If you aren’t using social media marketing to advertise your restaurants, we need to have a talk.
Why?
If you’re not using social media to market your restaurant, you’re missing out! Social media should be a huge part of your marketing strategy.
Your competition as well as your customers are already on social media.
Nearly everyone uses social media these days, regardless of their background.
You are not taking advantage of all the free publicity you could be getting by not having a social media presence for your business.
Although some people may say that social media causes people to be glued to their phones and not interact with one another, social media is actually all about interaction.
With the touch of a button…
- you can stay in touch with friends and family across the globe,
- see what other people are doing, learn about events in your area, and
- get involved with all types of communities on and offline
Interactions on social media platforms include likes, comments, reactions, and retweets.
What are the benefits of social media marketing for restaurants?
Social media interaction with customers is a chance to build deeper relationships.
You want to keep your business in front of your customers’ minds even when they are not there.
By having a platform on social media, you give your customers the ability to:
- leave reviews and comment,
- share photos of special events in their life, and
- mention your establishment as a place to celebrate
In other words, social media marketing for restaurants is just like talking to your customers, but doing it online instead.
Alright, I’m sold, so where do I start?
It seems like a new app is announced every week, and then a few months later it’s gone. The social media industry is growing rapidly and new apps are being announced and disappearing every week.
We will just focus on the major platforms in this blog to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Although it may be daunting at first, once you get the hang of the basics you can start to play around with other apps and platforms – you never know what will be popular next!
This blog will cover the basics of social media marketing for restaurants, including the best social media platforms for your business.
This article will also touch on some key points of what NOT to do. In addition to what you should post and how to grow your followers.
So let’s get moving.
1. Show Off What’s Behind the Scenes
Who they are: Wave Asian Bistro & Sushi
Wave regularly shares behind-the-scenes videos and photos from their kitchen on their Instagram account. This allows their followers to see not only the final product, but also the process and hard work that goes into each dish.
The reason this is awesome is because people love to see how their food is made. By having pictures or videos of this process, you are more likely to get new customers. This is because they can see how clean and professional your kitchen staff is.
In order to make your restaurant’s YouTube channel successful, you should film videos of your most delicious dishes being made in a clean kitchen. You can either show the entire process of making a dish or just upload a short clip of one part of the dish being made. Doing this will help to showcase the skills of your staff and get new customers interested in trying your food.
2. Create a Consistent Voice
Who they are: Sweetgreen, national chain
Sweetgreen is an iconic brand that focuses on fresh and sustainable food. They have a clean and modern aesthetic that is consistent in everything they do, whether you’re on their mobile app, in a store, or following them on social media. The same vibrant photography is used across all their marketing materials, and they use a casual, fun tone. The Sweetgreen brand is recognizable even when its logo isn’t on the screen.
Sweetgreen extended their restaurant brand beyond their four walls by having a consistent message and image throughout their social media platforms. Without hiring a professional agency, they were still able to achieve this branding technique. This helps create customer engagement and keeps people coming back for more.
3. Respond to Online Reviews
Who they are: Chop Shop, three locations in Colorado
The managers of Chop Shop regularly check their Yelp business page and usually reply to every review, regardless of whether it is positive or negative. They personally respond to each reviewer’s comments.
The Chop Shop team has done an amazing job at addressing negative reviews and showing appreciation for positive ones. This creates a transparent and friendly persona online. They’re not afraid to talk about their flaws and make a public attempt to improve upon them. The managers use negative reviews as an opportunity to learn about their business and to turn unhappy customers into brand advocates. Even if you’re not able to address every post on your review page, it’s a good idea to address your disgruntled customers and try to turn that relationship around.
4. Use Social Media to Drive Email Signups
Who they are: Steak ‘n Shake, national chain
They use their Instagram bio to direct guests to their email signup page with an incentive of a free double cheeseburger and fries if they sign up.
Email newsletters are great for getting to know your guests and driving repeat visits. If a customer gives you their email, you can use restaurant email marketing to reach out to them with coupons, birthday discounts, special events, and more.
5. User-Generated Content
Who they are: Condado Tacos
They are creating user-generated content, or UGC. This is content made by guests, such as photos and videos, that show the brand in a positive light. Any UGC found online can be reposted, as long as the original author is credited in the social media post.
Condado makes use of all user-generated content. “Our guests already take great pictures of our food and post about Condado to their friends, so sharing user-generated content is a big part of our strategy. When people see our posts, we want them to crave the food enough to share with friends, talk about how delicious it looks, and then make plans to come dine with us or get takeout,” they said.
