Recently, we have piloted a class on social media for small businesses that was given to our customers. It was a huge success and we will be seeing more of that class in the future. However, in the short term we realized that serving all of our small businesses meant that we should tune some of our education to those local small business segments that are fairly common in every town. The first that should come to mind is your local restaurant and an article from David Finch over at Social Media Explorer really got me motivated to expand on the super successful event that Network Solutions and Yelp gave a few weeks ago at Busboys and Poets in Washington, DC.

There is a great recap here and the stream can be viewed here.

In David’s post, his first two are the most important:

“-Make sure your restaurant can be searched and reviewed through local business guides such as Yelp.com, Urbanspoon.com, and TripAdvisor.com

-Suggest that positive feedback from patrons be shared on these social business guide sites.”

David has a list of other tools but I would recommend that if you are a small restaurant owner and are not using social media that you do the following six things:

1. Do David’s first two recommendations
2. Set up Google Alerts – This is the way to track what people are saying about you on the web – Most basic but most important
3. Get on Twitter – Use it to build a following and promote it to customers. Also if someone mentions that they are on their way there or had a great meal you can give them a discount. You can also send out “Specials of the Day or other promotions” – See @citizencake for a great example of this
4. Gather emails – I know it sounds old school but if you are doing email newsletters, you can subscribe them to a blog with FeedBlitz when you decide to move over/expand to a blog
5. Set up a Facebook Fan Page – People that are foodies and loyal customers will become fans especially if you use the channel to send promotions or special deals to bring them back

We got some very positive feedback from our restaurant customers and are looking into putting together a class specifically to teach restaurants how to use social media. We will eventually bring this to an online webinar as well. Let us know your thoughts and experiences on using restaurant tools and if you are a restauranteur, let us know what you would like to learn.

* The Tampa Tribune reported that someone stole a chair from a local restaurant. Normally, this would not be anything approaching a notable event, but the restaurant, the Pita Pit in Hyde Park (a neighborhood in Tampa), placed the surveillance camera video in its blog, SoHo Pita Pit.

They’re offering a reward for recovery of the chair. [Story via social linksharing site Fark.com]

Commenter skepticism to the contrary (at least one person suggests the theft was staged), it does offer one atypical example of happenings in your restaurant that you can blog about.

I note that their blog uses WordPress, and it’s relatively new, so there’s not a lot of content. They could do a much better job in listing out the basic information people would want (hours, location, menu, etc), though as part of a larger franchise chain, it looks like they’re relying on their corporate parent’s Web site to do that heavy lifting. Which is not optimal: If you go in through the corporate site’s front door, it’s a pain to get to an individual store’s page (which is iframed), and it’s definitely not easy to bookmark or share. In fact, I couldn’t even get the store’s direct link URL until I busted out of the frame (you can also take the nonintuitive step of clicking the “Print” button).

(They also have a MySpace page, which I guess makes sense if they’re targeting a younger crowd seeking late night munchies — it’s all about knowing your audience, online and off.)

* Tuesday, we had a semi-impromptu Tweetup at Indique Heights in Chevy Chase, Maryland (and not the one a few miles away in Cleveland Park, DC, I found to my dismay). It actually grew out of a scheduled Solutions Are Power blog team monthly meeting, and we may make a regular event out of it (my good idea for the quarter).

The restaurant Web site is pretty good, covering most of the basic information that people look for in a restaurant site. One quibble is that the site uses frames, so some of the URLs are obscured. Also, some of the menu sections are only available as downloadable PDF files, which is an additional barrier to people seeing them, though I note that the sister restaurant’s site has them in HTML, so I assume it’s a temporary thing.

Notably (again, only on the sister site at this time), proprietor Chef Vinod’s blog is linked from the restaurant’s navigation. In it, he incorporates content from some cooking classes and TV appearances, as well as scheduled events, recipes, and slices of restaurant and DC-area life.

Other things on the blog checklist: blog RSS feed easy to get to; robust blogroll links; good use of photos (including links to his Flickr photostream.)

In the interest of full disclosure, Chef Vinod knows Shashi (who is a chef in his own right, which I keep forgetting) — he also provided dessert, which you can see here:

Oh, and the Tweetup itself was great. The conversations ranged far and wide. We Solutions Are Power bloggers were met by fellow Twitterers @koa, @digitalsista, @geoffliving, @chrisbrowntv, @poolcenter, @kasrael, @aliciagriffin, @lkthrock, and @digitaldynamo (apologies if I missed anyone). Not bad for an impromptu meetup.

