Ok this is gonna be controversial, I can feel it. I already know what some of you will say, therefore I will address it right now and get it out of the way:
I KNOW THAT SOME RESTAURANTS DON’T EVEN HAVE PHONES AND THE ONES THAT DO DON’T ALWAYS ANSWER THEIR PHONES. BUT FOR THE MOST PART, THEY HAVE PHONES AND WILL ANSWER OK. SO LET ME CARRY ON AND MAKE MY POINT.
I’m a social media manager and have been for a long time now – going on 9 years – working primarily within the hospitality industry. One of the biggest pet peeves of my job is answering DM’s. Why? There’s a few reasons:
1 – it’s not MY business (as in, I’m not the owner). I don’t know everything and I’m learning as I go. When you ask me something, most of the time I have to reach out to people to get the answer, therefore I am LITERALLY doing the same thing YOU SHOULD be doing. Sometimes I just pick up the phone, call the restaurant, and ask them on your behalf. So…why can’t you do the same? Sure, it’s part of my job to field DMs, but when it’s something that you can ask directly, why would you VOLUNTARILY ADD a middle man?! The logic is seriously lacking. Perhaps people assume that the owner is managing the DMs, but keep in mind that a lot of times, it’s someone else (like me).
2 – people ask the most BASIC questions that you can find through the website or through Google. I can’t even count the number of times people will DM and simply ask if we’re open on Saturday or what the brunch hours are. That information is on Google or on the website. EVERY. TIME. If it’s not, then please alert that business because that is on them and they should have that listed SOMEWHERE.
3 – people ask for free food for no reason. I shit you not, I get “I love your (insert food here) so much and my birthday is coming up, can you send me some?” Like…WHAT?? I love classic cars but you don’t see me DMing Ford and asking for a 67 Shelby Mustang?! Significant price difference, but it’s the same principle. I don’t care if it’s $5 or $50,000 for the product in question. A business is a business for a reason. They SELL stuff. They don’t give it away for free unless they want to. The entitlement is out of control and before you say it, no these are not influencers I’m talking about, these are normal, everyday people who ask this shit.
4 – people send complaints through IG. Again, if you can’t get through, totally fair to shoot your shot with a DM. I’ve done that myself when I can’t get through another way. But more often than not, I tell them to call or email and they haven’t actually tried that.
Now look, I get it. Sometimes there are questions that you can’t find an answer to on Google, but in that case, I URGE you to CALL the restaurant/shop. I know Gen Z is scared of the phone but it’s really not that hard, I promise. I hate the phone too and I’m an elder millennial but guess what? It’s usually the quickest way to get an answer AND get a hold of someone ON SITE.
As a customer, you should be aware that a lot of times, restaurants (both large and small) have social media managers. And those social media managers might know SOME answers but they don’t know all. So here is what I suggest to you in order of how you should approach this moving forward:
- GOOGLE FIRST
- CALL SECOND
- EMAIL THIRD IF IT’S NOT URGENT (ie a private party request, special order request). Most of the time, these inquiries have dedicated sections on the website with specific forms/emails for you to use.
- IF ALL OF THOSE FAIL, THEN TRY INSTAGRAM – DMing a business on social media to ask a simple question should be the last place you go.
I know it sounds like I’m saying this to protect social media managers and alleviate one of the duties of my job, but I assure you that is not the case. Social Media Management is probably the least respected job in marketing (and ironically one of the most important ones), and I don’t expect to change that with a blog post.
I’m telling you this because restaurants are busy, busy places run by overworked, stressed out, multitasking people. That’s why they hire people like me to help take some of the work off their plate. Bogging them down with simple questions that you can find through a Google search is just not respectful of THEIR time. We want everybody to be operating at their best and happy, including you, the customer.
