Food Trucks: A Shining Example for Social Media Marketing
September 08 2010 by Stephanie Ryska ~ 11 CommentsThe latest craze in metropolitan areas is food trucks. These mobile trucks change location daily to serve specialty or gourmet food, normally serving areas inside heavy commercial zones and tourists traps with few lunch options. People flock to these trucks. As my twitter friend @mariarosita, puts it, “They offer variety and excitement, plus it’s nice to get out of the office and chase them down – a break in routine.” How do people chase them down?
Social Media.
In most cases, these meals on wheels rely solely, and thus heavily, on social media to get the word out about their location, specials, promotions, and meal rotations.
The number one social media platform that food trucks use is Twitter. All the food trucks I’ve seen have a Twitter account and use that as their main source for announcing their location. There are about 20 food trucks in the Washington, D.C. area. Each has about 1,000 to 5,000 followers, with 500 Twitter accounts listing them (normally under food or food tuck), with some people also following these created lists. In larger cities like New York and Los Angeles where there are too many trucks to count, they have a similar number of followers as those in D.C., but many have closer to 5,000. Between followers, lists, followers of lists, and people who retweet, a single location of one of these trucks can go a long way, creating a large circle of “word of mouth”.
Some trucks are doing a good job communicating with customers via Twitter. They spend time answering questions, thanking people for retweets and rewarding followers. One of the simple and easy rewards is free stuff. The Fry Captain randomly selects five followers a week to receive a free milkshake.
Several food trucks also use Facebook, but it is more of a supplement to Twitter. Generally, they send their Twitter feed to their wall, and also give people a chance to write on their wall, share pictures, links, notes and reviews. Curbside Cupcakes currently has one of the best Facebook pages.
Geo-Location: Foursquare, Loopt, Gowalla
I first thought that since food trucks are all about location, it would be natural for them to use geo-location services. I was wrong. For the food trucks I could find on these sites above, all of them said “Check Twitter for Location.” I think the problem is that geo-location is based on stationary places, not moving ones. Currently trucks that go to the same place every day can take advantage of these services.
Map trackers
A local blog source, called We Love DC uses Google Maps to pinpoint food trucks daily in a service called the Food Truck Tracker. This makes it easy and convenient for food seekers to see if a truck is in their area. A website called Food Truck Fiesta also devotes itself to mapping the trucks daily.
Blogs
When the local D.C. blog scene got wind that Red Hook Lobster DC was going to start roaming the streets of the District, the blogs went nuts. In preparation for the opening, you could not look at any food blog without finding a mention of the new truck. The buzz also hit Twitter really hard. Local D.C. blogger WashingTina, tried the lobster truck on one of its first days out and said the line wrapped around the block and had a 30 minute wait! The blog buzz machine is starting up again for the new truck on the block, Eat Wonky.
Email?
Yes, Email. Although seemingly out of place, a few food trucks still utilize this service. Curbside Cupcakes lets you subscribe via email, checking off boxes from a list of areas. When the truck comes through one of those areas, you receive an email letting you know where to pick up an amazing cupcake.
Promotion: Help from the Big Guys
Virgin America and Loopt teamed up to offer two for one tickets to Mexico from California if you checked into SFO, LAX or one of the listed taco trucks in San Francisco or Los Angeles during a four hour time span. According to Tech Crunch, Loopt claims 1,300 people checked in at just one taco truck in San Francisco.
Food trucks have been come so popular, they have their own reality TV show called “The Great Food Truck Race” on the Food Network which “hopes to do for food trucks what ‘Jersey Shore’ did for tans.”
Final Thought: As demonstrated by food trucks, social media can play a large part in a business’s marketing plan–and traditional media may not even be needed.
What are your thoughts on food trucks using social media to promote their locations and discounts and to engage their fans and customers?
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