Thanks Rebecca. I appreciate the opportunity in this forum to talk about our profession and our industry and one of the most misunderstood and abused yet critically important tools for helping operators build success.

Having been inundated with questions and comments all day, I need to address one of the most important issues people have been commenting on. Cost.

As Bob Krieger and Michael Sick have pointed out, the cost of not asking for help can mean the difference between success and failure. But too often, egos and the desire to go down with the ship, get in the way.

The cost of any program or process you utilize in any attempt to grow and prosper has to be measured against a qualified ROI. Of course it doens't make sense to write a check for $10,000 and expect to receive any return that is less than the actual investment, but if you receive $25,000+ in value (any combination of cost savings or increased profits) then you should consider writing more checks or seeking even higher levels of return for your investment. This process should also be laid out beforehand and the metrics and methodology for determining it should be in place prior to any engagement and agreed upon by the operator and the consultant. Anything less is unprofessional and unreliable.

Can a consultant guarantee a particular result? No consultant can and if they tell you they will you need to run just as far away, as fast as you can. A professional will try to influence your decision making process any way they can but at the end of the day it's up to you, the operator, to do the work on your business.

Sorry, but the last thing you should be doing is using Twitter, or any social media platform, as just another discount and promotion distribution tool. The purpose of using social media is to engage your guests and support and build better relationships with them. Not turn every interaction into just another transaction.

The time issue is not a cop out because to be effective you have to plan, create and measure the impact of the content you create and the context for the audience which you intend it. Otherwise, it's just doing a bunch of stuff just for the sake of doing a bunch of stuff.

Sorry Baz but there's no missed point. We all agree that social media can help build better business relationships with consumers, what we don't agree with you on, is that it is 100% necessary - yet. We also believe that a business shouldn't just "dive into" social media if you have not yet built a social business or understand what your goals and objectives for doing so, are. As to your other points, Social Media is not a "relationship growing business" for restaurant & hospitality businesses. It is a facilitator. It can add value to the relationship, but it cannot create one just as no marketing tool can. This is the domain of real people serving real people. It is also certainly not the most revolutionary opportunity in the last 100 years. While the tools are relatively new, word-of-mouth and relationship marketing have been around as long as the industries that rely on them. Hype like that does nothing to engage the minds of operators, looking at how social media can impact their marketing efforts.

The other (bigger) problem is that the business community and marketing professionals (as well as marketing amateurs) see social media as a marketing function. It is not. It is a business function. Until we recognize that, we won't be seeing much more than coupons, specials and contests anytime soon.

Amazing, considering your Irish! = )

See? Just keep it focused on the basics and in that we agree 100%. Now who at SmartBlog gets our invoices?
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Nobody said to solely rely on face-to-face feedback. But as any real relationship goes, and as with any good Voice-of-the-Guest program, it starts with those who are actually sitting in your dining room and not sitting behind a computer screen. Only 1 in 10 people complain in person because no one asks at the point of experience other than "Is everything OK here?" as they meander through the dining room incoherently asking the same question to every single table, totally oblivious to any detail, all because to them "OK' is their standard.

I have a lot of respect for you Barry, but do you really consider it theft if your business pisses off a guest so bad that they feel it warranted to take the glass they just drank from? I really hope not.

Knowing your name or your face doesn't much matter if nothing is done to build the relationship.

Why shouldn't we think of it as a social business? Because you have to be engaging on both sides of the table as well as in your community. Without engaging your staff to build relationships, you'll never have a social business. It doesn't work one way and anything less makes you a commodity. I'm sure you'd understand this if you had ever owned or operated your own restaurant.

As for your 2nd paragraph, I think you need to re-read my comments and maybe my blog because it sounds like to me you're arguing just for the sake of arguing.

The only numbers that matter are the numbers of butts in your seats, the number of dollars they spend and the number of people they rave to about your business. The rest is semantics.

No social media cannot help a mediocre business. Social media is an "inside-out", not an "outside-in" process. It only serves to amplify your mediocrity. You first have to fix your business from within. The only feedback you need comes from those whose butts are already in your seats. And if you can't listen offline (which is where all relevant brand discussions start) then you cannot listen online.

As for your guest complaint. I would have said, "Keep the glass and bring it in so we can refill it and show you how we really treat our guests!"