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Viral Marketing: Today's Sensation or Yesterday's
News?
(May 2009)
Today we discuss viral marketing and it’s impact on the
restaurant world, we also analyse the potential role of
such techniques in the future.
In 1997 the unfortunately named term “viral” marketing
was (according to Wikipedia) coined by Harvard
Business School graduate Tim Draper when referring to
the style of advertising practice used by hotmail.
In this case when a hotmail user emailed their friends an
advert was automatically appended that, for example,
promoted the use of hotmail. So when users emailed
their friends and their friends emailed their friends, the
advert spread exponentially “like a virus.”
The definition has been broadened over the years to
cover all forms of word of mouth or word by technology
enthusiasm or “buzz” generated through exploitation of
Social Networking Potential.
The Nike promotion “Touch of Gold” can be considered,
in the broadest sense, one of the early truly global viral
marketing successes. The advert, placed on You Tube,
involved the then world footballer of the year Ronaldinho,
receiving a new pair of Nike boots which he then used to
perform extraordinary tricks. The clip was viewed over 25
million times world-wide.
A more recent example of the same concept might be the
buzz generated about the singer Susan Boyle. Within a
few days, a four minute song video clip, again on You
Tube, had gone around the world enjoying approximately
100 million views in the process. Susan shot to
overnight stardom and was appearing on US chat shows
within the week.
The rise of Facebook and Twitter on the internet has
provided vehicles which are more closely aligned to the
purity of the original viral marketing definition. They both
offer clearly defined, natural platforms for marketers to
exploit pre-developed and ever expanding social
networking structures.
What is Twitter? Well quite loosely it can be described
as micro-blogging meets social networking; where the
internet watchwords of interactiveness and
responsiveness are taken to an extreme.
On the face of it the apparently vain and frivolous activity
of writing 140 characters about “what are you doing?” at
any given time doesn’t hold much water. However when
a plethora of celebrities (A to Z list) are participating the
“buzz” becomes quite irresistible, with individuals and
importantly, companies, developing their own bands of
followers.
finediningguide started a Twitter page in April 2009 –
relatively late to the game by early adopter standards!
The objective of the finediningguide page was to provide
message alerts in real time of upcoming features on the
website as well as bulletins on matters such as
technical time outs: An example being the brief time out
experienced by the podcast series on iTunes.
Within a couple of weeks the site had a hundred or so
followers, two weeks later approaching three hundred.
During these early weeks it was noted that many Twitter
participants were promoting their websites or blogs.
After consideration it was decided to introduce a “viral
marketing” experiment.
In 2004, when finediningguide began, the site was
looking for content and a piece was written called “The
forty perils.”
The article took a humorous look at forty things that a fine
dining restaurant might do that they really shouldn’t and
likewise forty things customers may do that infuriate
restaurants.
As with any site in its early days any page views are
gratefully received and sure enough, as a google listing
emerged, a small trickle of visitors had a look at the
pages.
News?
(May 2009)
Today we discuss viral marketing and it’s impact on the
restaurant world, we also analyse the potential role of
such techniques in the future.
In 1997 the unfortunately named term “viral” marketing
was (according to Wikipedia) coined by Harvard
Business School graduate Tim Draper when referring to
the style of advertising practice used by hotmail.
In this case when a hotmail user emailed their friends an
advert was automatically appended that, for example,
promoted the use of hotmail. So when users emailed
their friends and their friends emailed their friends, the
advert spread exponentially “like a virus.”
The definition has been broadened over the years to
cover all forms of word of mouth or word by technology
enthusiasm or “buzz” generated through exploitation of
Social Networking Potential.
The Nike promotion “Touch of Gold” can be considered,
in the broadest sense, one of the early truly global viral
marketing successes. The advert, placed on You Tube,
involved the then world footballer of the year Ronaldinho,
receiving a new pair of Nike boots which he then used to
perform extraordinary tricks. The clip was viewed over 25
million times world-wide.
A more recent example of the same concept might be the
buzz generated about the singer Susan Boyle. Within a
few days, a four minute song video clip, again on You
Tube, had gone around the world enjoying approximately
100 million views in the process. Susan shot to
overnight stardom and was appearing on US chat shows
within the week.
