Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/339857
July/August 2014 35 July/August 2014 35 ATS Logistics / Restaurant Supply Division 20-years experience shipping equipment & supplies to the foodservice industry Zero administrative expenses or fees Custom Freight Solutions utilizing super-regional & national partners Rate shop the best carriers in N. America for most desireable service lanes at reduced rates Deliver to more 1-2 days points with LTL's lowest claims rates When you must have a truckload, you must have ATS Parcel ground service that is customizable, reliable and more cost-effective Explicit delivery receipt to eliminate unplanned accessorial charges Full-visibility on web routing with immediate vendor compliance Real invoice audit including weight & class comparison to spec sheets In transit expediting & damage control Call Thomas Pine 614-725-9095 Service is the only thing we have to sell. campaign is that you will need to invest heavily in time. Knowing all that is involved, your social media initiatives should be run by an in-house person with social media market- ing experience or outsourced to professionals. Whether you decide to keep it in-house, outsource it, or both, this will be your heaviest cost in running a successful social media pro- gram. Because it's not totally free, this may not be for everyone. Is it Really Worth the Investment? While I did not interview any restaurant supply compa- nies nor would I expect any to share facts and figures with me, I did take a look at some companies who (obvious to the trained eye) focus heavily on their social media pres- ence. I can tell you from experience the initiative companies such as Webstaurantstore.com, FoodserviceWarehouse.com, and Katom.com put into their social media program is great because they have either experienced the benefits or under- stand the value to be gained from social media. That said, many business owners may still have a bad taste in their mouth from the early days when social media was known for people posting what they had for breakfast or let- ting others know when they were going to the store. Times have changed. Today social media is a very powerful tool and businesses have learned how to harness this content to grow their business. Will you be one of them? It is highly unlikely you will see the amount of conversions that you typically reap with your Google or Bing pay-per-click marketing channels but don't be discouraged. A well-managed social media campaign will impact your conversions not only directly but also where some people forget to look, indirectly. Lastly, with sufficient tracking tools in place, you can mea- sure and improve your results. You can harness the data to learn the best times of day to post, what content gets the best engagement, and what products are most interesting to your audience. Additionally, you can improve your website and opti- mize your social media efforts, allowing you to stay engaged with your audience and in front of your competition. Tools You Can Use HootSuite (Social Media Management Tool) https://hootsuite.com/ RivalIQ (Social Media Competitive Analysis) https://www.rivaliq.com/ Facebook Insights (Facebook Analytics) https://www.facebook.com/help/search/?q=insights TweetDeck (Complete Twitter Management) https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/ * Source for Social Media Stats: http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheets/social-networking-fact-sheet/