for the Roxy team to soon be involved with offline events. These events provide opportunities to earn money which will be donated to local causes. One of Jame's favorite causes is early childhood education.
Diva Markting/Toby: What would you tell people who have not tried food truck food?
James DiSabatino: It's some of best food and the best food experience you'll have. No where else can you interact directly with the chef who is making your food.
Diva Marketing/Toby: Never thought about food trucks in quite that way. I might call food trucks a with the people food experience!
James DiSabatino's Food Truck Marketing Tips Response
"As a food truck owner, and having spent years of research before opening, I never once asked myself "What should my marketing budget be?" While this may play an important role in restaurants, food trucks take on a different culinary role in the neighborhood.
Rather than wondering what you should be spending on marketing, a food truck owner should ask him or herself, "What do I need to fully engage my community?" If you're planning on opening a food truck, whether you're going to be the chef, the order taker, the expediter, you will be interacting with your customers directly. And to remain successful, you have to be an important part of the community you're serving in.
So based on my ideology, I choose number four, who suggests feeding the homeless. Rather than giving your money to someone else, you’re using your money to feed people in your community who can’t afford to eat themselves. It's all about community engagement, and bringing a community together is the number one priority a food truck should have if they want to stay in business.
Runner up would be number two (Debra Gaynor), creating alliances to cater weddings. While 10 food trucks will split the money up quite a bit, two or three trucks offering catering services for weddings is an excellent idea. It gets a group of closely interconnected people (with large networks) excited about your business. This is a great grassroots marketing idea, because you have a public ready to spread the word, all while making money for the wedding!"
TRUCK KITCHEN. One day a week for two hours, the truck distributes free servings in a neighborhood for the poor and homeless. But there’s more. Give a man a fish he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish and he eats for life.
The food truck owner can teach a poor or homeless person to blog about the experience at the local public library. That account could be aired on television. Also, a poor or homeless can be taught to use a video camera and record how it is to be homeless. That could be edited for a documentary.
Thanks to all who participated .. you all offered ideas that could help Food Trucks roll into success .. or something like that.
Continue the conversation with James and the Roxy Team!
A hip urban "Indie" alternative to a traditional restaurant meal is (literally) hitting the streets. From the City of Angels to Hot'lanta to cities across the United States food trucks are validating our less formal life style with a unique sense of fun. (Photo of Atlanta pink food truck Yum Yum cupcakes)
However, don't think for one second these food trucks are like the old corner prezel stand. They're part of a growing luxury food trend. Ray Choi, owner of the Kogi (which draws an almost cult following in LA), was awarded the Food & Wine 2010 Best of New Chef award.
In our tight capital investment economy, entrepreneurs are getting creative with parameters of limited cash flow and investment dollars. Food trucks have become one of the hottest small business ventures.
MSN's News On Main video highlights a few of the approximatley 600 (!) food trucks in Portland OR. As Chris Cashman reports, "Every food truck owner has a unique story." One of my favorites from is Ziba from Bosnia who sells pitas based on her family's 100 year old recipe.
This is not a cupcake walk nor for the faint of heart. Developing a successful food truck business takes more than passion and talent. It takes as much hard work and savvy as any company plus add to that the challenges of a roaming location. Oh sure, at the end of the day it still has to be all about the food but ..
As you would expect, social media marketing plays a huge role in not only creating awareness but in building the brand and a loyal customer aka fan aka like aka circle base. For food truck owners it is especially critical for their customers to feel they are part of the entire experience. Here are a few ideas (many can be used in any business setting).
Six Food Truck Marketing Tips
1. Concept On The Tweet Street
The concept must be easily understandable without a lot of explanation. If people find you through Twitter the first (and sometimes only) introduction to your culinary point of view is your name. Does it confuse or hinder or intrigue?
2. The Truck
The "wrap" should support your brand concept with unique visual interest. In addition, the cleanliness of the exterior is as important as the interior of your kitchen. Don't forget people can see into at least part of the back-end of your operations.
3. Pressure Cooker Service
How you and your staff relate to your customers is paramount in creating loyal fans. How will you let your Twitter followers or Facebook likes know you care and appreciate them? Success can lead to long lines = a long wait = unhappy customers. Consider taking orders while people are waiting in line (before they reach the truck window). A few .. "glad you're here" "thanks for waiting" "we promise it will be awesome" .. is a good idea too.
4. Presentation
Do your serving plates reflect your brand or are they just a boring (yawn) white? Boston based Roxy's Gourmet Grilled Cheese uses bright yellow checked paper linings that reinforces the retro and the yellow in their truck.
Social Media Marketing
5. Facebook: If your menu is consistent build out a "menu tab;" status updates are great when adding new items to your menu. Photos .. photos .. photos and a few videos too. Encourage your customers to post their photos to your page .. don't forget the tags!
6. Twitter: Talk to your customers .. just don't message out your menu. Make it easy for your customers to find you. Google map link your location.
Business on Main/Diva Marketing Food Truck Marketing Contest
Let's have some fun. MSN Business On Main is providing me with $100 to run a monthly contest. Thank you kindly. Here's the deal. Let's create a list of marketing ideas for food truck owners. The suggestion that Max & I choose will win 100 dollars.
Rules of The Business on Main/Diva Marketing Food Truck Marketing Contest
2. Identify your post on Business on Main with the words Diva Marketing
3. Winner is at the pleasure of Diva Marketing
4. Contest ends midnight July 31, 2011
5. You must be at least 18 years of age
6. A valid eMail address must be included on the "Post a Comment Section"
That's it .. now it's your turn!
Update! Excited to tell you that James DiSabatino, Roxy’s Grilled Food, finalist on the Food Network Foodtruck Race will be our guest judge. Toss a pink boa to Dorothea Bozicolona-Volpe for the intro.
Diva Marketing is part of an online influencer network for Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis. All opinions are 100% mine.
Celebrations for the Fourth of July are wrapped in tradition. In Hot'lanta the 41st Peachtree Road Race again closed Peachtree Street in Buckhead through Midtown to accommodate 55,000 runners, joggers and power walkers.
Tonight there will be over 800,000 people, with blankets and picnics at the Esplanade on the Charles River, who will enjoy a night of Boston Pops, fireworks and @craigyferg.
There will also be millions who will turn on the grill and kick back with family and friends. Kids will be running through sprinklers, jumping into pools or building sand castles on the beach creating their own memories of the day.
Although the day is framed with the familiar there are often a few new elements that occur. Maybe it's a surprise guest to your BBQ. Perhaps it's an unexpected fireworks design. Or did you set a new time for the Peachtree?
Social media is a little like that. It takes the traditions of strategy, segmentation, customer insights, branding, service and wraps it in something new .. authentic digital conversations.
To celebrate the Fourth of July I've taken a few of my favorite traditional recipes and added a dash of social media spice by turning them into Twitter recipes. This July 4th Twitter Menu also includes a few recipes from foodie tweeters - Martha Stewart @marthastewart, Julie Tharalson @foodierd, and Lucy Waverman @lucywaverman. Enjoy!
