Eat it, tweet it, post it

BellaBrava, one of the better-known eateries on downtown St. Petersburg's tony Beach Drive, doesn't take its popularity for granted.

The restaurant, instead, launched a new ad campaign with a heavy social media component: Do you #BellaBrava? The pound sign, for those uninitiated in social media and Twitter-speak, represents a hashtag about a certain subject. In this case that subject is BellaBrava customer feedback. “People are talking online,” BellaBrava co-owner Robert Sanderson says, “but it's usually a one-sided conversation about our restaurant in the form of photos, reviews and comments.”

With this campaign, however, the restaurant will repackage the best of the feedback it receives into TV ads, trolley signs and social media posts. Plus, anyone who tags #BellaBrava on their Instagram, Twitter or Facebook photos connected to the restaurant is entered to win a free pizza. Those photos, adds Sanderson, could be anything that brands BellaBrava — even cute babies and dogs.