This is a quick guide on how to use social media marketing for restaurants. Lots of reasons why you should be using it and I am sure you know about it already and it’s 2020. The only problem is that most people and so-called social media marketing gurus can’t really bring in the results.
You, on the other hand, are set for a great start as you are already here learning it the right way. You see, I don’t want to make it boring for you by giving you the generic tips and tricks. I am going to try to keep it as unique as possible. But keep in mind that I can’t skip things that are already proven to work.
Does your restaurant need digital marketing? Well, Obviously you do but then it is always better to understand why you need it as well. Don’t ignore the basics as that is the foundation for greater success.
Table of Contents
Why you need it?
According to Sproutsocial,
As of 2020 March, Below are some facts.
#Food – Has about 375 million posts.
#Drinks – Has about 41.4 million posts.
#Restaurant – Has about 33.9 million posts.
#Happyhour – Has about 13.6 million posts.
Source – Instagram
The above is just Instagram and people tend to use a combination of more than one platform. You yourself might be seeing an ad every 3 seconds on social media. All that shows is that it is very effective to drive customers to your business if done correctly.
You see, there are a lot of factors to be considered when it comes to social media marketing for restaurants. Just a low-quality post wouldn’t do that trick.
So let’s begin…
Social Media Marketing for Restaurants
Assuming you have already created a profile and done the basics. It is time to implement the most effective tricks as of now.
Organizing your handles.
I am talking about your online social media handles i.e. your social media profiles. They say you need to be careful about your first impression and this is literally your impression with your potential customers online. The way you place yourself can help the restaurant go a long way.
The above is an example of a nicely done Instagram page of a restaurant. If you see on the example, it really gives off the vibe of the place and it also gives perfect information that a customer would need before they make a decision. This is done by someone who knows very well on how to do social media marketing for restaurants.
Visual Content.
Humans are visual beings and they love to see things and we are going to implement this concept with great looking posts. When you are trying to advertise something on social media, it always works better when there’s an amazing image to it. For me, 80% image/video and 18% text and 2% links have worked really well.
Research says “Visuals in any context are processed over 60,000 times faster by your brain than text is”.
If you are introducing a new dish or a product in your social media for your restaurant then use a great produced video. When it comes to video you need to keep it short and simple. You have a 3-second window to grab your customer’s attention.
A good example is below of how you should represent your page.
Contest for engagement.
Yes, the contest for engagement. Social media marketers don’t simply run contests for fun and there’s a good reason why. When you go deeper into how social media works, you will see that engagement brings growth to your accounts. The more likes something gets the more reach it also gets.
Your contest should usually have to do something with like, share, tag or follow as you are offering them something in return. The main benefit of running a contest is not just engagement but also more reach for your business overall.
Benefits of a contest:
- Contests can boost your social media following.
- It engages your customers with your posts and brand.
- It creates excitement in customers.
- It helps in creating more user-based content.
- It has more impact than a normal post.
If you are running a contest that has a prize in it, you will be able to ask your customer to send a selfie or even take a picture with your customer and you get fresh content. When you do this, it’ll encourage other people to involve more into your brand the next time you run a contest.
Engagement.
Aim for engagement and keep it as one of your primary goals when it comes to social media marketing for restaurants. You know how much impact it can create and always ask yourself is this post sharable and if your audience likes it.
Having a lot of engagement gives social proof to people who are yet to engage in your posts. Create a poll that you think people would engage in and get the engagement flowing.
Content that triggers engagement:-
- Exciting content
- Polls
- Controversial posts
- Funny content
- Surprising content
- Contagious content
- Posts that acknowledge trends
The above are a few of them but it’s always about your creativity and there’s no limit to it. Feel free to try out and don’t be afraid to fail. It doesn’t matter if it’s social media marketing for restaurants or another type of social media marketing it’s always good to fail fast and improve.
Respond to your customers.
Regardless of the customer’s comments being positive or negative, your job is to reply to all of them. People these days don’t even bother calling via the customer care line and instead they open up their social media and try to contact the brands.
When you don’t reply to a comment on your social media, keep in mind that it is public and other customers will automatically assume that your customer service is poor. Hence, you should keep this as a priority to reply to them everywhere.
Responding to your customers also brings engagement and engagement helps your brand. It’s a win-win situation and there’s nothing to lose. I personally take a good amount of time in just doing this and this has made me close a lot of deals with customers just via private messaging. I mean you are doing social media marketing for restaurants which means you can’t skip this step.
Paid Ads.
This is a big one in the industry and It will be as that is the main source of income for all the social media platforms. Sometimes and especially if your business is brand new to social media then it will be a good idea to use paid promotions until you have a good following,
You see, social media doesn’t show your profile or posts to a wide number of people until you use paid ads for your posts. This is because most of the social media’s algorithm is programmed that way. If you are having a new event upcoming and would like it to reach more people than your following then you can run an event promotion advertising.
You will be able to double or even triple your reach according to your budget. If you are going to run paid promotions then make sure you utilize as much as possible.
Marketing Calendar.
If you are reading my blog for the first time then you wouldn’t know I add this point everywhere. A marketing calendar is very important to build consistency in social media marketing. You will also be able to plan way in advance and it will also make your workflow easier.
There are so many companies and brands that totally skip this and even I skipped it when I first began but I wish I started using it sooner. You see, if you don’t have consistency in your posts then people will forget your brand and you don’t want that. Also keeping a plan like this will also make sure you doný annoy your customers.
Another benefit of having a calendar is that you will be able to measure your marketing effort, time and also will give you more room to improve.
Retweet Or Repost.
Reposting other relevant or even your vendor’s posts gives your page a different content. It is good to repost other’s content as it will ensure freshness in your posts. If it another bran’s post or video you are reposting then they are most likely to repost yours and that will increase your following.
If you are retweeting and reposting a customer’s content then it would make them feel special and that would increase the connection you have with your customers. In social media marketing for restaurants, it’s all about having a pretty diversified content once in a while on your page.
Be less robotic.
There’s a reason why people still prefer talking to a real customer representative than an automated robotic helpline. This is because we humans love to connect with other humans. Many brands tend to be very robotic and they only post and never reply or they make the content too serious.
Have fun with the way you are posting and the way your content is presented. It’s basically showing hospitality via social media as you do in your venue.
Time your delivery.
Time your posts and deliver it to your audiences at the right time. You don’t want to post about your event that is taking place next quarter, today! right?
So, just use your common sense while you time it. A great way to know what works best for you is to measure your past engagement and then use that data to time it. I really hope the following data will actually help and give a good understanding of it.
According to Sproutsocial, the timing to post for consumer goods on
Facebook:
The best time is Wednesday at 1 pm and Friday at 11 am.
Weekdays from 10 am to 5 pm.
Instagram:
The best time is Wednesday at 3 pm.
Weekdays from 11 am to 5 pm.
and yes, these are a good time to note but it actually just makes sense if you really think about it. Personally, I think it’s always more effective if you experiment and find out what works best for you.
Conclusion
When you are implementing these techniques and tips on your social media, make sure to first find out what works best, and measure your results. Take every advice you see online and not just one article even if it mentions “The complete guide”. In marketing regardless of online or offline, it’s all about your creative input and the ability to make decisions. A big step you should always include in social media marketing for restaurants is that you should measure everything and data is your friend.
Feel free to reach out to me if you need any help with your marketing. I will try my best to help and in the meanwhile, you can also read about social media marketing for nightclub or nightclub marketing strategies.
