In this series of articles we’ll be highlighting how different businesses integrate social media into their marketing plan and use it to keep their customer base informed and aware of sales, new products, events and more.

Today we’ll look at Pann’s Restaurant, a family diner that has been around since 1958 and in my opinion, serves the best chicken and waffles in Los Angeles. On every table at Pann’s, they now encourage patrons to follow them on Twitter and “fan” them on Facebook. (See the top of the menu.)

Then on their Facebook and Twitter pages they announce new additions to their menu and post a link to a coupon for a free cup of coffee that’s valid for one week and advertised to their Facebook fans.

Pann’s has done a good job of using their real-life location to advertise their presence online and then creating value for their online followers with a special promotion. Creating a mutually beneficial system where people benefit for receiving a business’ updates and sharing them with their networks is ideal.

One area Pann’s might consider expanding on is working Yelp into their online marketing plan. Yelp is a great source for new business. People that are looking for great food in the area and have yet to try Pann’s might do so after searching Yelp. Pann’s is fortunate in that they are currently very well reviewed on Yelp, receiving 4 out of 5 stars on almost 150 reviews. (I told you they had good chicken and waffles.) They can promote their outstanding rating on Yelp while using Facebook and Twitter to communicate and reward their customers.

If you are a business owner and are in the process of figuring out how to work social media into your marketing plan or are already doing so, we’d love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to send us an email or leave us a comment.

Thanks!

Tags: integrating social media, social media for business, twitter for business, using facebook for business, yelp for business