The rise of Facebook and Twitter on the internet has
provided vehicles which are more closely aligned to the
purity of the original viral marketing definition. They both
offer clearly defined, natural platforms for marketers to
exploit pre-developed and ever expanding social
networking structures.
What is Twitter? Well quite loosely it can be described
as micro-blogging meets social networking; where the
internet watchwords of interactiveness and
responsiveness are taken to an extreme.
On the face of it the apparently vain and frivolous activity
of writing 140 characters about “what are you doing?” at
any given time doesn’t hold much water. However when
a plethora of celebrities (A to Z list) are participating the
“buzz” becomes quite irresistible, with individuals and
importantly, companies, developing their own bands of
followers.
finediningguide started a Twitter page in April 2009 –
relatively late to the game by early adopter standards!
The objective of the finediningguide page was to provide
message alerts in real time of upcoming features on the
website as well as bulletins on matters such as
technical time outs: An example being the brief time out
experienced by the podcast series on iTunes.
Within a couple of weeks the site had a hundred or so
followers, two weeks later approaching three hundred.
During these early weeks it was noted that many Twitter
participants were promoting their websites or blogs.
After consideration it was decided to introduce a “viral
marketing” experiment.
In 2004, when finediningguide began, the site was
looking for content and a piece was written called “The
forty perils.”
The article took a humorous look at forty things that a fine
dining restaurant might do that they really shouldn’t and
likewise forty things customers may do that infuriate
restaurants.
As with any site in its early days any page views are
gratefully received and sure enough, as a google listing
emerged, a small trickle of visitors had a look at the
pages.
In the mists of time the feature had faded into the
background and not been viewed in any numbers for
years.
Today, among the steady 25,000 or so page views a
month that the site enjoys, the Michelin home page, the
home page itself and the Bib Gourmand pages are the
most popularly viewed on an on-going basis.
So an entry was made on Twitter promoting the forty
perils pages. For one day and one day only those pages
were the most viewed pages across the well established
two hundred plus page site.
The previous example of such a spike was the
appearance of chef Alan Murchison (of Michelin Starred L’
Ortolan and La Becasse) appearing on the BBC TV
programme Great British Menu. Alan appeared for half
an hour every evening at 6.30pm for a week. The
programme enjoyed three million viewers per night. The
2005 interview the site conducted with Alan became the
most popular page on the site for one week and one
week only.
The fascinating thing was that both spikes were of equal
measure – in marketing collateral terms can three
million TV viewers equate to three hundred Twitter
followers?! Well it’s an unfair comparison but the result
is interesting nonetheless, as it clearly highlights the
marketing potential of social networking on the internet.
What can restaurants do to take advantage? Well as an
example, Andy Lynes wrote an interesting article for
BigHospitality that focused on the excellent use made of
Twitter by the Michelin restaurant Galvin at Windows.
The “Windows” site has a strong personal resonance: As
a child my father took me up “the fastest lift in London”
(as he put it) to the top floor of the Park Lane Hilton to
admire the views and have a drink in the bar. I gazed in
wonderment through the doors of the restaurant at all the
important and slightly frightening gathering of diners.
As an adult I have always taken visiting relatives from
abroad (Australia and the US) to Windows for lunch.
Regardless of the food, the views are spectacular – Hyde
Park and Knightsbridge on one side and Buckingham
Palace on the other. Currently in the hands of Chef
Galvin, the site enjoys the Michelin recognition it
deserves.
As with all fine dining restaurants, Windows is not
immune to the recession and innovative marketing
techniques to put bums on seats have been explored.
Andy Lynes' article quoted the general manager of Galvin’
s Fred Sirieix as stating that the restaurant enjoyed an
average of a booking a day thanks to their Twitter
presence.
Given the ephemeral nature of the “buzz” generated by
Twitter, perhaps a marketing strategy might revolve
around placing a promotion on a Tuesday evening for a
20% discount for bookings on the Wednesday evening or
lunch time. You can see how this technique could apply
to all sorts of businesses but this is perhaps the best
solution for restaurants.
