Cheers

Cheers July/August 2013

Cheers is dedicated to delivering hospitality professionals the information, insights and data necessary to drive their beverage business by covering trends and innovations in operations, merchandising, service and training.

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MARKETING MATTERS By Dave Dronkers 1) INSTITUTE A FORMAL SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY. Social channels—including blogs, social networking sites, and image sharing sites—are a potential minefield for intellectual property abuse. So it's critical that your social media policy clearly details what can and can't be shared online by employees who post on the company's behalf. Your social media policy doesn't need to look like a legal document. It should simply outline how your business and its employees will be represented in a virtual social world. 5 Best Practices for Social Media S ocial media has quickly become the glue in our digitally driven world; it's changed how companies market their brands to customers, and also how they interact with customers. Whether you have a marketing department, an intern or tech-savvy employee who manages your social media activity, you should have a social media training program in place for three reasons: Tackling a social media training program shouldn't be too difficult if you follow these five key steps. 20 | JULY/AUGUST 2013 2) DEVELOP A SOLID TRAINING AGENDA. Your training agenda should include subjects such as personal privacy and the basics of digital citizenship. You also want some creative guidelines. Teach employees how to write interesting, relevant and valuable online content that best matches your brand or business. Be sure to cover when and how to respond to public comments regardless of the social media channel. In particular, handling negative or abusive comments can frazzle even the best social media manager. Knowing when and how to respond can protect brand identity and your business. 2) TEACH YOUR EMPLOYEES HOW TO ENGAGE. You want to avoid any type of content that will put customers off or dissuade people from being interested in your product or service. Make sure your company's social media channels are broadcasting the following: your personality into your tweets and Facebook posts. No one wants to read cold, lifeless posts. effective marketing. Whether it's sharing, commenting, buying or subscribing, a call to action tells your audience what to do with your company's content. www.cheersonline.com

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