When you’re starting up your own food truck business, one of the best things you can do is learn from other people who are already successful in the business. Take a look at the most successful food trucks and you’ll quickly find out that they are masters of using social media for marketing. How can you master social media to successfully market your business? Here’s a look at three big lessons you need to learn about social media marketing to propel your new food truck business to success.
Lesson #1 – You Need to Combine Social Media with Location Based Technology
Even if you have a tight marketing budget, you can combine social media and location based technology without spending a lot of money. For example, linking up Twitter and Facebook accounts with Foursquare makes it easy for people to find you whenever you check in somewhere. You can also encourage current customers to check in when they visit your location, which also helps promote your business to their followers and friends. You can also use location-aware technology to build good partnerships with local businesses that can benefit both of you.
Lesson #2 – Go Social to Offer Great Customer Service
Offering great customer service and managing your online reputation are important tasks, and social media can help you offer better customer service. No matter how hard you work, you’re probably going to get some negative comments on your business from time to time. The key is to make sure you deal with those negative comments, offering great customer service so people can see how your business responds. When a problem occurs and you hear about it online, make sure you respond back. Apologize for the problem, and if appropriate, consider offering a discount or a free item with their next purchase. Beyond offering great customer service, you can also spin your social media presence in a positive way, encouraging your customers to tweet or post on Facebook about someone who provided great customer service. Remember, you need to respond to customers to show that you’re listening and ready to offer the best service possible.
Lesson #3 – Share Your Unique Story
As you post on social media sites, make sure you share your unique story. Have your own authentic voice. Tell stories that stand out to your followers. It’s great to talk to your followers about food and what you have to offer, but be a human, relatable voice as well. Engage your audience in talking about local events, current events, and more. People today want to engage with companies with which they do business, so make sure you keep your story unique so your food truck business stands out.
Social media is a cost-effective, influential tool that you can use for customer service, innovation, and growth. Learn from what other food truck businesses are doing on social media and then make sure you take that information and use it in a unique way. You have a message to get out, and social media gives you the tools you need to touch your customer base in a unique way.
