Restaurateurs: 3 Ways to Make Social Media Work for You

As a restaurateur, understanding how to use social media and appeal to influencers can greatly increase your restaurant’s success and prominence in the over-saturated food market. As a food Instagram influencer with more than 25,000 followers, I found two articles on the foodie influencer scene that can help you navigate the digital space. 

The first piece, “Instagram has completely changed the way we eat and that's not a good thing” comes from INSIDER’s Food vertical. In it, Joanna Fantozzi details the ways in which Instagram has changed what, and where, we eat. Fantozzi cites recent trends like rainbow bagels, over-the-top milkshakes, unicorn themed food and excessively cheesy burgers. In the Instagram age, aesthetically-pleasing food has become somewhat of a status symbol (waiting in a two-hour line for a bagel), as well as a huge factor consumers consider when deciding where to get their next meal. Though these “Instagram dishes” often don’t taste as good as they look, the aesthetic of food is now a serious consideration for many chefs who hope to go viral and drive foot traffic. 

Source: Hinterhaus Productions / Getty Images

In the second article, “Restaurants rise to fame over Instagramable food,” Kaya Yurieff of CNN Business expands on the importance of Instagram in restaurants’ success. Yurieff writes, “The restaurant business isn't just about how good the food tastes – atmosphere and service are important, too. But increasingly, social media is taking on a bigger role and influencing food options offered, restaurant design and marketing.” The best way to stand out, according to this piece, is to serve outrageous, out of the ordinary dishes that actually taste good. To continually stay relevant, restaurants must keep innovating and creating new stand-out, trendy foods – as well as have strong branding and design. If done right, “a strong social media presence can help restaurants and other businesses engage with a much wider audience and attract new customers they may not have had access to before.” 

Based on these articles and my experience as a food influencer, I’ve developed three action items you should consider when trying to optimize your restaurant for social media. 

Be Original – By now, foodies have seen a million crazy milkshakes on their feed; instead of following in the footsteps of past trends, create an innovative dish that hasn’t been done before.

Make It Tasty –  Obviously, the food has to look good, but that doesn’t mean taste doesn’t matter; beautiful food will bring customers in, but delicious food will keep them coming back.

Don’t Skimp Elsewhere – Just as important as the pretty food is the décor and ambiance of your restaurant; add a cool mural, make the bathroom eye-catching or use unique table clothes for even more social coverage.

The next time you’re thinking about leveraging Instagram for your restaurant, remember the above tips to creating a lasting social impact.   

Lucy Dwyer is a senior at Northwestern University studying Journalism, Integrated Marketing Communications and Sociology. You can find her on Twitter and LinkedIn, or follow her food adventures on Instagram as @thefoodiefriend.  

Parents, Take Time to Read With Your Children

As an author in the child development industry, it is important to make the parent/child reading experience a fun place for children and adults to expand their imaginations. As a graduate student at Northwestern University focusing on child development in reading, I have found two articles on nurturing a child's imagination which you will find interesting.

In Regan McMahon’s article titled "How to Nurture Your Child's Love of Reading" about reading to children, gives great tips on how to lead by example. “...parents influence kids' appreciation of books by sharing their own love of literature and modeling reader behavior”; what a simple yet strong statement. Reading is less of a good habit, but more of an exploration and experience. From toddlers to young seasoned readers, sharing a book together is a moment that is more beneficial than realized. McMahon states that reading aloud to children is also a wonderful tactic, as they can relax and learn more than just about the story they are hearing; they can “hear the rhythm of the language and learn correct pronunciation.” Series of children’s books have been around for decades. This helps continue the excitement of reading. Another inspiring way to encourage reading, is to pay attention to certain subjects children are interested in or favorite authors. McMahon touches on e-books for reluctant readers, as they may have other elements of enticement, but believes they are too distracting. A page turning animation can be found through e-books, which solidifies how the experience of a tactile book is timeless and important for a long-time reader.


bigstock.com

The pediatrician, Perri Klass, finds the benefit of tactile books so important, that she gives “developmentally appropriate children’s book at every checkup.” In "The Merits of Reading Real Books to Your Children", Klass speaks of certain benefits of electronic books to help with connections between words and images, but the elements and animations found on these devices are a “cognitive overload” and take away from the human experience with their parents or family. Less communication has been found through studies when electronics are involved compared to more communication when playing with traditional toys. Along with these findings, even more interaction and communication is shared when using picture books. A fascinating discovery in Klass’s article explains how parents benefit from story-time as well. Parents, without realizing it, gain much more from the physical touch of their child when side by side reading a book together. It is an endless exchange of care, love and learning.

