Operators are smart to embrace the concepts of Twitter and Facebook and most – 8 out of 10, according to the National Restaurant Association– expect to do so this year. But many chains continue to outsource this work rather than hire a social media expert in-house.
A survey done in late November by MustHaveMenus, a provider of restaurant menu templates, polled 1,300 operators and found that while almost half of restaurants invest in social media, only 12 percent actually hire someone specifically to manage their social media presence.
While large chains such as McDonald’s, Taco Bell and Dunkin’ Donuts are able to put a solid social team into place, it’s a fairly recent trend. The Golden Arches didn’t dedicate a department to social media efforts until early 2010.