Spring 2018

4  • PENNSYLVANIA RESTAURANT & LODGING matters • Spring 2018 INDUSTRY OUTLOOK A mere (or it seems so) 22 years ago, when I was running for mayor, I advanced a notion that my opponent laughed off as sheer folly. My idea was in answer to a question about how our elected officials could better connect with Plano’s citizenry. There had been charges leveled that the council was out of touch. I suggested that I would establish email addresses for each of the Council members so that citizens could more easily communicate with them. In scoffing at the idea, my opponent pointed out that very few constituents had email, and many didn’t have computers. As of 2017, according to a Radicati Group study, there are more than 3.7 billion email users, meaning that nearly 54 percent of the entire planet uses email. In fact, current wisdom is that email is so wildly popular that if you really want to reach someone, you need to use texting. Maybe someday, we’ll have to use telephones to reach people. Anyway, the explosive growth of the internet and social media is changing our way of life in ways no one could have predicted. Email is just one example. In fact, the “super powers” of social media are expanding every day. Consider the story of my friend who opened a restaurant in Ithaca, New York. As he was preparing his concept, renovating the building, designing menus, developing recipes, hiring team members, and all the other myriad of things necessary to opening a restaurant, we found ourselves chatting about “what else he needs to do.” Being somewhat of a geek myself, I began expounding upon the powers of social media. He said, “Johnny, I’m not into all that stuff. I’m going to serve phenomenal food and provide terrific service in a ‘Manhattan’ type environment. That’s my key to success.” I checked in with my buddy about six months after opening to see how things were going. “Unbelievable!” he said. “We’re doing more than twice the sales that we projected, and I thought that was a stretch. It turns out that people are talking about us on something called Yelp and Urban Spoon and Trip Advisor and we have lines out the door almost every night.” To his delight, my friend, a former non-believer witnessed the “super power” of social media first-hand. So, the advent of social media enables operators to have the impact of vast amounts of marketing without big budgets, but it can also have serious negative impact if not managed properly. In this edition of Restaurant & Lodging Matters, I hope that you will learn about how to harness the power of social media and how to manage your online reputation. Your business could depend on it. • Epilogue: In my first year as mayor, the city council logged some 10,000 messages from constituents and received high marks for responsiveness to citizens. My friend in Ithaca now has two restaurants, both consistently ranked (in social media) in the top ten of over 200 restaurants in the area. John Longstreet President & CEO John Longstreet “Life Digitally” Amanda Hite, founder of award-winning social media strategy outfit BTC, describes social media as “Life digitally with super powers.” Like it or not, that’s where we are in 2018. “As of 2017, according to a Radicati Group study, there are more than 3.7 billion email users, meaning that nearly 54 percent of the entire planet uses email.“