The reason why many restaurants ignores social networks

With the table reserved in advance, one prepared to try the delicacies of that new location and began the sequence of dishes. It’s Mother that was nonsense: the upbringing served at room temperature, the meat overcooked and the dessert I did not know anything. At other times one had told friends and relatives an “even think you go to that site”, but with the fury of social networks, the message that a dissatisfied customer is there for life and view of the world.

There are scares customers in every rule that are ignored by the restaurants, or most of them, which deny the power of social networks and are focused on making the letter the next day in most cases.

But life goes on the internet and an increasingly strong weight in our lives. Thus, a restaurant may notice a sudden decrease in bookings without an apparent reason to justify and continue to act as if nothing had happened, while Foursquare, Google or Yelp, to a lesser extent, may be ruining the reputation of a restaurant a small detail that would cost almost nothing to correct the owner. And what will be if criticisms are dictated by the competition with the aim of stealing customers for our business?

The San Francisco Magazine has devoted a detailed piece on the love-hate relationship with the hoteliers’ reviews online. Love, because the same criticisms can achieve that catapults the sales, and hatred, of course, on the contrary. The fact is that when booking a table at a restaurant, especially if you do not know by hearsay, it is becoming a more common type in Google your name, and this is where one can find the first reviews a very visual form based on a feedback graph. But if the user handles well with mobile, Foursquare will give plus details of its location, a number of tips from customers who have been there before us and recommend us which table to take, where to park and neither are we think about ordering fries.

These stark and completely unbiased opinions are what catapult or sink a business, especially if there are many reviews written about the local. But what if they are few and also drafted by competition with the intention of stealing customers to our business? This is where they start chafing owners with social networks.

Facing criticism and correct errors

One day I walked into a popular restaurant and book a table before, did a search on the internet for reviews of other diners, which obviously were there. Already in the restaurant and after paying the bill, I asked out of curiosity if they were aware of the criticism on the Internet, and the response gave me an idea of vision on the subject of part of the hotel: “Internet? Not be better then criticize you”. That is, out of sight, out of mind.

The false and widespread belief among many restaurant owners is that if one is not on the network, it is not susceptible of attack by critics. But this approach is misguided: sooner or later the local name appears in any of the various social networks and from then shower you with reviews: positive or negative.

And these criticisms have much more weight than many homeowners think. In fact, many prefer to spend money on advertising rather than devote resources to manage the critical social networks. When it comes to managing, we mean to collect the reviews and take adequate measures.

However, despite the efforts devoted by many of these entrepreneurs in the United States are already many who have renounced manage attacks. The report gives the example of a restaurant that had just opened for business and was visited by a couple of Asians. The best, as elsewhere, is to seek balance: reading reviews to constructively correct errors, but without giving them much.

The owner believed to know the previous week and asked: ”were here last week right?” as well, this as trivial error triggered a storm out of control on Yelp to qualify the couple for “racist” the owner believing that all Asians were equal. And the Nativity scene is armed. The other owners have given up reading reviews because they recognize that they have begun to sleep badly after reading some reviews. “Your value becomes the last review” explain, and of course, the latter depends heavily on customer mood that day or if it came with an unbearable headache to the local.

In this situation, even an air current caused by a bad camera can cause a devastating critique for a business that does well the rest of the things. In summary, the best, as elsewhere, is to seek balance: read the opinions constructively to correct errors, but without giving them much.