The Power of Social Media and Indian Food

     Ahh the power of Social Media. So working an event with a skeleton crew, like we did at the CNTC has its challenges. One of which is eating. While I packed protein bars and they were delicious by the way, at the close of the show we were starving. I pulled out my handy dandy phone and called upon the Yelp app for some suggestions. Finding vegetarian fare can be interesting but thanks to the search filters we were able to locate a few options. International restaurants usually have a fair amount of choices and I had a taste for Indian food. Searching Indian food brought a few choices close to the hotel so I chose the Taste of India mainly for its 4 and a half star rating. Once we got directions the feast was imminent. Pulling up to the restaurant was a little scary, think abandoned building. While Braden tried to convince me it was closed the neon Open sign said otherwise. The most amazing aroma greeted us at the door and even being the only people in the place I was not fazed. The interior was modest, at best, but very clean and welcoming right down to the Christmas lights, that I’m pretty sure are there all year.

   

 The waitress was very pleasant and took plenty of extra time, that she had mind you, to explain the dishes to us in non Indian terms. I started with Pakora, an Indian falafel, then chose the spinach and potato curry and vegetable basmati rice and Braden got a sampler that had eggplant curry and Dansak with mango ice cream for dessert.

 Needless to say the food was authentic and delicious and we stuffed ourselves silly. So what can we learn from this experience from a marketing perspective? While location and outward appearances are important, they are not everything. Especially in the world of online business search sites and social media. I insisted on this restaurant because of its rating, plain and simple. If I had driven by this place I might have kept going, as a matter of fact Braden was trying to convince me to keep driving. This is the power of Yelp.

 

      The power of a social media is truly amazing. The testimonial of complete strangers, they could have been the family for all I knew, is powerful. So many purchase decisions are made from online testimonials.  While you may not need the best location or the best looking building, if you 100% deliver when your guests arrive you can win their business.  Use the online tools to drive new guests to your location and deliver top notch service once they get there. Certainly not rocket science but definitely smart marketing.