Social Media Roundup: August 28, 2018

Delivery Continues To Grow; Reported as Up to 3% of Restaurant Orders

Digital ordering and delivery continue to transform the restaurant industry, and their impact is growing. In an article in Nation's Restaurant News, Fern Glazer dives into research from The NPD Group on the growing phenomenon. Delivery, NPD VP David Portalitin is quoted as saying, "is one of the only major sources of growth and everybody is starting to get into it." The article includes a graphic from NPD detailing delivery traffic by order method; touches on how delivery is affecting on-premise dining; and includes interviews with Saladworks CEO Patrick Sugrue and Schlotzsky's President Kelly Roddy.

Food Delivery: Third Party or DIY?

With online ordering and delivery becoming ever more critical to franchise restaurant brands, many have partnered with third-party delivery services such as GrubHub or Uber Eats, to name just two of the increasing number of options available to frandhised food brands. In this article in QSR, Kevin Hardy explores these options through interviews with executives at Wayback Burgers, Wingstop, and The Little Greek. A major decision is whether to outsource delivery through a third party and pay their 20 to 30 percent cut or to do it yourself. Pat Conlin, SVP for Wayback, says that using a third party provides near-immediate entry into delivery and incremental business gains from customers of the delivery service, but adds, "They take a significant bite into the profits." Wingstop CEO Charlie Morrison, in a call with analysts earlier this year, said the company has been testing delivery in more than 70 stores and is working with DoorDash on rolling it out nationally. Morrison said there's "very little, if any desire" from franchisees for an in-house delivery program, which would entail "an extraordinary amount of complexity." Little Greek Fresh Grill's president, Nick Vojnovic, said two stores have tested in-house delivery and are sticking with it, but the brand is recommending (reluctantly) that most stores sign on with a third party. "It's kind of a margin killer," he says. "They're keeping 32 percent of the money."

Special Delivery: Who's Doing It Now -- and Who They're Doing It With

Here's a short list of just some of the latest news on the continuing expansion of delivery by food chains, franchised and not:

• Wendy's Speeds Rollout of Delivery, Now Up to 40% in N. America
• Bloomin' Brands (Outback, Carrabba's) Plans Delivery Expansion
• White Castle Parnters with DoorDash To Expand Delivery
• Papa Murphy's Goes with Olo for Delivery as Delivery Grows
• LevelUp Partners with Smarter Takeout To Increase Ordering Options
• LevelUp Partners with Playfull To Gamify Online Ordering

Reports, Studies, Ebooks, and Thought-Provokers

Keeping up on digital, online, social media, and the swirl of changing technologies, platforms, approaches, tools, and everything a consumer marketing professional needs to know not only to keep up, but to keep ahead of the competition... well, you get the idea. As one of the sources below puts it, "No matter how much you know about social marketing, there's always more." Well, here's more. We hope it helps!

• An Executive Critique of the Customer Experience (SMG)
  Five key business insights and 10 best practices gained from interviews with top restaurant and retail executives on how customer satisfaction data is driving organizational change and business results.
• 34 Digital Advertising Myths (Outbrain & HubSpot)
  Here are a few to get you started. Myth 2: All conversions are good conversions; Myth 11: The top ad position is always the best; Myth 12: Investing in search ads is the best way to increase your ranking; Myth 17: Google is the only relevant search advertising network for marketers; Myth 25: Facebook is the most important advertising channel.
• Marketing 101: An Intro To Social Listening (Marketing Sherpa)
  Why you should become an undercover social media agent -- and where to begin; most widely used lead gen tactics; some benefits of social listening; social monitoring tools and techniques.
• Three Steps to a Winning Consumer Loyalty Strategy (Marketo)
  Understanding customer loyalty; the customer loyalty imperative; how to get more loyal customers -- and get more from them; and the best customers are those who last a lifetime.
• The State of Today's Marketing Data (ReachForce)
  Defining your ideal customer; determining what's working in your marketing initiatives -- and what's not; and why are marketers not using this data?
• 3 Things Every Retailer Needs To Know About Cross-Channel Shoppers (SMG)
  Who's cross-channel shopping (and what do they look like)? What motivates cross-channel shoppers? Does your website experience drive in-store conversion?
• Bank of the West 2018 Millennial Study
  Key findings on the Millennial Mindset: the American dream, home ownership, relationship with debt, investing for retirement, gender differences, California Millennials, additional data
• The Promise and Power of Local Marketing (AdAge)
  Second annual study: Rapidly evolving technology and an experience-driven economy are making local more vital than ever.
• 50 of the Best SM Tools Selected by Top Marketers (Content Marketing Institute)
  No matter how much you know about social marketing, there's always more. So Aaron Orendorff asked influential online marketers "What social media too is your all-time, desert-island, can't-live-without favorite?"