How To Use Social Media Marketing For Customers To Come To My Restaurant?

Irrespective of how delicious your food is, your efforts are going overlooked if you’re not managing traffic into your restaurant. That’s why it is important as a restaurant to have a social media appearance.

Before we get started, here are some big numbers you should think about the impact social media has on restaurants:

• There are 3.03 billion existing social media users, while nearly 91 percent of retail brands use 2 or more social media channels.

• Of the over one million specifying on social media sites about the restaurant, food and beverage industry, 57 percent of these were about quick-service restaurants.

• Restaurants that react to customers on social media have an edge since 71 percent of customers say they’re more inclined to recommend a business that reacts promptly to them on social media.

• When picking a restaurant, elite and Millennials are 99 percent more inclined to rely on social media and online reviews than are normal people.

• 49 percent of customers read about food through social networks.

Your potential customers are spending the majority of their time on social media. If you haven’t executed social media in your restaurant’s digital marketing strategy, these 10 tips will help you get started.

1. Build Social Media Profiles That Allures

The three social media platforms each restaurant should be on are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Facebook – 49 percent of people search Facebook to find out restaurants.

Instagram – Instagram is a prominent social media app for engagement with restaurant brands.

Twitter – Contrasted to other businesses on Twitter, Twitter users have the most eminent engagement with restaurants.

When presenting the information about your restaurant on your social media stories, make sure that you give as much information as possible. The information you should incorporate on your profile is your location, service hours, phone number, and link to your website; just to name a few. Make sure the information you provide on these social media accounts are all compatible with your local listings such as GMB, Yelp, and TripAdvisor. By assuring the information on your social media profiles and listings are uniform, your restaurant may rank higher on Google Maps for local search.

2. Incorporate Video

With social video playing 1,200 percent more shares than writing and images coupled, your restaurant must implement video in your social media marketing strategy. By using video, you can develop new dishes, highlight your employees, give an “actual” look to your customers, attempt cooking tutorials, or even do Que and Ans with your cook or caterer.

One technique to apply video marketing for your restaurant is to go Facebook Live as the average person uses three times more time watching a live video than one that isn’t live. As you can notice below, the owner of Yummy Pig BBQ announced their Tuesday Trivia night for their followers using Facebook Live.

3. Create Social Media Contests

When you create social media contests you are increasing affinity, commitment, and engagement with your customers and followers. Some social media engagements you can run for your restaurant can be free dinner for a year, gift cards, and even winning free events such as a Superbowl Party. 79 percent of people only like a company's Facebook page for their incentives and rebates. With that in mind, conduct contests to offer discounts to your customers to achieve more likes and engagement on your social media profiles.

Below is an example of a restaurant called Barley and Vine Tavern using social media contests to make engagement and buzz. They granted free brunch for a year to their followers who liked/shared/commented on their posts.

4. Optimize Your Photos

On Instagram, nearly 93% of users tell that the visual display of products influences their buying decision. This is why posting charming and attractive photos on your social media could propose everything. Potential consumers should be attracted and influenced to pay your restaurant a visit by the quality of the photos you post on your social media. You don’t have to curb your photos to just your food if you have cultivated a unique brand for your restaurant or it has a visually appealing ambiance then you need to catch that as well.

Not only do potential customers consider the quality of the food, but you want your restaurant to be seen as a place they can spend quality time in. Your potential customers should be saying “I need to visit that restaurant now!” after viewing your photos.

As you can see below, Barista entices their followers on their Instagram account with visually appealing photos of its coffee.

5. Respond to Your Reviews

Goodwill management is everything for a restaurant. One bad review left un-checked could indicate many of your potential customers doubting if they should visit your restaurant. Fortunately, 71 percent of users say that they are more likely to endorse a company that responds quickly to them on social media. So, whether a customer left a negative or positive review on your social media; ensure that you respond to them as quickly as possible. In some situations, if you respond quickly enough to an adverse review, you can resolve the situation swiftly and the negative review can be taken down by the users.

Also, reviews enable you to know what your intensities and weaknesses are as a restaurant owner.

Look at in a way to improve, as customers love when you respond and take the initiative to improve.

6. Facebook Advertising

With 93 percent of social media promoters using Facebook ads, it is by far the most widespread form of social media advertising. The reason Facebook ads are a blessing for restaurants is because of the rich targeting options. With Facebook ads you can geo-target, meaning only advertising to the people in your local area. This is very significant, as many restaurants lose their marketing budgets to a consumer base that is not in their local area by using various advertising mediums such as television ads.

If you are driving Facebook ads for your restaurant, ensure that you are teaching yourself with resources such as Facebook Business to obtain a better hold on Facebook’s full capabilities in terms of advertising. Below is an off the rich targeting options Facebook ads provide for restaurants:

7. Post at Optimal Times

As the motto conforms, “timing is everything”, this is very true for restaurants during posting on social media. If you own a restaurant that specializes in chicken soups, it is not optimal to post a picture of your soups with specialties at 10 pm, when most people are getting ready to head for a pub or accommodations. Also, you need to assure that you know when users are most active on social media so that you can enhance your engagement and get your message paved accordingly.

8. Re-share Client Content

Whats better social evidence for your restaurant than your customers posting about your restaurant on their social media? Take benefit of re-sharing customer content about your restaurant as it can make your social proof and brand recognition as more people will get revealed to your restaurant. It also lets you share content that you did not have to produce yourself, thereby making it more accessible to create a back-log of content that you can share on your social media profiles for later use.

A more straightforward approach to influence or get content your customers posted of you is to add your hashtag in your bio. When you click on the hashtag it draws up many photos that have entered that hashtag, so you that you’ll have multiple re-posting opportunities.

 9. Influencer Marketing

Alike in sharing customer content, influencer marketing is collaborating with a person who has a substantial social media influence, audience, and authority. An example of influencer marketing would be an influencer posting a photo of your restaurant’s food on their page. By using influencer marketing, you are developing your engagement as influencers tend to trigger a conversation with their content. You are also increasing your brand awareness and conversions as you are getting more reach because of the influencer’s audience while using their social proof to transform that audience as well. All of this could mean more foot traffic in your restaurant.

10. Cross Advertise Your Social Media Channels

You should not rely on one social media root for your restaurant. That is why cross-promotion is excellent if one of your social media channels occupies more engagement and interaction than the other. For example, if your Facebook page has a ton of likes, but your Instagram has a few followers you can leverage your Facebook audience by creating a post that will drive traffic to your Instagram.

Making the Most of Your Social Media Efforts:

As a restaurant, social media is a way to stay at the top of your consumer’s mind. When users switch to their phones, looking for a way to meet their craving you want your restaurant to be in mind. By executing these 10 tips you will see increased engagement across all of your social media platforms so that you build brand awareness and increase traffic to your restaurant.