Self-promotion – in a short text message

Follow us now on Twitter! – we can read in numerous American and Western European magazines and on the websites of shops, businesses, restaurants and bars. What is this new, fast and cheap form of communication good for? The answer is simple: effective electronic communication with guests on a daily basis. Twitter is a social networking service where anyone, a chef or restaurant can report its current activities. It is like blogging, but using only 140 characters as in text messages. It is effective because nowadays it has become a routine to check one’s e-mails or to log in to Iwiw, Facebook or Twitter while drinking the morning coffee. Today, when there is so much information around, the websites of restaurants and their newsletters are not always ”loud” enough to reach every possible customer. On social networking websites we can create a club to gather those who are interested in our business and send messages to them. Twitter is like this: a free microblog where you can post short messages all day, but here anyone can see your posts and not only your registered friends. Those interested can sign up to receive your posts regularly. Therefore, twitter is a good marketing tool: we can post messages about what is cooking in the kitchen, about a new programme; we can offer fine wines or publish recipes. Numerous restaurants use Twitter all over the world, for instance Tender Green in Los Angeles started twittering early this year with three posts per day, advertising the day’s specialty or the chef telling what he bought at the marketplace. They started following gastro-bloggers and journalists first and reached others through them. Maggiano’s in Dallas opted for a different technique. This 45-unit chain drew prizes among those who registered: 2,000 customers registered in just one day. They keep monitoring the posts about the restaurants, thank the reviews and examine the complaints. At the time of writing this article three Hungarian restaurants were present on Twitter: Kiadó Kocsma (twitter.com/kiadokocsma) on Jókai square, Fecske Terasz (twitter.com/fecsketerasz) and Pastrami (twitter.com/pastramibp). Net Pincér (twitter.com/netpincer) has an account Twitter as well. How to start? The first steps are really simple: go to www.twitter.com and create a profile for your restaurant. Upload your logo or photos and introduce yourself, describing the character of the restaurant. In the next step, report about interesting events in a few posts (140 characters or less). After this look for and follow other users or make them follow you. It is important to familiarise as many people with your Twitter name as possible, be sure to place it on every advertising material. Websites like www.NearbyTweets.com, www.tweetlater.com and tweetbeep.com help you use your Twitter account more effectively.