BREAKOUT SESSION / WEDNESDAY / MARCH 29, 2017 / 9:30 AM
Be a Hero, Not a Villain: Rescuing Your Brand from Big, Bad Reviews
When used for good, ranking and social media sites, such as Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google, Facebook and Twitter, can make your brand look like a hero. When yielded as a weapon, however, angry customers can quickly villainize even the most well-meaning companies.
What’s a nice brand to do?
Although customers cannot be controlled, successful brands inspire them to review them in a positive light. Our experts will share best practices when it comes to dealing with good and bad online reviews and talk about what platforms they use to optimize the restaurant experience to connect with their guests. They’ll even share real-life stories on how they’ve turned some of their angriest customers into their biggest fans.
PANELISTS
Eleni Kouvatsos | Public Relations and Communications Manager | First Watch Restaurants
Eleni Kouvatsos joined the First Watch team in January 2015 after graduating from the University of Florida in 2014. As the company’s public relations and communications manager, she manages all public relations functions for the 300-restaurant entity including publicity and media relations, community involvement, sponsorships and events, customer service, social media, branding projects and more.
Sharon Koval | Digital Marketing Manager | Pei Wei
Sharon Koval is Pei Wei’s digital identity by being the company’s website and mobile app visionary, social media guru and loyalty fanatic in her role as assistant digital marketing manager. Pei Wei, a leading Asian-inspired fast casual brand with more than 200 locations in 24 states, has nearly 400,000 followers on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter combined. Prior to joining Pei Wei in 2015, Koval served as a marketing coordinator at ECOtality, a leader in clean electric transportation and storage technologies, and as a recognition specialist at international health and wellness company Isagenix, where she developed digital communication strategies and loyalty programs.
Katie Milligan | Manager of Guest Services | Firehouse Subs
Katie Milligan is Manager of Guest Services for Firehouse Subs. On a daily basis, she leads the strategic direction of the internal call center, social media platforms and review sites for the brand that now has over 1,000 restaurant locations in the United States and Canada. Katie has been with Firehouse Subs for six years. She began her career with Firehouse Subs in operations at the brand’s company-owned restaurants. She left her general manager position to lead the guest relations department at headquarters.
Kimberly Turman | Digital Marketing Manager | Pie Five
As the original member of the Circle of Crust, Kimberly Turman brings over a decade of restaurant experience to her role as Digital Marketing Manager at Pie Five Pizza Co. The most crustworthy of the bunch, Turman directs the digital content strategy for the leading fast casual pizza brand including email and digital campaigns, web content and manages all social media channels. In addition, she is a geo-targeting ninja and specializes in creating a hyperlocal
presence for franchise and corporate locations. Under Turman’s direction, Pie Five utilizes its 300,000 members of the Circle of Crust program to survey members on promotions, flavor profiles and consumer data that allows Pie Five to consistently WOW customers.
MODERATOR
Lee McNiel | Founder & CEO | ReviewPush
Lee McNiel is Founder and CEO of ReviewPush, which is a five year old bootstrapped technology company. The ReviewPush system helps restaurants monitor, manage and improve their online reviews from across the web. ReviewPush also helps restaurants convert more satisfied customers into positive web reviews through POS, CRM and mobile app integrations. More than 15,000 businesses currently leverage the ReviewPush system today to help improve their online reputation.
session sponsor
