Beavercreek dives right into social media

Meet Teresa Geraci. She and her husband, J.R., owns Beavercreek Pizza Dive in Ohio. Set in a small town, the popular pizzeria recently lured PMQ to visit with a big push on social media. So, we had to ask them, just how do you do it? 

When did you start with Beavercreek Pizza Dive? About 6 years ago.

Tell us a bit more about the company.We are a neighborhood pizza shop serving our amazing customers the best New York Style Pizza. We cook. We have a streamlined menu that only features items that we can be proud of and customers will crave. That said, if you asked a few of our customers why they love our pizza shop, I suspect that you’d get just as many rave reviews about our people as you do our food. It’s our goal to out-customer-service anyone. Not just another pizza store, not just another restaurant, but out-customer-service anyone you do business with.

What is social media to you?It’s a lifeline our customers. Where else can you have a direct conversation with your customers, free? We take advantage of every chance to have make a positive post to Facebook, and we’re working on getting better with Instagram, and twitter. We also like sharing updates between the platforms to get the most bang out of each post.

What is unique to Beavercreek Pizza Dive in terms of social media?Probably consistency and perseverance and a belief that it works. We have seen significant sales increases year-to-year. We credit this to our concentration on the best pizza, the best customer service, and a commitment to a social media presence that lets us talk to our customers on a continual basis.

What type of posts and frequency have you found to be the most effective?We try them all. Photos, contests, specials, promotions. What works best is the overall package. Every post is positive and reinforces us as your best choice for pizza. We post from 2 to 4 times a day, and more when we have more to share.

What is your favorite social media personally and what works best for the brand?
Facebook is our favorite and it works best for us. We can see immediate results, not only for sales, but also with customer communication. Any chance you have for a positive interaction with a customer is a win. We also find that the demo we reach on Facebook matches our key demo, so it’s a good fit. Feeling that they reach a younger demo, we’ve been growing our presence on Twitter and Instagram. We’re confident they both can work for us.

What is the key to success with social media for any pizzeria?First would be to have something to say. Know your brand and know why someone should come to your place any day of the week. Then, consistency. We’re posting every day, multiple times a day.  

Not every pizza shop can afford a PR firm or a social media full time person, so for those who are busy and can't hire this job out, what advice do you give them for social media if they just can't post daily? Everyone can post daily. From your Facebook business page, you can schedule posts well in advance. You can take a few minutes at the beginning of each week to schedule your foundation campaign (your basic specials and offers, we post daily specials). Then, sprinkle in extra pictures and posts throughout the week. Check in frequently to answer customer comments, post a few pictures, make a quick status update about something great that’s happening at the store, and tell customers why they should come visit you today and you’re good.

We have found only about 50% of pizzerias have a presence on social media. What advice do you have for pizzerias in terms of social media?Just do it. It’s essentially free and it works. Everyone can find their voice. Plus, it’s fun. We love our customers and appreciate them letting us into their lives to share our pizza stories. It is incredibly humbling and we are so grateful.