The dangers are two fold. The first is that 80-90% of
Twitter content suffers (in marketing terms) from the
email plague of spam. Messages can get lost in the
mix. The second is that as these social networking
platforms mature messages are lost in the mix for a
different reason – everyone becomes a me too! No
doubt Twitter, like Facebook, will naturally develop into
common interest groups (that can only aid marketing)
however saturation may soon follow.
At the turn on May 2009 it was reported on one of the
satellite US News Channels that the “Twitter Craze” had
peaked and was fading – people had got bored. This is
quite ironic; in an age of immediate consumption,
satisfaction and disposal it is like the vast majority of
those that ‘Tweet on Twitter’ getting bored with being
bored.
No doubt however, in the medium term, one can expect
the restaurant scene, particularly in these economic
times where marketing creativity is an essential
ingredient for pure survival, to be exploring all such
avenues to reach our palates.
background and not been viewed in any numbers for
years.
Today, among the steady 25,000 or so page views a
month that the site enjoys, the Michelin home page, the
home page itself and the Bib Gourmand pages are the
most popularly viewed on an on-going basis.
So an entry was made on Twitter promoting the forty
perils pages. For one day and one day only those pages
were the most viewed pages across the well established
two hundred plus page site.
The previous example of such a spike was the
appearance of chef Alan Murchison (of Michelin Starred L’
Ortolan and La Becasse) appearing on the BBC TV
programme Great British Menu. Alan appeared for half
an hour every evening at 6.30pm for a week. The
programme enjoyed three million viewers per night. The
2005 interview the site conducted with Alan became the
most popular page on the site for one week and one
week only.
The fascinating thing was that both spikes were of equal
measure – in marketing collateral terms can three
million TV viewers equate to three hundred Twitter
followers?! Well it’s an unfair comparison but the result
is interesting nonetheless, as it clearly highlights the
marketing potential of social networking on the internet.
What can restaurants do to take advantage? Well as an
example, Andy Lynes wrote an interesting article for
BigHospitality that focused on the excellent use made of
Twitter by the Michelin restaurant Galvin at Windows.
The “Windows” site has a strong personal resonance: As
a child my father took me up “the fastest lift in London”
(as he put it) to the top floor of the Park Lane Hilton to
admire the views and have a drink in the bar. I gazed in
wonderment through the doors of the restaurant at all the
important and slightly frightening gathering of diners.
As an adult I have always taken visiting relatives from
abroad (Australia and the US) to Windows for lunch.
Regardless of the food, the views are spectacular – Hyde
Park and Knightsbridge on one side and Buckingham
Palace on the other. Currently in the hands of Chef
Galvin, the site enjoys the Michelin recognition it
deserves.
As with all fine dining restaurants, Windows is not
immune to the recession and innovative marketing
techniques to put bums on seats have been explored.
Andy Lynes' article quoted the general manager of Galvin’
s Fred Sirieix as stating that the restaurant enjoyed an
average of a booking a day thanks to their Twitter
presence.
Given the ephemeral nature of the “buzz” generated by
Twitter, perhaps a marketing strategy might revolve
around placing a promotion on a Tuesday evening for a
20% discount for bookings on the Wednesday evening or
lunch time. You can see how this technique could apply
to all sorts of businesses but this is perhaps the best
solution for restaurants.
The dangers are two fold. The first is that 80-90% of
Twitter content suffers (in marketing terms) from the
email plague of spam. Messages can get lost in the
mix. The second is that as these social networking
platforms mature messages are lost in the mix for a
different reason – everyone becomes a me too! No
doubt Twitter, like Facebook, will naturally develop into
common interest groups (that can only aid marketing)
however saturation may soon follow.
At the turn on May 2009 it was reported on one of the
satellite US News Channels that the “Twitter Craze” had
peaked and was fading – people had got bored. This is
quite ironic; in an age of immediate consumption,
satisfaction and disposal it is like the vast majority of
those that ‘Tweet on Twitter’ getting bored with being
bored.
No doubt however, in the medium term, one can expect
the restaurant scene, particularly in these economic
times where marketing creativity is an essential
ingredient for pure survival, to be exploring all such
avenues to reach our palates.
