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Restaurateur and Entrepreneur Digital Media Shawn Walchef is known for ignoring. He couldn’t be more grateful for what he taught him.
When his early efforts to develop San Diego Inca bbq Through local information services and press releases, they met with “crickets”, he turned to social media – not as an expert, but as an interesting owner of the company who wants to just accept his unpaid self. By publishing authentically and consistently, Walchef discovered real digital connection drivers: Stories storiesPerseverance and willingness to be sensitive online before finding the audience.
Extraction of 17 years of activity, the sophisticated philosophy of Walchef focuses on “digital hospitality”, the concept that every entrepreneur deals with hospitality. Therefore, they need to use technology to support the connection. His history inspires similarly pondering small corporations to lift the brand by taking authenticity online.
When Walchef first began to create content for Cali BBQ, he didn’t have resources for an experienced media team or equipment configuration. It didn’t matter to him. One of his biggest apparitions was that unparthed moments could be one of the most influential, and the audience would appreciate honesty.
“You have to apply for your voice, win your story and start sharing it,” says Walchef. “Some of our best efficient content are literally as soon as streaming live in my restaurant.”
For example, during the Walchef pandemic, he decided to make a live broadcast Tiktok for 4 hours straight: “I told my family:” I intend to either live until my phone dies, or my arm does not fall. “” Although he didn’t do it “I don’t have many viewers, Walchef didn’t mind – he noticed the users who tuned. In this stream, Walchef joined the family watching North Carolina, who visited his restaurant the next day in San Diego. Such moments emphasize the importance of exposing themselves there, regardless of the initial size of the recipients.
As for the popularity “people don’t care [about followers and views]”Says Walchef.” People who tune, they matter because they recommend you. When they think about telling stories, when they think about business, when they think about podcasts, when they think about the grill, when they think about catering, they think about you. “
Another common barrier for business owners is the fear of the lack of “high -quality” content. Walchef warns that this manner of pondering brings the opposite effect to the intended one. Focusing on creating more content than on improving one movie or fasting, he developed his skills of telling stories and practiced organically. Repetition and speed are the values of the content that helped him overcome doubt.
“It’s not about making one movie. This is, How to make 1000? If you get your mind in the place where I have to make 1000 movies, one movie a day for 1000 daysYou will be shocked about how much you get better – if you judge the brand standards and quality, which will bring it closer, “says Walchef.
His mantra is easy for digital commitment: “Be a program, not advertising.” The audience does not need to feel as if they were sold; They need to feel related to history. Instead of making posts that shout, “buy my product”, Walchef recommends showing people and passion for your organization.
“What the Internet wants is to show me this process. Show me a job! ” Walchef says. For example, the most convincing content of Cali BBQ emphasizes its pitmasters preparing a barbecue or gives insight into the scene in running a restaurant, presenting human humanity.
Walchef’s social media accounts are developing in understanding that the true value of digital media is to build significant relationships, not only messages. He warns about what he calls “publishing and spirit” or not engaging with the recipients after publishing the content.
“If someone writes YELP review Or is involved in your post, they are a human being – says Walchef. Corresponding Personally, for comments and reviews, he proves that they are valued.
“This is the digital hospitality,” says Walchef. “Gościnity happens in real life, but hospitality also happens online. And it happens when you listen, and when you react with empathy, care and understanding that it is a connection you can establish and that somebody can support your organization for future generations. “
Being an entrepreneur means you have to Learn to understand failureAnd Walchef is not alien to mistakes. “We closed restaurants,” he says. “We closed the kitchens with ghosts. I started podcasts that did not earn any money that no one listened to. I made bad movies. I had bad news. ” The key, he says, is perseverance. When you continue to appear, you continue to improve – and every thing starts with the first connection.
“Have the courage to look stupid, sounds stupid,” says Walchef. Magic happens there.
Since 2008, the whole BBQ has evolved with these principles of conceptual proof:
- Share your story, even if it seems awkward. Susceptibility to telling stories may cause deeper Trust and relativity with recipients Despite the initial dangerous sense.
- Be a program, not an commercial. Storytelling stories can naturally result in an increase in revenues without explicit promotion. Price authenticity over direct promoting, so that the recipients feel a part of your brand.
- Get involved with the recipients – do not publish and the spirit. Real -time engaging and immediately responding to comments can support the sense of directness and strengthen customer loyalty.
- Reply to positive and critical feedback. Each interaction is an opportunity to indicate customers you care about willingness to implement their opinions.
- Suppose every audience is latest. The repetitive introduction of the brand helps to ensure that your message resonates with latest people at the right time.
Listen to the episode below to listen to directly from Walchef, and subscribe For review To get more from latest company owners and reviewers every Thursday. Available on SpotifyIN Apple podcasts AND Pandora.
Alex Miranda and Kristi Lindahl editorial contribution