From my review of these two articles along with my learnings from Northwestern, here are three action items you should consider when raising your children.  

Action Items:

• Challenge Your Children - A child’s intellectual and emotional levels gain greater development with a tangible book in hand.

• Explore Through Imagination - Scenes in children’s picture books support a child’s vision, and ultimately allows them to continue the story in their mind.

• Develop Positive Thoughts - The content for children in books must develop their mind in a positive and constructive way.

Real books and e-books will continue to co-exist. The key is they should be utilized for their most beneficial purpose. The elements and experience are completely different, even though they both contain stories. The strong human inspirations that come from the simplicity of a book should not be overlooked. It is important to expose books to children at a very young age and continue to young adulthood so they may become lifelong readers.

Jennifer Bozek
Jennifer is a graduate student at Northwestern University in the Professional Studies program Information Design and Strategy. She is also a self-published children's book author and illustrator as well as an advertising graphic designer. 

Visit my blog at: myheartbeatsart.blogspot.com

You can find me at LinkedIn and Twitter

Journalists: New social platforms mean new ways to connect with readers

Today, most people get their news from social outlets but that doesn't mean you can't connect with your audience. New platforms and apps can you get you pretty close to reaching people where they already are. As a graduate student at Northwestern’s Integrated Marketing Communications program with a background in journalism, I am studying how journalists can use an integrated marketing approach and digital platforms to engage audiences with their content and I have found two articles that I think you may find interesting.

In the first article, Remarkable new data on the power of chat apps for sharing news stories from the Nieman Lab, Joshua Benton explains how more and more data is indicating that chat apps are one of the primary ways people are sharing stories--potentially even more than they are sharing stores on Twitter. Previously, sharing on chat apps like WhatsApp has been hard to track, leading people to create the term "dark social." However, recently a Spanish soccer team, Valencia, added a "Share on WhatsApp" button to their online content and the breakdown of clicks was as follows: Facebook 35%, WhatsApp 33%, Twitter 19%, and Google+ 13%. Benton points out that these results are even more significant than they initially appear because the WhatsApp button only appeared on mobile platforms, while the other three appeared on desktop and mobile.

Source: Tech Infographics

In the second article, Snapchat Launches Discover from Tech Crunch, Jordan Crook looks into Snapchat's recently announced "Discover" feature.  The feature is the newest content platform that allows people to see articles, photos and videos from brands like ESPN, CNN, Vice and Vox.com. In addition, users can also watch stories compiled by participating artists, publishers and Snapchat's own (very new) editorial staff. Crook mentions that this is a shift in Snapchat's traditional model that relied on user-generated content. Now brands and media companies can use their platform to deliver content and information to its enormous user base.

Based on these two articles and my graduate studies at Northwestern, here are three things I recommend you consider as journalists:

1. Pay attention - It may seem like you were just signing up for Twitter but digital platforms and technologies are updating every day. Pay attention to where your audience is and how they are using these platforms. This is where you want to be.
   
2. Don’t dumb down your content - Your content is good, that's why you are a journalist. People still want good reporting and accurate information, they just want it faster and in a digestible format. Compliment your content—even (especially) longer and denser pieces—with short videos, graphics and key pull out quotes that capture the main points and can be easily shared.
   
3. Be innovative - The good news about these platforms is they’re easy and free. Why not add a “Share with WhatsApp” button to your story and see how many people use it? Or create a Snapchat form video that promotes your story? It may be the added element that transports your story to more people.

Given the changing nature of the field, you no longer have an automatic audience. Journalists now need to have a marketing strategy to engage people and digital platforms provide that opportunity. Try it. If it doesn't work, there will be something new tomorrow. 

Jordan Vita is pursuing an M.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University, focusing on media management and data analytics. She is passionate about journalism and how the field can capitalize on new technologies and available data to do its job even better.

Follow her on Twitter @jordan_vita

Why So Few Women in Tech?

Too few women are employed in the technology field, whether it be software development or information technology. As a student at Northwestern University, I have been exposed to technology, and discovered two news articles that begin to tackle the question of, "Why so few women in tech?'

