Social Media Scoop: Working Your Twitter for Customer Feedback

Knowing what your customers think is vital to your business, but getting honest feedback is hard. Often, customers will either tell you everything is great even if it really is not or be so negative about their experience that they probably will not return anyway. Neither of those types of feedback are all that helpful. You really need middle-of-the-road feedback like “If your restaurant only had ____________, I would come much more often.” Twitter is a great medium for getting valuable feedback from your customers. People use Twitter as a commentary on places they go and people they meet. A good or bad restaurant experience is prime Twitter content.

Your restaurant’s presence on Twitter is key to interaction and influence with your customers. Twitter is different from other social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook because it is text-driven rather than image-driven. Plus, with a limit of 140 characters per tweet, people must be concise and to the point. Use Twitter to your advantage for getting customer feedback by focusing on the following ideas:

Engage With Questions

Start by asking your followers questions. Ask questions about anything you are curious about, whether you are seeking information about the restaurant’s logo or favorite menu items. You can even ask for suggestions for new dishes to add to your menu. Asking questions will help you get a good feel for what your customers are thinking and make your Twitter account more interesting. Generating conversation on your Twitter page will instantly make it better.

Run a Poll

Polls provide a quick way to hear from your audience with practically no effort on their part. While not everyone wants to take the time to type out a response to a question, many people will click to vote on a poll. Poll engagement allows people to initially engage and also check back to see how their response compared with others. So, engagement with your Twitter account doubles. Do not forget to post the results of your poll when its complete.

Check Your @mentions

Not all of your customer feedback has to be coaxed out by you. There is a good chance your customers are already mentioning you on Twitter. Search for your @mentions to find every tweet that mentions you. Click the @mention tab beside your timeline to check for all @mentions.

Foster Genuine Relationships

Keep your company’s value and style when you interact with customers on Twitter. Being genuine, warm and caring will set your business apart from others. Customers are much more likely to interact and be open when they feel like you are truly listening. Avoid using Twitter for pure marketing blasts, as people likely do not want to hear a sales pitch every time they see your tweets. Encourage feedback by creating conversations instead of one-way communication.

Be Responsive

Be attentive and responsive to the customers who reach out to you on Twitter. Check your messages and mentions as well as hashtags, company nicknames and any other important keywords people associate with your restaurant. Important information may slip through your grasp if you neglect the subtler ways that people are talking about your restaurant.

Follow the 1-in-4 Rule

You cannot be successful if you only send out sales-focused tweets. Tweet three times a day and limit your direct sales to only one out of every four tweets. Offer value in your posts by being informative, interacting with people and offering freebies/sales/discounts.

Interact With Other People and Businesses

Creating a Twitter presence is an important part of getting feedback. Interacting with other people and businesses on Twitter allows you to get in front of more people, show your restaurant’s persona and create community. For example, posting a tweet that thanks your local police officers for their recent volunteer work in your community shows that you are connected to the community and grateful for the work the civil servants do. You can even go a step further and offer a discount or a free meal for all on-duty officers who stop in.

Engage With Negative and Positive Tweets

As fun as it is to congratulate yourself on a positive tweet, the negative ones can be just as rewarding if you handle it correctly. Engaging customers who have negative comments can exemplify your persona as well as turn a negative experience into a positive one. Not every negative tweet deserves a response, but you should consider all of them as a chance to make a positive impact. Respond quickly when people have a problem and show your Twitter audience that you want to make them happy.

Twitter can be your best friend when you are trying to gather feedback from your customers. If you need help making sense of Twitter and how to use it to improve your restaurant, contact Orders2.me today. We can help you.