Restaurants Search for Customers – Not Followers – on Twitter; Papa John’s Houston Expands Market by 52 percent with Twitter App Social Compass from HipLogiq
Dallas, Texas (PRWEB) October 11, 2013 -- Many restaurant owners use Twitter to gain followers and tweet their daily specials, but that may not be enough. HipLogiq’s SocialCompass helps restaurateurs find and engage new customers on Twitter in real-time, right as they’re about to decide where to eat or have a drink.
“Imagine the power of knowing exactly what a potential customer is looking for the moment he or she is looking for it,” says Adam Root, CTO and co-founder of HipLogiq.
Papa John’s understands that power. With a 52 percent conversion rate, their Houston chain uses SocialCompass to find local, geographically-targeted tweets about “love pizza,” “want breadsticks” and “ordering pizza,” among other key words. When found, the tweets are flagged so the company can respond with a discounted offer or free gift to encourage new business.
“A lot of restaurants, be it national chains or local eateries, use direct marketing and ads in clipping magazines,” says HipLogiq CEO and Co-founder Bernard Perrine. “But at best, restaurants get a 1-2 percent success rate on average for that investment. Papa John’s celebrates a 52 percent success with SocialCompass.”
Papa John's searches Twitter for local people who are about to buy pizza and uses SocialCompass to send an offer and remind them that Papa John's is a good option, says Director of Communications Bill Robinett. For example, the pizza chain might find a tweet from a mom about to go to the symphony and needs to get her kids and the babysitter fed. Immediately, Papa John's would send a coupon.
"What's so appealing about SocialCompass is the opportunity to target a completely different kind of market than we hit with mass advertising or direct mail," says Robinett. "There is no way to mass market to just the right customer at just the time they are about to order pizza. SocialCompass lets us talk to customers one-on-one instead of one in a million."
What’s more, restaurants in a destination city have even more reason to listen on Twitter. Statistics tell us that 85 percent of travelers use their smartphones while traveling, and searching for a restaurant is one of the top five uses. “Why not listen, engage and entice those travelers with a discount to try you out?” asks Root.
How it Works
SocialCompass’ patented Engagement Engine® searches Twitter and looks for relevant tweets based on a restaurant’s keywords and location. When SocialCompass finds a relevant tweet, it’s flagged on a dashboard so the restaurant or their advertising agency can respond in real time with an offer – 20 percent off, free product or Buy One Get One (BOGO), for example – to turn a potential prospect into a customer. This is called a location-based conversation (LBC). Every time a user engages with a LBC, such as responding to a tweet or flagging a tweet as “not relevant,” SocialCompass gets smarter. Over time, SocialCompass will predict which incoming tweets will be more important to the user. The conversion rate averages 25 percent, but some HipLogiq clients have found rates as high as 85 percent. Beyond the single sale, the restaurant’s customer who received the original offer receives an incentive two days later to share with their friends, potentially creating even more sales for that restaurant.
While SocialCompass is a full-service or white label solution, its sister software SocialCentiv is a web-based, do-it-yourself version that basically works the same way but without some of the more detailed features. SocialCentiv’s tool for restaurants can be found here.
“Restaurant owners tend to focus on tweeting to their followers, but that’s the social media equivalent of preaching to the choir,” says Perrine. “SocialCompass will help restaurateurs expand their markets to find new customers – and after all, that’s how you grow a business.”
About HipLogiq
HipLogiq began in October 2012 as Social Compass, an enterprise solution for social media marketing, now with a White Label solution for companies and agencies that want to brand the tool. Co-founders Adam Root, Lindsey Madison and Bernard Perrine designed the patented technology to help companies target and engage customers over social media in a meaningful, results-driven way. SocialCentiv – launched in March 2013 – works similarly for small to medium businesses, but with a web-based, do-it-yourself solution. During the design of SocialCentiv, leadership decided it was time to evolve the company into an idea factory that produces the most innovative, successful software applications in their market space. As a result, HipLogiq also launched in March 2013 and received $5M in series A funding shortly after. For more information, go to http://www.hiplogiq.com or visit them on Facebook or Twitter.
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For more information, contact Karen Carrera, karen(at)trizcom(dot)com, 972-207-1935 or on Twitter, @kjcarrera.
Karen Carrera, TrizCom, http://www.trizcom.com, 972.207.1935, [email protected]
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