I've long been a fan of Bar Rescue on Spike TV - it is certainly my favorite reality series. In particular, I've admired Jon Taffer's leadership and management style, and decided to read his best selling book Raise The Bar this summer. While reading it, I discovered that a number of concepts don't just apply to the world of bars, nightclubs and restaurants - they can also apply to the world of social media. And so, I present to you a (very) brief look at how a couple of Raise The Bar's lessons apply to the world of social media.
Customer Reactions and Reaction Management
Taffer emphasizes that bars and restaurants are designed to illicit reactions from customers, something he calls Reaction Management. This concept is more than applicable to social media - it's the point of social media! A quality social post, whether it's a 140 character Tweet or a long Instagram caption accompanied by a photo, is designed to created a reaction and conversation with the consumer. The key to social media is the conversation - without that, there is nothing social about social media. In addition to starting the conversation, reaction management is key in the interactions between a brand and it's customers - how a brand handles that conversation and interaction determines whether or not the consumer buys the product, is loyal to the brand, or tells someone else about the product or company. Taffer's view of reaction management perfectly translates into the social world - when it works properly, you can fill not only your bar but your social media mentions!
Four Walls Marketing
In Raise The Bar, Taffer discusses the importance of "Four Walls Marketing" - the experience that the customer receives while they're at an establishment and how it permeates from the inside of the bar or restaurant to the outside world. In social media, this is the company's social media policy - the tone, tenor, and voice that the social media manager is meant to execute. This is one of the most important aspects of social media for a brand - the ability to take the company's goals and values and turn it in to a meanful, focused, and on-brand social media message. Taffer's argument that success begins with management in a bar is incredibly applicable to social media - when management and staff buy into social media, just as they do at a bar or restaurant, the message and the branding is far more coherent and effective.
Raise The Bar is a book about bars and nightclubs first and foremost, but sometimes social media is just like a bar scene - you have conversations, reactions, and revenue to consider on a global scale. The advice provided by Jon Taffer can give you a successful bar and a successful social media program - provided you don't mix the two!
Photo courtesy of Forbes. For more on Taffer and Raise The Bar visit jontaffer.com