Is your social media a waste of time?   It’s like weeding a garden that doesn’t produce, what’s the point?  That is if you are not monitoring it’s growth and fertilizing it during it’s growing cycles.  I like the gardening metaphor as we all understand how a garden grows and what to expect from it however for social media predicting it’s growth potential is not as clear.

So let’s begin.  You find a plot of land that is going to work in the landscape of your business and your life.  Not too exposed to where you get burned out and it’s over kill,  meaning; too many times businesses have the best intentions with starting strong and them getting burned out.   They spend a lot of time which of course we know, time equals money  planting your marketing garden and when the time doesn’t equal the results you lose interest and the accounts are then left unattended. This is common.  It is also common to not see the fruits of your labor produce the results you are expecting and to that point there are many reasons.

Even with those accounts with weekly maintenance, if the results are not what you are expecting, the value of using these tools lessen and it becomes a cause of pain instead of a source for solutions.   If you look, you can see it with your competitors or maybe even with your business.

So let’s say the plot of land for your garden is totally free to use.  Much like many social media platforms.  You will need to have a plan to planet your garden.   Same with social media.  Some plants grow better with others while others don’t of course.  Some need more light, more watering, fertilizing and more attention.  All the same with social media marketing.

The biggest part of any marketing plan is creating a solid plan and sticking to the plan.  Same with gardening.  There are certain times of the year you market.  Same with planting.   There are certain times of the day and week you nurture your marketing, much like watering and weeding.  Tending to your marketing plan much like tending to your garden.

Monitoring what is produced from your garden is your “ROI” return on investment.  You wouldn’t keep investing time into something that wasn’t producing.  Like your menu, if you have items on your menu that are slow movers you removed them from your menu.  Simple.  Same of course with social media.  You have to find what grows your business and what doesn’t.  You also need to protect your garden from damage like insects, rodents and animals.  Guess what?  Same with social media.  You need to protect your brand.

Much like weeds that pop up in your garden these ever changing and ever popular social networking platforms keep popping up.  If you’re not watching for them they can over take your garden.  Again, same social media.  If you are not listening to what others are saying about your brand the negative comments and word of mouth can reek havoc on your brand, compromising your business.

Many times people devalue the value of working with someone to help build their marketing.   When learning how to garden,  I spent many years as a child with my father, an Iowa farm boy however I still had questions.  For those questions I asked my father as the basic priciples applied now as they did when he was farming however I had to buy a books to learn about gardening in the Southwest, a new growing region for me.

Same with social media.  Many of the same basic marketing principals apply however social media is a new growing region for business.  Working with someone to help you understand how to grow your marketing using these tools is time and money well spent.   You produce higher yields for your efforts and maximize your opportunities.

I have invested the time to understand how these tools work best for food service so you don’t have to.  Like a horticulture for plants, I serve as a markiculture for food service.   I’m here to help your business grow.

Happy Growing!

Madonna Kash

Restaurant Marketing Partners/ FoodService Geeks