Anyway, it’s my impression (and I’m just going on my gut) that dining and food review blogs far outnumber restaurant blogs (blogs by and about a restaurant, which is distinct from chef and cooking blogs). Then again, I’m not really a foodie, so tell me if I’m wrong. But it looks like there are plenty of opportunities out there.

Are you a restauranteur (okay, fine: restaurateur) with a blog? What do you want to see in a restaurant blog? Leave a comment below.

When I invited participants of my food discussion group, Sietsema’s Table, to tell me what they most wanted from a restaurant’s Web site, I got an eyeful.

At the top of diners’ wish lists: descriptions of dress codes, driving instructions, the ability to make reservations online, current menus with up-to-date prices, Metro accessibility information, hours of operation, photos of the restaurant’s entrance and interior, and information regarding special needs. Is the site wheelchair-accessible? Are large-type menus available? Are substitutions allowed for those with allergies? As one poster pointed out, “With the right information, those who cannot be handled well will avoid the restaurant” instead of showing up and having a difficult meal, “then giving bad reviews to everyone they know. It’s in your interest to present your establishment honestly.”

Also telling is the stuff they don’t want to see: Flash, animations, and music. (Especially when the music “makes my co-workers think I’m on a porn site when I’m just trying to find a menu.”)

For my part, I did cover many of the mentioned items, but I didn’t really weigh the importance of accessibility or special-needs considerations. The quoted poster is absolutely right, especially since people with special requirements probably also participate in the relevant niche communities online, the impact of which I mentioned in my first “everbody’s a reviewer” entry.”

Another important thing to mention is the absolute necessity of keeping current and always showing the most up-to-date information. This goes for things that change rarely (phone numbers, parking info, etc.), but more crucially, for things that change frequently (like menu items). Not coincidentally, this is another strike against using an all-Flash Web site, or anything else that you can’t quickly and easily update by yourself (like PDF files of your menus).

In the case of something that changes really frequently — like daily specials — consider a blog: The new stuff is always on top, so it’s tailor-made for stuff that updates and expires quickly. Plus, if your specials are  part of a larger blog for your business, it always gives you something to write about, and you can use them as a hook to talk about other important elements of your business.

In short, for a restaurant, nothing should be stale — not even the info on the Web site.

Now, although this particular topic is pretty restaurant-centric, a lot of the basics apply to any other type of brick-and-mortar business. Have your own tips or pet peeves? Leave a comment below.

When I invited participants of my food discussion group, Sietsema’s Table, to tell me what they most wanted from a restaurant’s Web site, I got an eyeful.

At the top of diners’ wish lists: descriptions of dress codes, driving instructions, the ability to make reservations online, current menus with up-to-date prices, Metro accessibility information, hours of operation, photos of the restaurant’s entrance and interior, and information regarding special needs. Is the site wheelchair-accessible? Are large-type menus available? Are substitutions allowed for those with allergies? As one poster pointed out, “With the right information, those who cannot be handled well will avoid the restaurant” instead of showing up and having a difficult meal, “then giving bad reviews to everyone they know. It’s in your interest to present your establishment honestly.”

Also telling is the stuff they don’t want to see: Flash, animations, and music. (Especially when the music “makes my co-workers think I’m on a porn site when I’m just trying to find a menu.”)

For my part, I did cover many of the mentioned items, but I didn’t really weigh the importance of accessibility or special-needs considerations. The quoted poster is absolutely right, especially since people with special requirements probably also participate in the relevant niche communities online, the impact of which I mentioned in my first “everbody’s a reviewer” entry.”

Another important thing to mention is the absolute necessity of keeping current and always showing the most up-to-date information. This goes for things that change rarely (phone numbers, parking info, etc.), but more crucially, for things that change frequently (like menu items). Not coincidentally, this is another strike against using an all-Flash Web site, or anything else that you can’t quickly and easily update by yourself (like PDF files of your menus).

In the case of something that changes really frequently — like daily specials — consider a blog: The new stuff is always on top, so it’s tailor-made for stuff that updates and expires quickly. Plus, if your specials are  part of a larger blog for your business, it always gives you something to write about, and you can use them as a hook to talk about other important elements of your business.

In short, for a restaurant, nothing should be stale — not even the info on the Web site.

Now, although this particular topic is pretty restaurant-centric, a lot of the basics apply to any other type of brick-and-mortar business. Have your own tips or pet peeves? Leave a comment below.