Today, I wanna introduce you to Wow Bao restaurant, especially their social media marketing strategy. I am sure that you'll like the way they are doing!
Wow Bao is a fast-casual Asian restaurant with five locations in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
In 2003, Wow Bao's first location launched at Chicago’s Water Tower Place, a Michigan Avenue shopping mall. Two more locations in downtown Chicago followed in 2007.
Geoff Alexander, managing partner of Wow Bao and a vice-president at its parent company, Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises Inc. took over Wow Bao's operations in January 2009.
In the same year, Alexander launched a bicycle delivery service and set up electronic ordering kiosks at two of Wow Bao’s three locations. The kiosks, which accept credit cards for instant payment, remember a customer’s previous four orders.
In the past 2 years, Alexander saw the potentials of social media for further reaching and interacting with customers, so he established a Wow Bao's social media marketing mission :" GIVE AWAY AS MUCH OF ITS PRODUCT AS POSSIBLE". He says “What better way to get people excited about your business than to give them your product?” and “That way, we can educate them about our product, get them to like it, and it makes it fun for them to try it.”
The following social media marketing strategies of Wow Bao are the most successful ones:
1. Give Product Away When They Check In
Every time, customers visiting the restaurant who 'check in' on FourSquare or Facebook Places, are eligible for a deal ' buy 1 get 1 bao free'. The first time customers 'check in' using Scvngr, a new location -based platform, they will receive a free bao. Furthermore, the one with the most FourSquare check-ins gets a free six packs of bao- as often as they visit.
I know you will be surprised at what Wow Bao's doing, but Alexander states:
"If I were to spend $10,000 on a billboard, radio ad or magazine ad, I have no idea what’s the return on investment is ,” . “For the same amount of money, I can give away 7,500 baos. I can touch 7,500 people and hopefully 100 percent of them are going to like the product and become hooked".
I think it makes sense- a good way of doing business and also attracting people's attention.
On “Secret Word Wednesdays” customers of Wow Bao’s Facebook page can learn a secret word to tell the cashier for a free bao at the restaurant.
or other events:
He further explains why Giving Away Product to Customers Who Check In is " A Conversation-Starter"
“Most of the people on Foursquare have their accounts tied to their Twitter accounts, and their Twitter accounts are tied to their Facebook accounts, which are tied to their blogs. When somebody checks in, it goes viral on these different (platforms), and you start a conversation. First, it's ‘Hey, I'm at Wow Bao'; then, ‘What's that?' Then, ‘I love it—have you tried it?' “
2. Create an Twitter Avatar for your business
We all know that a right Twitter avatar can generate many benefits: It helps define your brand and spread it around the Internet. Whenever you're participating in some social activities online including commenting on blogs, tweeting, sharing a link on Facebook, you want to be recognizable.
@BaoMouth's job is to:
- tweet a daily deal
- reply to inquiries from customers
- retweet from loyal customers
- engage in conversations with customers regarding any issues
- make customers happy- give a big surprise as possible.
3. Let Customers Place an Order through your Facebook fan-page
In another article, Alexander told QSR reasons to launch online ordering -CLICK ME
4. Build a brand ambassador program
Interestingly, a loyal customer can become a Bao Mouth. They just need to register online, then they will be given a Bao Mouth card. Wow Bao will protect card holders' personal information. Bao Mouth member's job is to look for people who love Wow Bao, are really promoting Wow Bao and sharing Wow Bao with other people.Bao Mouth members will receive exclusive offers from Wow Bao. For instance, during the week before Christmas, Bao Mouth card holders will be given free meals at the Wow Bao restaurant.
5. Utilize new technologies
- Offer technology -driven customer experiences- Provide customer convenience
- When a customer forgets his wallet, he can use his smartphone to pay for the order at the restaurant -
Source: Chicago Business , 2011
What do you think about Wow Bao's SM marketing strategies? Do you think Wow Bao will go further????
This is a cool idea, firstly, I just looked at their menu and can't really figure out what a Bao is. It is a sort of dumpling? This seems to be the thing that the like to give away, and must also be their signature dish.
ReplyDeleteI think they are doing pretty well with their approach. i just wonder how sustainable it is. Alexander made an interesting statement comparing this to billboard advertising, but once you have created the loyalty, if the same group of people go back there all the time, your margins will drop quite a bit I would imagine.
Ross
"Hot Asian Buns" is what they are @Ross. It looks like they are mightily into SM!
ReplyDeleteI really like their idea of getting people excited about their business. I think they are trying to catch up with today's fast growing technology and social network. Hope they will be able to expand their business into other countries in the near future.
ReplyDeletethanks for your comments :D
ReplyDeletelol... baos = Asian buns = look Yummy :D
their business is going well... they have a lot of fans as well although their business is till within Chicago. I think they wanna step by step- slowly but surely.