Smithfield's - Social Media and Southern BBQ - Part 2

So, Smithfield’s Chicken ‘n BBQ has a booming business in North Carolina.  They are utilizing their blog properly to communicate with their audience new stores, new fundraisers, information about the company itself, and even information about the industry.  They have a lot of fans of their restaurant, their service, their personality, and of course their food.  They’ve set up an online resource for people all around the country to be able to order their BBQ and their Brunswick stew.  And they do have fans all over the country.

This is evidenced by their Facebook page, which shows more than 1,600 fans, but more importantly in my opinion, comments, feedback, and discussions from those fans.  You can also keep tabs on their events and see videos and photos on the fan page.  When I talked with Richard about how Smithfield’s was using Facebook, he gave me the following insights:

Richard: Facebook has helped us realize how well known our brand is and gave us confidence to expand outside our borders.  You would not believe the positive comments folks post from all over the country.  Most importantly, it has given us some insight on our customers.  Once, we asked the question “where you would like to see a store?”  We received an incredible response and the majority were areas we have already considered.  A few months ago, I was considering using a company that printed coupons on the back of grocery receipts.  It seemed like a no-brainer to me – women hold the purse strings in 80% of households, women usually do the shopping, grocery stores have seen sales increases in this horrible  economy, people are using coupons now more than ever, etc.  I was all set to sign the contract.  Before I did I posted the question on FB (and Twitter): “Would you use a coupon on the back of a grocery store receipt?”  Over 31 people responded with 26 being “no”.  I was shocked!  I passed on the contract and our fans saved us $2,000!  One could argue this is small number of people to base a decision.  On the other hand, these folks are our customers.  This was not asked to a random group of people!  Facebook also allowed us to connect with a soldier from NC originally.  We have “adopted” his unit and send his unit goodies every month, http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/news/story.phtml?id=9009

To me, the interesting thing here is that Richard smartly uses Facebook as a free focus group to poll his customers.  And again, it’s not just a polling of random people, these are the actual customers of the restaurants, the people who come in everyday and supply Smithfield’s with their core business.  By engaging these customers, Richard embraces their viewpoints as assets and communicates to them that their opinions have value.  Richard is using Facebook to create conversations with his customers.

I know of much larger businesses that should be doing the same thing.  Think about your business and ask yourself – am I just talking at my customers?  Or am I having a conversation with them?  Which has more value for my business or offering?

What are your opinions about engaging customers in conversations?  Is it valuable to you, or do you find that a more traditional approach to speaking at your customers is a more valuable strategy for you?  Why?