In "Technology, Man's Problem", New York Times writer Claire Cain Miller notes that lack of encouragement for women to pursue education is not the only culprit for the lack of women in tech. Instead, a sexist, alpha male culture seems to pervade, which makes many women feel like outsiders in their own profession. Many women face unwelcoming environments, harassment from male counterparts, and for one woman, even death threats.  Despite having the expertise to succeed, more than 50% of women leave tech by the middle of their career.

In a CNN article, "5 Reasons Technology World Needs More Geek Girls", Teo Kermeliotis and Jessica Ellis talked to Regina Agyare, one of Ghana's first female tech entrepreneurs about why girls should join the technology field. Agyare left a lucrative career in banking to found a software company, and understands the difficulties women face in blazing their own path. She outline these five reasons why tech needs more women: improving technical innovation, reducing social inequalities, teaching girls leadership skills and critical thinking, stopping the workforce exit, and the low numbers of women currently involved in tech. She sees technology as being a gateway for women to become stronger forces in society. 

After reviewing these two articles, I believe that the technology industry can support women further by taking these three actions:

• Eliminate Unwelcome Environments- Men and women alike, but especially men must work to create a welcoming environment for anyone interested and qualified to join tech.
• Support Women in Technology- Women currently in the field must encourage younger women to join the field and explain the diverse benefits, from high paying positions to networking opportunities.
• Create Benefits for Women to Stay in Tech- Too many women leave tech because it doesn't allow them to balance their professional and personal life, create incentives for women to stay. 

Technology is a diverse field with many disciplines, but the one common thread appears to be the lack of welcoming environments for women. Women must be encouraged to stay in the field through creation of safe work environments, support networks and incentives for longevity. 

Parul Kapoor is a senior Economics major and IMC (Integrated Marketing Communications) student at Northwestern University from Saint Cloud, Minnesota. She will be joining Oracle Corporation in July 2014. To contact her, please email her at pkapoor@u.northwestern.edu or on Twitter @parkapoor. 

DIY PROSTHETICS: The Innovation 3D Printing is bringing to Health Technology

Printing your own prosthetics might seem like a far-off futuristic notion however recent innovations in 3D printing is making this a reality.  As a Northwestern University pre-med turned technology consultant, I have been researching this exciting technology and included ways in which you can be a part of how it will change the availability of prosthetic devices to those in need.

3D Printed hand and arm prosthetics have already been produced by Robohand, a South African company founded by finger amputee Richard van As.  Van As came up with the idea to print his own prosthetic after he was shocked at the prices of such devices listed by manufacturers.   Robohand can print a full adult hand for as little as $2,000 compared with the manufacturer’s price which starting in the tens of thousands of dollars.  It also provides open source designs, so anyone with such printers can print their own fingers, hands, or arms. 

   American Mick Ebling sets up a project in South Sudan to provide refugees with printed prosthetics.

At the consumer level, 3D printers are widely available. Small machines can be as affordable as $100 and larger high end machines run into the thousands.  Along with the printer itself, consumers need 3D design software or a 3D scanner as well as physical substance to feed into the machine.   Although the smaller, cheaper printers that are gaining popularity among consumers are incapable of printing industrial quality products such as prosthetics, the future is promising.  Tech industry analyst giant Gartner predicts that 3D printers are entering a new growth stage and consumers will begin to see higher quality printers at lower prices. 

In researching this topic, I have found three things you should do to become a part of this innovation.  They are: 

• Examine 3D printers.  Check out your nearest 3D printer such as Makerbot to see the machine in all its industrial-quality action. 
• Try it yourself!  Order an affordable printer or use a friend’s to familiarize yourself with operating the technology.
• Communicate.  Talk to your patients and colleagues about the benefits that such technology can provide on a micro and macro level.  This will foster a welcoming environment for continued innovations in medical-related 3D printing as well as health tech in general. 

As more health care professionals and health tech enthusiasts embrace 3D printing as a prosthetic alternative to traditional manufacturing, more people will be able to afford and access devices that will greatly improve their quality of life.  

Molly Cruz is a Northwestern University undergraduate currently working as a Tech Consultant for Rand McNally Atlases.  She will be graduating this June and relocating to Berlin, Germany where she will be working in Product Management for a tech start-up in preventative medicine.  She can be reached via Twitter at @digitalraccoon.