Social media can be a restaurant's friend or nightmare
ONE bad meal shared over Facebook can kill a restaurant's reputation, according to an Orica engineer who is trying to help restaurant owners through the muck and the mire of social media.
Adam Rossow started his business Managing Social Media three months ago and already has around ten clients that use his service.
"For some it is as simple as teaching them how to use their phone," he said.
"Others just need reassurance that they are doing the right thing."
Mr Rossow moved to Gladstone with wife Jessica five years ago from Brisbane where he had a smorgasbord of dining options in walking distance.
To fill that void he started a Facebook page called Gladstone Food Rater out of "greed because (he) wanted to know about all the good places to go and eat".
What he noticed on the page, which now has more than 3500 members, was some restaurants managed social media better than others.
"Some people weren't on it at all and couldn't control the feedback they were getting," he said.
"While others have been able to turn a customer who has had a bad experience into a loyal customer."
He said restaurants made mistakes but if they could be fixed well customers would give them another 3-4 stuff ups.
Another tactic he spoke of was for the restaurant owner to be a known figure people associate the restaurant with.
"If someone has a complaint and throws it online, people get the owner involved and they can fix the problem quickly," he said.
But he said the main reason people complained about restaurants was a mismatch of expectations.
"The restaurants need to be clear about what they are providing and customers need to know what they want," he said.
"If you're on a date to McDonalds drive through but your date is all dressed up. You're not going to like what you get.
"But then again if you take a soccer team to a nice restaurant you won't be happy either."
He said it was not just Facebook owners had to worry about.
"With the P&O Cruise coming and work winding down restaurant owners need to get on other sites to let other people know what they are offering," he said.
Even though the business is a small project Mr Rossow does in his spare time, he couldn't be happier.
"I like photography, social media and dining," he said.
"My business is an intersection of things I like.
Source: Gladstone Observer, Campbell Gellie, 20th November 2015
Originally published as: Social media can be a restaurant's friend or nightmare
