Social Web Integration - A Must Have

I thought I would post a blog that originated from one of the four foodservice industry communities we own and manage - FohBohWine. Yep, we own and operate several communities for restaurant, culinary and wine professionals. This one is a little sleepy...

We view the world as one big community with thousand and thousands of sub-communities. While they would love us to believe it's true, sorry, but it's not Facebook. These sub-communities are communities of practice, or communities of purpose, or passion or even cause related. Where like-minded people connect, collaborate and communicate interactively...and globally. This is a powerful way to fully leverage the value proposition social networking and the Internet bring us. Think of it this way - picture a triangle with "about you" on one side, "for you" on another; and "by you" on the bottom. When combined, these three "deliverables" create complete community functionality.

(1) Search (for you) for industry news and information - a foodservice related topic or issue relating to your business on FohBoh and there will likely be a discussion thread, or blog post about it. Then, read it, comment on it and share it with your Twitter followers and Fans on Facebook.

(2) (3) Create a profile (about you), or about your business. Add rich media like photos, video, or  slide presentation - even a Podcast. Add links, RSS feeds, create or join a group and then personalize it with  Blogs (by you). This type of online community is relevant. It's timely. It's contextual and relates to you.

When we founded FohBoh back in 2007, is was about combining these three key interactive components to empower our members to engage in a continuous global discussion that can lead to business process improvements, resource integration and business partner optimization. It's about integrating the social web into our business. Add up all the groups on LinkedIn relating to foodservice and it's a small series of sub-communities. The 40,000+ members on FohBoh communities are 10X this size with far more relevant content. What you see happening today is the web being fully integrated into your life; personally and professionally. Separating your business-life from your home-life is as important in real life (IRL) as it is in a virtual world.

 We are being bombarded by technology applications. Yesterday, the applications did one thing. Today, they do 10 things. Tomorrow, 25 things (10 of which we never even knew we needed) are being integrated into a social web-based business/marketing/communications solution that has great promise. Short term, that promise may well be to confuse us. Long-term, these applications and social web tools are the must haves that will differentiate your business from the late adopters.

Be receptive to trial

The convergence of social media, mobile devices and consumer lifestyles is ushering in a new era of restaurant-consumer interaction, opening new doors for restaurant operators to build customer relationships and sales opportunities. Being open to change and willing to experiment with new SaaS - based social web applications, will help educate you in real-time. What we have here is a fast-moving culture driven by connection and conversation. Staying ahead of your customer and being open to using social web tools for your restaurant business, are both necessary to win in this decade.