Small Business and Web: AJ Boomers food

When thinking about a burger joint in Milwaukee, WI, it is likely hard to imagine a social media marketing pioneer. But that is exactly what you‟ll find at AJ Bombers. Joe Sorge, the owner of AJ Bombers and other restaurants in the Milwaukee are, describes himself as an early adopter and saw social media as a way to promote his new burger joint and help it stand out from other restaurants in the Milwaukee area. Sorge indicated that social media marketing starts with a great product. He believes that he makes the best burger in town, and that gives him the confidence to evangelize and promote AJ Bombers.

A veteran of the hospitality industry, Sorge eliminated all traditional advertising for that he had done for his previous restaurants when he read the book Permission Marketing by Seth Godin. Before using social media, he relied only on email as a method of marketing his restaurants. AJ Bombers, his newest restaurant, opened as Sorge began to learn and understand social media marketing.

Getting Started as a Small Business in Social Media 

photo: Hubspot  

For the folks at AJ Bombers, their first experiment with social media marketing started with Twitter. Sorge learned about Twitter near the opening of AJ Bombers and began using it by conducting searches using Twitter Search to see what people were saying about his restaurant. After a few days of reading comments about his restaurant on Twitter, Sorge decided he wanted to respond to customers; therefore, he signed up AJ Bombers for a Twitter account.

Sorge said that through engaging with customers on Twitter, he learned how to use the tool while beginning to build solid relationships. As he started to see positive reactions from customers talking with him on Twitter, he began to allocate more of his time to this activity. For Sorge, the power of social media became evident to him when he realized that, unlike email, which is often communication between two or a small group of people, Twitter updates can be seen by hundreds and even thousands of people.

Today, Twitter is so important to AJ Bombers, that customers write their Twitter user names on the walls of the restaurant

Sorge and AJ Bombers both have a distinct personality and brand. Because of this, they each use social media in different ways. AJ Bombers is a case study in how to use social media events to drive business results. Events have long been an important part of retail and hospitality marketing, but Sorge has scaled them to a new level using social media.

photo: Twitter printscren  

After the great success on Twitter, the creation of a website and the building of an image on other social networks such as Facebook and Instagram followed.

Today, their website represents a digital business card that plays a very important role in retaining old customers and gaining new ones.

https://www.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hub/53/file-13222081-pdf/docs/ebooks/small_business_social_media.pdf