Foodservice operators have reason to rethink their digital-media presence. According to the New York City-based Center for Media Research, the influence new media options—particularly blogging and instant messaging—wields with consumer purchase decisions has had double-digit growth.

As a result, online tools, such as improved Web sites, blogs, and community sites are becoming integrated into marketing campaigns, ranging from the DIY variety (as simple as a chef, a video camera, and a computer) to the high-design, high-concept initiative (such as supporting a consumer-information site).

Says Doug Schmick, Chairman and CEO of Portland, Ore.-based McCormick & Schmick’s: “We believe it’s incredibly important to evolve with our guests, and new media marketing provides us with a great opportunity to do that.”

A month before St. Patrick’s Day, Plano, Texas-based Bennigan’s Grill and Tavern introduced Fergus Dargle, a fiery leprechaun character who encouraged Bennigan’s fans to get in touch with their Irish side through his MySpace.com page and a company microsite (innerleprechaun.com).

Incentives, such as opportunities to receive discounts or a chance to win a trip to Ireland, helped spur interest: Within the first week of the MySpace page launch, Dargle had more than 1,700 friends.

For marketing director Susan Karlen, the online initiative fit in well with the company’s customer base.

“Our customers are all very technology-savvy,” Karlen says. “Bennigan’s recognizes that the majority of our customers spend their time online and on their cellphones.” In addition, Bennigan’s customers “are very engaged in our brand,” she says.

Fergus Dargle isn’t Bennigan’s first foray into online media. The company has an e-mail database of more than 700,000 contacts, with the goal to expand it to 1 million this year. It added text messaging to its marketing campaign last year. The MySpace page and Bennigan’s microsite are “the next evolution in that communication process,” Karlen says. “It’s part of our surround-sound approach to marketing. This is also an affordable way to communicate with our guests.”

Established brands can use online tools to do far more than to allow customers to peruse the menu.

That’s what Portland, Ore.-based McCormick & Schmick’s had in mind when it launched seafoodhealth.com, a Web site with recipes, seafood health news and seafood seasonality information.

“Our guests get so much of their information online, and we want to be able to serve as an additional resource for them,” says Chairman and CEO Doug Schmick.

The company draws from two in-house assets for content: a team of employees that monitors seafood health news, and chefs, who provide recipes and cooking pointers. In addition to offering nutrition information, the site provides two new recipes each week to encourage site visitors to cook seafood at home.

Consumers and the company benefit from the site, says Schmick. “We feel it is our responsibility as a national leader in the seafood industry to help educate consumers about the benefits of seafood,” he says. In addition, guests can sign up on the site to receive e-mailed promotions, helping McCormick & Schmick’s “stay top of mind when they’re making dining decisions.”

Sheppard Mansion, a fine-dining restaurant and historic hotel in rural Hanover, Pa., doesn’t benefit from great visibility. So Chef Andy Little’s “Fresh Inspirations from Central Pennsylvania” blog (visit it at chefandrewlittle.blogspot.com) helps get out the word about the restaurant and Little’s local-food focus.

“The main reasons for doing this is that we are in a somewhat remote location,” he says. “What I wanted, and what I feel that we’re doing, are things that are very interesting. People would find them interesting if they just knew that we were doing them.”

Blog postings, covering topics such as making butter in-house and breaking down a locally raised whole hog, are supplemented by a two-minute video shot by Little or his staff. The videos also are posted on YouTube.com. So far, the blog has drawn responses from viewers from as far away as Colorado.

“They can check out what we are doing, and hopefully it encourages people to come,” Little says. “We double as a marketing staff.”

To keep the site regularly updated, the kitchen crew maintains a log of ideas. When a slow moment hits the kitchen, staffers drop their tasks and shoot a video segment. Having a few videos done in advance helps ensure that fresh content is available often. Little also restricts the time for each segment, believing that anything longer than two minutes loses viewers’ attention.

The results may not be ready for prime time, but Little believes the approach is effective. “It’s a sneak peek at what a restaurant is really like,” says Little.

At Tristan in Charleston, S.C., Executive Chef Aaron Deal swapped a toque for a video camera.

It started in Oct. 2006, when the restaurant’s crew was invited to cook at The James Beard House in New York City. So that friends in Charleston could watch the evening’s events, Deal attached a small camera to his coat lapel.

“That was the primitive version of it,” he says.

Since then, the camera concept has been modified: Deal or his sous-chef wears the camera on his head, and the restaurant streams live feeds on its Web site (tristandining.com) Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.

“It’s wild—we’ve gotten such an interesting response from people,” Deal remarks. “It’s a glimpse into what is going on, and not everyone knows how intense and stressful and downright fun [a kitchen during service] can be.”

The hope is that viewers, who come from all over the country, will keep Tristan top of mind when visiting Charleston.

Says Deal: “We promote ourselves as professionals. It’s important to have that mindset so you can be proud to bring people into your kitchen.”

Doug Gulija will be the first person to admit that he’s no Web whiz. Yet the chef-owner of Plaza Cafe in Southampton, N.Y., also knows that having engaging online content that accurately represents the restaurant is crucial for business in a city with a lot of out-of-town visitors.

“The biggest problem [with our identity] is our name—I get advertisements for pizza boxes all the time,” he remarks. “But if you see an opening shot of the restaurant [on the Web site], you’ll know that it’s not a casual pizza place for the family.”

With outside help, Gulija is upgrading his Web site (plazacafe.us). Changes include keeping some of the action videos currently uploaded to the site, but also adding focused photos of the dining room, recipes that emphasize seasonal cooking and a link that shows celebrity guests who have dined at the restaurant. The goal is to provide out-of-town guests planning a visit with an accurate snapshot of the restaurant. “With me, it’s crucial that I explain who I am. Now they’ll be able to understand what we’re all about before visiting.”