We’re almost one month into the New Year which means a number of different opportunities for your food truck business. The question is, will you take advantage of them?

tweeting-chef

Photo-illustration by Erik Peterson

As many mobile food businesses fight for the attention of customers in order to get a positive revenue stream in place over the next 12 months, there are a number of ways to go about securing your place in the hearts and minds of local customers.

From promoting your food truck through traditional advertising, using social media, giving out promotional items with your company name and logo on it to using your staff to spread the word, keep some of these ideas in mind in 2013:

Place emphasis on social media. If 2012 saw you giving minimal or no effort towards social media, by all means change that over the next 12 months. While some vendors still don’t see the value in social media because they feel they cannot see a clear return on investment (ROI), most actively engage in it. If you have had little action with your food truck’s Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest and other SM pages, make a change quickly. Jump on your social media pages and provide relevant information to both present and potential customers, engage with them to answer questions and help them with issues, and see what is being said about you and your food truck business around the social media world.

Promote through your employees. Even though your workers have enough to do on a daily basis, having them promote your mobile food company almost never hurts. They can do such things as spread the word through their family and friends; along with assisting you in social media promotions (if you choose this route, make sure they know your policy toward social media). When trying to save money on your advertising/marketing/promotional budgets, turn to your workers to help spread the word;

Review and analyze. Finally, any promotional efforts you do must be recorded and analyzed. The goal here is to see what works, what doesn’t work, and where your time and money are going. Even things as simple as social media need to be reviewed. Are you using the right social platforms? Are you visiting them too infrequently to the point where you do not build up a regular following? Do you come across as a spammer by constantly tweeting and sharing? Always look at what you do and how it is likely being perceived by the average consumer.

With 11 more months for you to accomplish some of your goals, will you find your food truck being more social the rest of the year?