Twitter Marketing – @AJBombers Style

By Amanda Eggert

Today my Marquette social media class was fortunate enough to have Joe Sorge from AJ Bombers speak on social media marketing. Joe owns several restaurants in the Milwaukee area including AJ Bombers, Water Buffalo, Swig, and soon-to-open BBQ joint, The Smoke Shack. So what does this local restauranteur know about social media? Turns out, a lot!

Earlier this week, Joe was featured in the Wall Street Journal for his use of social media to promote AJ Bombers. So without further adieu, here’s my mini case study on what he’s doing to gain such recognition. Oh, and please note I’ll use Joe and AJ Bombers interchangeably here.
AJ Bombers uses all social media platforms the same way: to engage customers at the point of experience. The goal here is to catch and respond, so time is of the essence. According to Joe, it’s not about driving traffic to their website, but making customers feel like part of the community.
AJ Bombers found an effective use for the geo-location service, four square. They’ve set up special offers for people who utilize the platform. Since using four square, sales of menu items promoted on the platform have risen 30%. Talk about ROI!
Joe has fun with social media. This is apparent with AJ Bomber’s twitter account and blog, The Burger Whisperer. It also goes to show the impact of customer input via social media…as with the blog, ideas for food items. (Interesting tidbit: one of AJ’s most popular items, the Barrier Burger, was thought up by a customer.)
And now for some of Joe’s “softer” social media strategies:
You need to believe in your product for social media to work. After all, social media is putting your brand out there for all to see. Joe stands behind his product and is willing to put it to the test….taste test that is.
Social media is about transparency. It’s great to play around and experiment. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, but if you make one own up to it. Time heals all wounds.
As I’ve come to learn, there is no cookie cutter solution for social media marketing, this is what worked for one business. If you’re interested in learning more about social media check out these books (recommended by Joe himself): Viral Loop by Adam L. Penenberg and Social Media 101 by Chris Brogan. Also, to see tweets from this morning’s visit by Joe, check out our class hashtag: #musm.

Amanda Eggert is a senior studying advertising and communication at Marquette.