Sodexo Looks For Suggestions From Students on Facebook

By: Alaina Gizzo
Posted In: Opinion

Didn’t enjoy your dinner tonight? Why not rant about it on Facebook? Well now Salve students can, and they can do so directly to Sodexo’s Facebook page. Students looking to voice their opinions and receive the latest Salve dining news can add Sodexo as their Facebook friend. The company already has more than 20 friends.

The company has been advertising its Facebook page at various Sodexo locations via flyers and table tents. The ads boast a want for feedback from the consumer-Salve students.

This move ultimately appears to be a good idea. In doing so, Sodexo is demonstrating that they wish to hear students’ comments and concerns in order to make improvements and better please Salve students. Also, the fact that Sodexo is taking advantage of Facebook, the most popular social networking site, in order to break down the boundaries between the Sodexo administration and Salve students shows that the company seeks good communication with their consumers.

On the page itself, Sodexo lists the hours of its four locations on campus, including photos of the different locations. The Sodexo Facebook page also features a “quizzes and surveys” tab, yet nothing actually appears when a user clicks the tab. But the page, in a separate section, features a link to surveypirate.com where students can voice their opinions regarding Global Café.

It is certainly interesting to see the company’s attempts at reaching out to the Salve Regina student body, but one may wonder how effective this method may be. Facebook as a social media has been a successful and inexpensive way for other companies to advertise and to get timely and honest feedback from consumers.

Yet, is a Facebook page much more effective than a suggestion box? A while back, students used to be able to fill out suggestion and comment cards for Sodexo management to read and sometimes reply to. But students across the board still seemed to harbor complaints about Sodexo cuisine despite this attempt.

Perhaps Sodexo is expecting better results with this method since it incorporates technology in an environment that students are accustomed to, especially since most of its students are part of the Facebook community. Technology and social media are important to nearly every Salve student who constantly check the site several times a day. So by Sodexo joining the Facebook fad, they are most likely hoping to more effectively reach out to students.

All in all, this attempt may seem hopeless. If suggestion cards in Miley Cafeteria weren’t seen as effective, a Facebook page may not be much more helpful. It would be ideal for this type of communication to work, but if the low-tech version didn’t, why would the high tech?