On social media your fans are your best advocates—so let them do the talking for you. When guests post about their positive experiences at your restaurant on social media, it’s a valuable endorsement of your business that 85% of other diners are more likely to trust.
When you post positive content about your restaurant, make sure it is in line with your brand. Keep it lighthearted and excited, and show appreciation for the positive feedback.
6. Spotlight Your Employees
Who they are: Sandwich Hag
The Sandwich Hag is doing something great by spotlighting their employees on social media. This shows potential guests that the employees are cared for as individuals and that their strengths are celebrated. Many of the restaurant’s Instagram posts highlight the team’s strengths.
It’s awesome because profiling the people behind a business makes customers feel more connected to the business. Posting pictures from “behind the scenes” or sharing funny anecdotes about the staff can make followers feel more connected to the business and the people that make it possible. Sandwich Hag goes above and beyond, for example, not just sharing an important announcement, but also including the very personal reasons why with an emotional post about taking time for family and figuring out work-life balance in the industry.
7. Ask Questions to Engage Followers
Who they are: Mei Mei
What this company is doing is improving engagement on social media by asking fun questions and encouraging responses. Followers are more likely to remember the content of the post, such as the fact that Mei Mei has a special of sweet corn fritters, if they interact with it in some way.
It’s awesome because social media is about more than just restaurant promotion. It’s about listening to customers too. Asking questions on Instagram stories, for example, can inspire followers to engage with your posts and interact with you.
8. Capitalize on Trending Topics
Who they are: Upper Crust Pizzeri
People were talking about the Nor’easter on social media, and Upper Crust Pizzeria decided to join the conversation by using the hashtags that were already trending (#openinBOS) and posting a photo of their team bundled up with a local weatherman.
It’s awesome to jump on topics that are already trending on social media because it increases exposure for your posts. This strategy is called “newsjackin”, and marketers use it as a way to be seen by everyone following the popular trend.
9. Host Social Media Contests
Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop is a sandwich shop in Las Vegas, NV. They offer a variety of sandwiches, including their famous Bobbie sandwich, made with turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.
Capriotti’s do promotions such as giving away a $100 gift card to one lucky winner. To enter, commenters must tag a friend in the comments section of the Facebook post.
There are a million reasons why social media contests are awesome. They’re quick wins for both your restaurant and your fans. By asking guests to participate in fun trivia questions, riddles, fill-in-the-blanks, photo contests, caption contests, or even just by tagging their friends, the restaurant is building rapport with guests and encouraging engagement online.
10. Spotlight your Vendors
Who they are: Donna’s Toronto in Toronto, Canada
What the restaurant is doing is promoting the vendors who supply the ingredients for their food. They are doing this to show appreciation for the people who make their restaurant great. They are also hoping to attract customers from those vendors. For example, Donna’s highlights that the bagels in their Reuben sandwich are from a local bakery called Harbord St Bakery. Harbord St Bakery also shared a post saying that they are providing bagels for Donna’s for a special.
The benefits of this arrangement for both businesses is that they are able to tap into each other’s pool of customers, which widens their potential customer base. In addition, customers of restaurants are often interested in knowing about the sources of the ingredients used in their favorite dishes. By supporting other local businesses, restaurants can attract new customers who are looking to support their community.
Quick Recap
We’ve covered a lot of information here, and this is only the beginning, but the key things you need to take away are:
- The social platforms that are best for your business are going to be: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
- You should be posting content with clear bright images of your dishes to get those mouths watering!
- Don’t leave it just at food – tell your customers the story behind your business, impress them with food facts, make funny puns, ask questions, and tell them about what’s going on in the community.
Be a source of information that they seek out with your content. - Talk to them. Respond to comments and reviews, like and share photos and posts that they tag your business in.  Remember, social media is a conversation.
- Follow, follow, follow. Keep a list of relevant hashtags and accounts that you regularly follow from.
- Remember to look for your location on Instagram and see what photos people have posted.
- Remember to unfollow, too many followings versus followers is a big social media faux pas.
- And last, of all, remember patience and consistency. Social media is a long-term marketing strategy with a big-time payoff.
You are building a relationship of trust with your audience, that takes time, but if you keep at it people will soon be coming to you.
We hope you found this crash course helpful in learning the basics of social media marketing for restaurants.
The basics are important to understand, and we recommend that you continue learning about new platforms and strategies to help your business grow.
To stay ahead of the competition, your business needs to be constantly innovating its marketing strategy.
In addition to our social media marketing company, we also offer social media marketing services to help your business succeed.
If you are not using social media to market your business, please contact us to find out how to get started.
We’ll walk you through it.
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