Social Media is a way for organizations to connect with their customers that runs parallel to a bigger cultural shift toward what is commonly called “social marketing.”  While SociaLens is in the business of helping organizations figure out how to work for them, there are many businesses who have no need of our help.  One of those, a tiny restaurant in Boston called Falafel King, does not use social media, but it is an interesting short case study nonetheless.

I happened across an article a few months ago on Boston.com about the best 3 Falafel places in Boston. I was half surprised to see Falafel King listed. The surprised half of me rembered that Falafel King is a tiny, dark place in a small food court in Downtown Crossing. Their menu is basic in its scope, and there is no place to sit. The other half of me, on the other hand, remembered their fantastic fresh tahini sauce, clean, efficient kitchen, home-made falafel, and the amazingly social nature of the experience (even at a food court!), as served up by the gregarious owner and his staff, who greeted every single customer in the usually long line with a smile, a friendly “hello” and a free falafel, dipped in hummus and handed over to counter while they waited.

In those brief moments – 30 seconds here, 30 seconds there – over the course of the 6 months or so that i worked nearby and visited Falafel King, i got to know the owner (a fun, intense, hard-working guy who had come from Iraq to the U.S. in the early 1990’s), and the food (made with fresh ingredients every morning by the owner himself), and even developed a bit of a friendship strong enough that we chatted every now and again aside from his work, and that i am writing about it now years later. All because the owner (i can’t seem to remember his name now, unfortunately) understood that his business – falafels – is about connections with people as much as it is a good product.

fyi: check out the reviews of Falafel King if you want to see the effectiveness of their “social marketing”

[Photo By Flickr user Jenn.b under Creative Common License ]