Sunday through Tuesday, Constant Raving attended the National Restaurant Association Trade Show in Chicago. We walked the corridors of the McCormick Center to chat with folks in the restaurant business about the power of social media and why they need to be a user.
We interviewed a few vendors at the show and posted them on our Facebook page and Twitter page. You can find them at www.facebook.com/ConstantRaving or http://twitter.com/ConstantRaving.
The show attracts a wide variety of people in the restaurant business, everyone from restaurant owners to app developers. As we strolled through the masses, we found that most of these businesses were not using social media and if they were, they were sticking exclusively to Facebook. Diversity is key to a successful social media strategy.
The show had quite a few app developers; however, most were exclusively for the iPhone. In our opinion, app developers need to create useful apps for the major smart phones, not just for iPhone users.
As we walked past the entrance to the North Wing, we noticed a screen displaying live Twitter feeds from the event using the tag #nrashow. That says it all. Allowing people the opportunity to see their tweets is a great way to engage. We just loved that.
All in all, the show was a great success and we had a blast.
