When Chef Bobby McNab used Facebook to announce his new joint in New Hope, Crawgators Cajun Restaurant, the response was immediate.
“My first booking was within minutes,” McNab said. “It was a guy I went to high school with; I haven”t seen him in 20 years.”
In the Digital Age, more and more organizations are taking their business online, and the result is a level of interaction with the customer that was unimaginable even two decades ago.
McNab first got acquainted with the idea of social networking while he was running a restaurant with the same name in England. It was there he first launched the Facebook page for Crawgators, and when he moved back overseas, he used the site to build hype.
Crawgators” grand opening is Friday. On McNab”s Facebook site, he lists the price range, the address, the hours, the reservation number, and even the suggested attire (casual). There are pictures of the menu, and there is a “Wall,” which allows McNab to write messages back and forth with his potential customers.
The eatery will feature crawfish and alligator, so McNab included those keywords in the foundational coding of his website to ensure his name pops up during online searches, especially if the user is located in Mississippi. That way, someone in the Golden Triangle area who”s looking for those items to cook at home might be convinced to take a short drive and eat them in Crawgators.
The restaurant already has 460 Facebook followers. The added benefit of social networking is that people will tell their friends when they find something intriguing. It”s Word-Of-Mouth 2.0.
Customers going to Internet first
Bigger companies are taking their online strategies a step farther. This year, Pizza Hut augmented its corporate website, www.pizzahut.com, to allow customers to find the closest location and place their orders directly online.
“It”s different for us because you don”t have to sit on the phone and take the order,” said Manager Rita Thompson, who has worked at Pizza Hut for the past 12 years and remembers the hassles of trying to understand someone”s order over the telephone. “Now you just wait for the ticket to come up on the computer. It makes it better for us, and it saves time and labor.”
Most of Pizza Hut”s local business is still done the old-fashioned way because a lot of people haven”t become aware of the option to order online. The company is letting people know by advertising its website on pizza boxes in an attempt to streamline orders and leave less room for error.
It”s not just restaurants that are capitalizing on technology. Jonathan Breckenridge works at Carl Hogan Toyota as the Internet sales manager, a position that was created specifically to deal with a new influx of customers online to the company”s site, www.carlhogantoyota.com.
“Probably in the last five years, it”s become a necessity,” Breckenridge said. “You have to have someone who stays on top of things. It gives (customers) control to shop for a vehicle at more than one place without ever leaving their house.”
He estimated that 90 percent of the dealership”s customers use the Internet before coming to visit. On Aug. 18 alone, he received more than 100 requests for information on the lot”s inventory. Online, the customers can see everything from the dealer”s description of the car to the actual Carfax, which lists the vehicle”s official history.
“These people can see everything there is to know about the car,” Breckenridge said. “By the time the customer comes up here, they know way more about the vehicle sometimes than the salesman showing it to them.”
Which means Breckenridge has to be on top of his online game. If the pictures and captions are of poor quality, the prospective buyer will be gone with a click of the mouse. However, when the deal goes smoothly, the Internet actually cuts down on the time the customer actually has to spend at the dealership.
“When they come up to the lot, that deal is done,” he said. “All they have to do is sign the paperwork, get in their new car and go home.”
”Everything is digital”
The Internet has affected the medical world, too. Dr. David Curtis is a Columbus pediatric dentist who has recognized the need and value of a solidly interactive website for his patients.
“We”ve been very deliberate,” Curtis said. “You have to make a concerted effort to bring your business up to the place we are right now, especially with the kind of parents (of the patients) I have.”
These parents tend to be younger adults who are computer savvy and spend a lot of time on mobile devices. They”re the first generation who grew up on the Internet, and they expect a high level of interactivity.
To that end, Curtis has made sure his website, www.drdkcurtis.com, provides as much information and security as possible. Patients can see their X-rays, schedule their next appointment and even pay bills online.
“Twenty-three years ago, I would have never imagined we would be doing things with computers like we are now,” Curtis said. “Everything is digital. We don”t have any paper to speak of. If I”m going to remain competitive as a pediatric dentist and appeal to that young market, I have no choice but to stay on top of things.”
Communicating ”one-to-one”
Robert Moore, who teaches an Internet Marketing class at Mississippi State University, said in the 11 years he has instructed the class, he has seen more and more students adopting new technology. Each year, he would begin the semester by asking students to raise their hands if they had a land phone line. The first year, every hand went up. Since then, more have been staying down.
“Last semester was the first time not one person had a land line,” Moore said.
Moore said there are two major changes the Internet has brought to business. First, it has opened a broader geographical area for people to find and purchase the goods they want.
“We”ve expanded our willingness to search for products and purchase them from different locations,” he said.”
Secondly, there are even more opportunities for companies to interact with their customers online. Through social sites like Facebook and Twitter, companies can now let their customers know about special deals and offers instantly. And if the company is in a business where troubleshooting is needed — think electronics, cars, or anything else mechanical — it can provide user manuals and technical support on its website.
Moore thinks the rapid growth in technology has been a good thing, overall.
“I think it”s positive,” he said. “It has allowed individuals to find services and goods they would not have been able to find before. It”s the exchange of information. Information is power, and there”s the ability to communicate one-to-one with customers wherever and whenever.”
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