This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.
When Matt Levine was opening Sons of Essex, a restaurant on New York City’s Lower East Side last fall, he decided to use YouTube to promote the establishment and its menu offerings.
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"We live in a society where information travels fast, and the entertainment value and visual stimulation of videos seemed like a great way to get a creative and innovative message to our guests," he says.
The success of Sons of Essex's videos can be a lesson to other small businesses. While restaurants have an advantage in that the things they purvey -- food and drinks -- are pretty universally appealing, many industries can benefit from creating videos.
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"I believe every business has a message to convey, a story to tell; to paint the picture through video for your consumers in a creative manner can be an important marketing tool," says Levine. Especially in markets with high SNP (social networking potential), a few well-done videos and a consistent social presence can easily spread the word. “The use of these videos give companies the opportunity to reach out to their consumers at a more personal and interactive level,” he says.
Mashable spoke with Levine -- a creative partner at Brandsway Creative and co-owner of Cocktail Bodega and Sons of Essex -- about his business’ use of YouTube and other social media as marketing tools.
1. Use Your Resources
Many small businesses shy away from video because it’s more labor-intensive than a tweet or a photo. But it doesn’t have to be a huge investment of time or money. That iPhone you have in your pocket all day is a perfectly good video camera. While you can dish out some money to pimp it out with a tripod, a mic and some lenses, you can also go for the handheld look and set the footage to music, so a mic is unnecessary and sound quality isn’t an issue.
"Our videos are super low budget, from using bloggies to iPhones," says Levine. "All of our 'How to Make…' videos feature our charismatic staff -- no actors, no fluff, they’re real employees." Levine says many of these employees are learning how to edit and produce video themselves, having been in on the production process for Sons of Essex's videos.
When you consider the rise of Viddy and Socialcam, you’ll notice that video editing has become much more democratized, and there is a slew of apps that let you edit video right on your smartphone. The preeminent video platform YouTube has made it easier than ever to edit video right in the platform, eliminating the need to buy and learn how to use tools like Final Cut or Adobe Premiere. The iMovie app on Macs is also an easy, non-technical and low-budget way to splice together footage.
Levine actually thinks that having a limited budget is a good thing. "It gives you the opportunity to get creative, think outside the box," he says.
2. Find Friends to Promote Your Brand
Low-budget videos do the job, but a little star power is always a good thing. If you’re lucky enough to have celebrities or influential people as customers, see if they’ll throw you a bone and help promote the restaurant on-camera. Levine says a majority of the cameos and people in the "Lower East Side is..." video (such as Padma Lakshmi) are friends of the restaurant who live or hang out in the neighborhood. Of course, this means that the Sons of Essex team has spent time networking at the restaurant and around the neighborhood, cultivating relationships over time and getting to know customers in a more intimate way.
By building relationships with local residents and business owners, the Brandsway team has created a coalition, and the partnerships it’s formed have yielded positive results. Whether they’re partnering with the nearby Hester Street Fair (where Sons of Essex has a booth), working with the Lower East Side Business Improvement District to produce a street fair or collaborating with local photographers and brands, Sons of Essex is getting involved in the neighborhood and cross-promoting with other businesses, often collaborating on products and events that lend themselves well to video content.
3. Let Video Break the News
Instead of having the video be an ancillary component of your message, make it the vehicle of the message. If you’re opening a new location or adding a new product to the menu, use a video to make the announcement, and tease it on social media platforms without giving people the story. This will incentivize customers to click through and watch the video, so they’ll learn the news and recognize that your brand is a source of good content, which can keep them coming back. Sons of Essex introduced its brunch with the video above.
4. Get to Know the Local Bloggers
Once you’ve made a video, you want people to see it. Of course, you’ll post it on to your Twitter and Facebook Page, but you should also seed it to local bloggers, who are always looking for good content to post.
The Lower East Side has several blogs in the area, including BoweryBoogie and The LoDown, and these outlets have picked up videos by Sons of Essex. Nabbing coverage in local blogs gets the word out to potential customers, while also bolstering community pride -- who doesn't want to support their local businesses?
5. Video is Just One Marketing Tool
Video, of course, isn’t the only avenue Sons of Essex has used to spread the word. In addition to video and a hefty dose of organic word-of-mouth marketing, the brand is gung-ho about social media, which Levine says is "part of our everyday life." Sons of Essex also maintains a presence on Facebook and Twitter.
"I believe that it's important to organically have a well rounded and multi-pronged marketing plan," says Levine. That includes IRL events, like the Hester Street Fair booth, T-shirts and branded skateboards, in addition to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube videos. All of these components increase brand awareness, which gets butts in the seats.
6. Don’t Go for the Hard Sell
"I am no expert on social media or viral videos, but content is king," says Levine. "Treat your videos less like commercials and more like an informative story."
It's s a running theme in social media marketing -- don't be overly promotional. Social media is a great way to interact with customers and stay top of mind so that when a customer arrives at a point where he's ready to purchase, he goes with you instead of a competitor. You don't need to beat people over the head with sales-y messaging.
With Sons of Essex planted on this history-ridden streets of the Lower East Side, the brand opts to explore the neighborhood’s rich history. The walls are decorated with photos of old Lower East Side residents from the nearby Tenement Museum, and the cuisine represents a melting pot of cultures. The restaurant has been described as “Bowery Boys meets Gangs of New York,” and the Sons of Essex videos echo that, using cool filters and fonts that evoke an earlier era.
While the videos feature mouth-watering dishes and cocktails, they don't have the cheesy vibe of an Olive Garden or Red Lobster commercial, where a special limited-time offer is explained and the price flashes in huge font. Like Levine says, these YouTube videos are not commercials. Use the platform to show off your business and its offerings, not to aggressively push sales. The same approach applies to other social media platforms, too -- Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr are a way for a business to show its human side, not desire for revenue. Be human and customers will come naturally.
“Don’t sell something, don't force a concept, don't force a product, don't try too hard,” says Levine, who much prefers that his brand entertain or teach instead. After all, Sons of Essex has an entire series of “How to Make…” videos, in which bartenders and cooks show the ropes on the restaurant’s best cocktails and drinks. That’s valuable content that’s bound to be bookmarked and viewed time and again.
Has your business used video as a marketing tool? What was your approach, and did it work? Let us know in the comments.
More Small Business Resources From OPEN Forum:
- Why Social Learning Benefits Your Business - 9 Steps for Getting Kickstarter Dollars - Choosing the Best Social Media
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ozgurdonmaz
This story originally published on Mashable here.