Chef Carl Casper knows food – really well, in fact. But social media? Not so much.
Casper, a character developed and played by Jon Favreau in his 2014 film Chef, has a lot to learn about Twitter. Though his story is more about recapturing a passion for culinary art than it is about online marketing, we couldn’t watch this mouth-watering movie without gobbling up all of the Twitter lessons (while our eyes devoured the delectable food footage).
The movie introduces Casper as head chef of an LA restaurant preparing for a visit from esteemed food critic Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt). But before the chef’s culinary dreams hit the plate, his boss (Dustin Hoffman) reigns in his artistic freedom by demanding safe classics, rather than risking innovation. Casper concedes, serving up a tired meal that earns a scathing 2-star review.
Determined to save his reputation, Casper starts experimenting to craft a yummier rebuttal. Nodding in approval, his cooking staff (John Leguizamo and Bobby Cannavale) encourage him not to worry about Twitter.
Since Casper has been too busy in the kitchen to explore social media, he’s oblivious to the buzz online. Which brings us to…
Lesson #1. Ignoring the conversation doesn’t stop it.
Across industries, a lot of business owners are still hesitant to embrace social media, often because they’re not convinced their customers use it. With more than 270 million active users, they likely do. The average Twitter user followers 5 or more businesses, and they’re more likely to buy from those brands. Seven in 10 brands are already on Twitter, and a third of marketers say they’ve generated business from it.
Regularly monitor social media for comments and opinions about you, your brand, and even your general industry so you know what’s being said. Only then can you participate and share your side of the story.
Lesson #2. Choose a good name.
Over gooey grilled cheese, Casper asks his 10-year-old son for help setting up a Twitter account and choosing a name – ultimately @ChefCarlCasper.
Choose a Twitter handle that relevantly identifies you. That may be your name or brand name, if you’re lucky, but you may find that @CarlCasper is already taken. In that case, get creative. Try abbreviating your name (remember: Twitter only allows 15 characters) but stay away from excessive numbers, special characters and informal spellings. Add descriptors, industry keywords or market locations to help people find you.
Lesson #3. Understand the difference between tweets, replies and direct messages.
After reading what people are tweeting about his bombed review, Casper works up the courage to respond to @RamseyMichel. By the time he wakes up the next morning, Casper has somehow amassed 1,653 followers.
“I thought it was like texting,” says Casper, who still thinks he sent a private message to the critic, secretly berating his critique with a lewd comparison we won’t print here.
“You can only send private messages to people who are following you,” his tech-savvy son informs. “I think you might have posted that publicly.”
Casper explains that he hit the reply button on the critic’s tweet, and proceeded to send a message.
“Replies are public,” Percy states. “Everyone can read them.”
The difference between various types of Twitter interactions is huge. Depending where you place a @username in your tweet to mention another user, you alter the audience that sees it. A tweet that begins with @username is a reply to that user, so it will be visible to him and any of your followers also following him. However, if you move the mention to the middle of a tweet, as in, “Hey @RamseyMichel I’ll give you something to critique,” then you expand the audience. All of your followers see it in their home streams, and @RamseyMichel will be notified, too. Of course, all tweets (including replies) are publicly searchable, and the other user can always retweet to his followers – all 123,845, in @RamseyMichel’s case.
Direct messages, like Percy pointed out, can only be sent to users who already follow you. These are more like texting in that they are private. Casper unknowingly triggered a Twitter battle, professionally embarrassing himself, by not understanding the difference.
Lesson #4. What happens online lasts forever.
When Michel returns for a second review, Casper lashes out in a tirade that prompts restaurant patrons to pull out their smart phones to catch the breakdown on camera. The footage quickly goes viral, and Casper calls his publicist Jen (Amy Sedaris) to take it down.
“No, that lives forever,” she says, explaining that there’s too much viral coverage to control.
Understand the lasting impact of social media, and protect your online brand image carefully. In Jen’s caustic words, you have two options: “Either lean into it and work it for all it’s worth, or you can go underground and wait till the storm passes.”
Lesson #5. Reconnect with old contacts.
Finding himself unemployed and virtually unemployable, Casper takes a break to travel back to his hometown of Miami with his son and ex-wife (Sofia Vergara). The trip reunites Casper with the authentic Cuban Andouille sausage sammies he grew up on, sparking an idea for a new business venture. To pull it off, he enlists the help of his former sous chef (Leguizamo) and his ex’s ex, Marvin (Robert Downey Jr.)
Connecting with former colleagues and acquaintances can unleash opportunities for your brand. Staying engaged on social media keeps you top-of-mind with these prospects, so when they have an idea, opening or referral related to your area, they’ll think of you.
Lesson #6. Share what you know and love.
The food truck is a traveling opportunity for Casper to teach his son how to cook, passing down his culinary passion. He carefully shows Percy how to select ingredients, use a knife, and grill a Cubano to golden brown. He loves what he does, and it shows. In fact, Favreau says he read culinary books, watched food documentaries, attended culinary school and partnered with renowned chef Roy Choi to ensure that the details of his film reflected a chef’s true passion.
Percy smartly recognizes that even the mundane moments present a chance to showcase his dad’s passion. The most interesting Twitter accounts tell stories about a brand through behind-the-scenes photos and insights, details about upcoming products (or menu items), and links to relevant industry news and trends.
Lesson #7. Tell your fans where to find you.
By tweeting locations from the road, Percy drew lines of fans everywhere the food truck parked. Events, trade shows and even virtual events like webinars are prime opportunities to expand your fan base. Using event hashtags (#foodtruckrally) and other keywords (#Miamifoodtrucks), you can easily connect with “nearby” crowds that share something in common with you.
Lesson #8. Keep listening to your fans.
Of course, Hollywood makes complex things like Twitter look easy. But even the movie itself testifies to the power of social media. With a modest production budget and little marketing, Chef relied on word-of-mouth to spread a buzz.
“There was not one billboard for the movie,” Favreau told EW. “Everything was from word-of-mouth. That was what was exciting. Much like the food truck in the movie, its success owed itself to the people who were reacting to what we were doing.”
“This movie would have been out of theaters months ago were it not for social media,” Favreau told The Hollywood Reporter several months after the film’s release, as tweets kept momentum for the film rolling in than $45.9 million at the box office.
Leveraging the demand for the food Chef fixed on-screen, Favreau and Choi continued partnering after the film’s release to cook at multiple pop-up style restaurants, serving Cuban dishes inspired by the movie. Many of the events sold out less than 24 hours after the social media announcements, resulting in lines around the block.
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