To post or not to, and personal versus professional is always the balancing act online.
Irvine-based In-N-Out Burger Inc. President and owner Lynsi Snyder seems to have hit her stride on striking that balance with her 10,000 Instagram followers. She shares everything from personal interests (Raiders football, for example, or playing music with a band of In-N-Out employees) and philanthropic efforts, with the day-to-day running of OC’s fourth largest restaurant chain with an estimated $957 million in sales last year across 353 restaurants.
“My family’s always been very private, and I think it’s one of those things where we’ve had to change some things,” Snyder said explaining her approach to social media.
Historically, the Snyders—Lynsi’s grandparents, Harry and Esther Snyder started In-N-Out in 1948—have largely kept public-facing statements and information mostly related to the business and management’s laser-like focus on quality and the company’s employees.
Lynsi’s take is a bit different, describing herself as “an open book, never-met-a-stranger type.”
“There’s a lot of things that we have dug in and we’re going to keep doing it the way we have for years, but I felt like it [Instagram] was a great way to connect with not only associates, but our customers. These are the people I’m so thankful for and appreciate so much and I realized it was kind of selfish of me to stay away from that and having that platform because it’s a way for them to reach out and touch and connect.”
It’s the evolution, in some ways, of the quality customer service her grandparents, uncle and father built the In-N-Out brand around.
Sharing on Instagram certainly isn’t for every corporate executive, she pointed out.
“It’s been fun to have that new way to share my life and connect with people on there and, as for others [executives], I say to each his own,” she said.
For more on Snyder, one of our Business People of the Year, see our front page feature.
