The Veggie Grill’s Use of Social Media

The Veggie Grill is a small chain of restaurants based in Southern California that serves vegetarian comfort type foods.  Their menu consists of items such as burgers, salads, wraps, soups, and a variety of side items, all of which are vegan.  Everything that I have tried so far on their menu is quite delicious, and I get a good impression from them online and in-person as well.  I decide to explore their online presence through use of social media further to see what I can uncover.

To investigate The Veggie Grill's use of social media, I’ve utilized the following social media monitoring tools: Social Mention, Yelp, Google Blog Search, TweetScan, and How Sociable?.

People are having generally very positive things to say and are raving about The Veggie Grill online.  A quick look at Social Mention and How Sociable? indicates that people are using tools such as blogs, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Yelp, and Photobucket to talk about this restaurant. 

A well-known vegan blog quarrygirl.com writes, “the moment we’ve been waiting for is finally here! as of today, the latest veggie grill location is now open in santa monica. this place is EXACTLY what the west side needs.” (QUARRYGIRL, 12-20-10).

Here are some snapshots of tweets from TweetScan:

Here’s what some people are saying about them on Facebook:

Although their various locations are reviewed separately on Yelp, a look at just two of their locations that have between 314 and 499 reviews, received 4.5 out of 5 stars.

The Veggie Grill has a fairly simple website through which people can send the company a note, as well as link to their Facebook and Twitter accounts.  They appear to be quite active in responding via Twitter, and fairly responsive though not as frequently on Facebook as well.  Overall, I think that the organization is effective in terms of their level of responsiveness.  They readily thank those who have positive feedback as well as answer questions, all with a sense of sincerity and playful humor.

This is a snapshot of some their Tweet replies:

Just by browsing The Veggie Grill’s website, I was able to get a sense of what social media tools they are using to communicate with their users.  The two main social media tools they seem to be utilizing are Facebook and Twitter.  They also have a media page which highlights many articles and videos that they have been featured in.  Many of these media outlets appear to be locally based, and a few geared towards the more holistic and vegetarian type of lifestyle.  In reading through some of the articles and viewing the videos, I find The Veggie Grill to be quite effective in building relationships and engaging their customers online.  I’m particularly impressed and drawn to their Facebook page (which also receives feeds from their Twitter account).  The ‘info’ tab on their Facebook page is quite informative, and they are constantly interacting with their users, as evident on their Facebook ‘wall’.  They not only express their excitement for new aspects of their restaurant (new locations, special deals, special items, etc.), but also make random postings that give a sense of who they are.  The postings and interactions between The Veggie Grill and its users seem more like that between old friends rather than those between a company and its customers.

Here are some postings that really seem to exude a warm, friendly, and personal touch:

It was interesting exploring the various social media monitoring tools that are out there.  The greatest lesson I learned this week through our readings, and which was re-emphasized through examining The Veggie Grill’s use of social media, is how powerful and effective honesty and transparency online can be.  Companies who regularly and proactively interact with others online with sincerity create a generally positive impression, and help in building a sense of community among its users.