Here at Naked Retailing and the sister blog, Branding SoapBox, I usually write about big movements, brands and efforts that have scale beyond borders. However, I want to write about a dynamo in his own right at the local level here in Chicago. While Mr. Dec has reach beyond Chicago, for sure, he is demonstrating a mastery of social & digital media to build his own personal brand and those of his restaurant empire. I am writing about this because I had my own awesome interaction with him, yesterday. In a nutshell, I was tardy in making reservations for my 8-year anniversary and my birthday dinner with my wife. While, of course, I could have a reservation at any number of restaurants, I wanted to share Sunda with her because I often eat there with clients and colleagues, but she has never been. After trying Opentable, I was stymied. Then I called my concierge at American Express Platinum who also had no luck getting me a table. So then, I decided to throw a long pass and reach out to Billy on Twitter @ bd knowing that he personally engages. An hour later he responded and told me that he'd give his dinner spot for me and my wife and that the head maitre'd (copied on the tweet with her own twitter handle @kristy_sunda) While I am sure not the first time someone asked him for a favor on twitter, he knows the power of a social influencer and responded (Left me wondering if he checked my Klout score, first ;) ) We showed up for dinner at 7:30, Kristy was waiting for us. Greeted us like old friends, bought us a drink and showed us right to our table. Awesome. Billy even bought us our desert. Dinner was amazing, I tweeted pictures of the incredible food throughout dinner to my thousands of followers and here I am writing this blog post. He gets it.
Here are 3 things that national retail/store/restaurant brands can learn from how Billy Dec leverages social media to engage and convert consumers in Chicago:
1. Walk the Walk - He doesn't just talk about social media, he is social media. He integrates the use of various social platforms into his marketing and consumer engagement on a minute by minute basis. Billy personally engages people and thereby builds his brands. While this is hard to scale, it takes dedication and a passion for the medium. He knows that many of the people that frequent his locations are more advanced technologically and will respond.
2. Integrate Throughout The Organization - Not just Billy, but clearly the staff is also engaged and not just superficially. Like Zappos, the staff are encouraged to be a part of the social influence. They know that check-in's, yelpers, twitpics and status updates including their brands and products creates awareness. He believes in his retail experience and his product and therefore loves when people talk about it. I am sure if there is a naysayer, that person is engaged and turned.
3. Engage Authentically - When I told someone last night that Billy personally responded to me, they were shocked. I believe that he has an authentic passion for engaging the people and knows that creating positive content will create a longtail of positive brand sentiment and thereby increasing his influence not just here in Chicago but beyond. Chicago is a big tourism City and people do their research before coming here. Having all of this positive content will encourage people to put one his locations on their to-do list.
If I were a restaurant investor, I would bet on Billy. The value he has created using social media combined with the incredible experiences he creates at retail is worth its weight in gold. This ongoing engagement will ensure that his places don't shutter and their legacy lives on. As we look at big, national brands; creating that engaged passionate personality and helping people make decisions on where to spend their hard-earned money is where it is going.
