Street Food Marketing Tips …
August 23, 2011 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
The worlds of technology and table manners came together today at a breakout session on social media marketing at the National Street Food Conference held at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco.
The National Street Food Conference was organized by, which La Cocina is an incubator for food startups run by immigrant entrepreneurs who want to share their native cuisine with the worldly diners of San Francisco. La Cocina vendors have use of a commercial kitchen for food prep, and have access to advisors who are there to help navigate the city permitting process and other legalities of selling food to the public.
On hand to share best practices were
Lisa and Brain Wood from Big Ass Sandwiches in Portland, OR, Joshua Henderson of Skillet Street Food in Seattle, and Matt Cohen, the owner and operator of Off The Grid, a veritable rodeo of food trucks in San Francisco, with more than 70 vendors. The panel was moderated by Baylen Linnekin, a lawyer, researcher and dedicated food writer.
Technology has transformed the way the entire food industry markets its products, said Linnekin in his opening remarks. He used the word “revolution,” and drew parallels between popular uprisings in the Middle East, the London riots, and the explosion of the popularity of street foodie gourmets in the U.S. Linnekin also pointed out that Mohammed Bouazizi, the young Tunisian man credited with sparking the so-called Arab Spring, was himself a street food vendor who sold veggies.
Street food sales have been documented from ancient Egyptian times. What’s different about today’s food trucks is the idea that they are “gastromobiles,” making high quality food, and bringing it to their audience. Serious Eats in 2009 was able to list 53 trucks nationwide that were doing mobile gourmet food and marketing themselves with social media. In 2011, Linekkin said there may be as many as 117,000 trucks nationwide, according to his research, though he said he couldn’t get Foursquare to comment on his findings.
There are no shortage of food apps and startups out there, but there are two standout tools that food vendors themselves use for marketing. You can probably guess which ones they are: Facebook and Twitter. While panelists had varied opinions on when and how to use Twitter or Facebook, location updates, special offers and conversations were the features of both they found most appealing. Facebook’s fan page was a great way to leverage static information, while Twitter was a good way to share to interact with customers in a rapid-fire, chatty manner.
After using social media to promote their food businesses, most would never go back to traditional advertising. Cohen of Off The Grid said he spent $500 printing $1 off fliers, and after a run of 10,000 prints, only one coupon was redeemed. Social media marketing is free, and only requires an investment of time.
But what surprised me was the limited extent to which any of the newer social media tools were being used. Feelings were mixed on whether Yelp was helpful or not, but Cohen, of Off The Grid said it was helpful for service recovery, and as a way to determine if business owners were effectively dealing with customer issues as they arise. Foursquare was seen as a headache, and no one on the panel knew what FoodSpotting was, or how to use it. Groans erupted when the word “Groupon” was uttered, and Lisa Wood of Big Ass Sandwiches said that a deal they ran with Groupon nearly put them out of business in their first year, after they sold 2,000 vouchers instead of the 400 they had anticipated.
In the end, though, the most innovative application of social media in marketing street food had nothing to do with the technology. Big Ass Sandwiches has an iPhone app that allows in-app purchases, and menu updates with about 1,700 downloads, versus more than 3,200 followers on their @BigAssSandwich Twitter account, It’s the ability to understand customer sentiment that really matters.
Lisa Wood said that on a service like Yelp, its important not to take the highs too high, or the lows too low, when guaging customer feedback. Henderson of Skillet agreed, saying that business owners in the past used to operate with blinders on. Most of the time you only hear back when something is wrong, through a comment card or an angry voice mail.
So for all the potential to market through social media, it would seem that the real revolution, at least for now, is the ability to listen.
See also: Following Food Trucks with Social Media Drive
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Miramax looks to boost tiny Facebook movies market
August 23, 2011 by admin
Filed under Latest Lingerie News
Miramax Films is making 20 of its movies available to rent on Facebook, even as new research shows the social network has yet to become a formidable competitor in the digital movie market.
The independent studio that spun out of Walt Disney Co. last year is offering films, including “Pulp Fiction,” “Kill Bill,” “Clerks” and “Swingers,” on a new Facebook page called Miramax eXperience. Each movie costs $3 to rent for 48 hours.
It’s not the first time movies have been made available to rent on Facebook, as studios seek to capitalize on the word’s most popular social network. Warner Bros. began the trend with “The Dark Knight” in March, followed by others, including Universal Pictures’ “The Big Lebowski.” However, no other studio has launched its own Facebook page with so many movies offered together.
In addition, Miramax eXperience is available on iPads and Google TV.
That could prove valuable, as the inability to watch movies rented or purchased via Facebook off PCs has been an impediment to their success, according to Arash Amel, digital media research director for IHS Screen Digest.
IHS recently released data on Internet movie distribution in the first half of the year and found that Facebook Inc. did not register among the top five distributors. Apple Inc.’s iTunes continued to dominate the market, with 65.8% of revenue, up from 64.9% in the first half of 2010.
Vudu, owned by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., leaped from 1% to 5%. Microsoft Corp.’s Zune (available on computers and the Xbox 360 video game console) and Sony Corp.’s Playstation store each lost ground, falling to 16.2% from 18.5% and 4.4% from 8.2%, respectively. Amazon.com Inc. stayed roughly constant at 4%.
Vudu has made aggressive moves to expand its distribution on tables, televisions and the Wal-Mart website, which accounted for much of its growth.
“Movies on Facebook will struggle to even get near the top five without a TV-based or device-based ecosystem presence,” Amel said. “It’s no more than a marketing gimmick right now for studios.”
Miramax’s Chief Executive Mike Lang has been aggressive in putting his studio’s library of about 700 titles online, forging digital distribution deals with outlets including Netflix and Hulu.
RELATED:
Facebook to offer movie rentals
Online movie downloads up nearly 40% in 2010, surpassing TV sales for first time
– Ben Fritz
Image: A screen shot of Miramax eXperience on Facebook.