The importance of Social Media Marketing for Restaurants

Speak with a restaurateur about the internet and social media marketing for restaurants, and what thoughts do you find out in most cases?

Maximum of my clientele come from recommendations and word of mouth. My discount coupons seem to be finding people in the door.”

We have been operating this way since we opened up the restaurant, so why should we change?

If you are a restaurant owner and acknowledge these words, take few moments to go through this article, as you risk being left out behind by your rivals.

Not being unbiased or open to new points of views will lead your restaurant far away from customers. Many of your customers are spreading their dining feedback of your restaurant on social media.

While the latter may be right, I’m going to respond to your question. You need a social media appearance because that is how folks will find out about new dining places these days. Even if a potential customer is aware of what they are looking for, they are still going to search online for reviews, testimonials, and information on how to find you. The old approaches always work, but they are becoming less useful.

Customers link you “being social” to running a transparent and professional company.

Should my restaurant be on social networks?

Fertilize your social lawn efficiently, and you will be rewarded very soon.

Here are five benefits of social media marketing for restaurants.

1. Popularity

Actively communicating with your customers in online communities and groups, and by actively using hashtags on both Twitter and Facebook, you are going to raise brand awareness and your brand will start to get noticed and discovered.

2. Authority

If you work daily on social media providing useful subject material, addressing the questions and developing a trustworthy relationship with your potential customers, you will become acknowledged as reliable and authoritative.

3. Customer service and sales

Providing information, clarifying concerns and responding to all comments (positive and negative), your persistence and dedication will be recognized. If you pass the examination of online customer service, you will gain trust and increase revenue.

4. Traffic

If you have done the social media marketing sensibly and smartly, built your audience and done the SEO on your restaurant’s site efficiently, you will apparently get visitors to your website.

5. Lead generation

As with the previous point, an excellent job in planning and interaction will direct traffic towards a lead conversion point, such as a web form that records customers’ e-mail.

Case study: Osteria Romana, London

If on one side, social networks give you the chance of sharing feelings and values; on the flip side you should acknowledge criticisms and recommendations. The digital relationship is reciprocal.

Giovanbattista Cimmino , is one of the investors of Osteria Romana and a social media marketing expert in the food world. He is one of the founders of Zapphyr LTD, a Social Media Agency headquartered in London and also a co-founder of a very well-known agency in Miami.

The people who can ride the wave of social networks will have more success rapidly. Take Osteria Romana as an example.

“Osteria Romana brings the flavors of ancient Rome to the hustle and bustle of the city of London. Inspired by the vibrant Roman history, the design of the restaurant celebrates Italian Dolce Vita, aiming to provide dynamic and timeless atmosphere. Dishes are served in pans and terracotta cookwares.”

It is one of the few Italian restaurants in London that have focused its connection on transparency, values, fresh ideas and customers’ sensations. There’s a purpose for this: they wanted to create a new impression based on integrity and values.

None of this would be feasible if they did not use social networks skillfully.

Where do I start? Which social media platform is good for my restaurant?

These are pretty good questions, and you should know where your target customers are. One example is if you run a cafe and your target audience are youngsters you might pick Snapchat, Facebook or Instagram. If you run an elegant restaurant for essential people, you might go on Twitter.

In any case, I suggest starting with Facebook, where you will find pretty much everyone. Your restaurant must be here, regardless of which platform you will mainly target.

Social Media Marketing for Restaurants: Few Tips

Do you own, or do marketing for, a restaurant? Do you want to find out how to make use of social media to market your restaurant?

It’s a typical issue — restaurants want to be engaging with their customers; they would like to use social tools to get more customers walking through their doors — but they just don’t know exactly how.

Adding social media to your marketing and advertising mix can exceptionally increase recognition about your restaurant, build encouraged engagement with your foodstuff, and get you more customers in your door.

Here are some tactics and tips for using Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to drive more customers to your restaurant.

Social Media Marketing for Restaurants #1: Think like how Your Customer Thinks

Among the first steps in effective marketing is to know who you’re interacting with. This is particularly true in social media. Think like your customer, and about why they would want to pay a visit to you. Create an overall tone for your social media based on this.

If you want your place to be known as the community hang-out — create a tone (or even persona) that you’ll regularly apply across all of your social media platforms. Post in a friendly, neighborly tone. You can, such as, have a long-term waitress or steward is the face of your social media.

If you want to be recognized for your great food — create your social media posts about your chef (or someone posing as your chef!).

Social Media Marketing for Restaurants #2: Facebook Marketing

Facebook provides a fantastic opportunity for dining companies to hook up with their customers. You’d be hard-pressed to find a customer of yours who is not on this site — and most of them are looking at their updates a few times a day.

Facebook is a place where people go to ‘hangout’ with buddies. That is why they go out to eat too, right? Here are some tips to use Facebook for your marketing and advertising:

1. Cover image — Ensure you take full advantage of your cover image. You have 851x351 pixels to promote your business for free. Include tasty photos of your food, or people having a good time savoring a meal with friends. You could switch your cover image whenever you have a menu change, and market the new items or specials.

2. Use lots of photos of your food — The top shared posts on Facebook are images. You are in the business of food, and the food is incredibly visual. Be sure to include lots of pictures of your food in your frequent Facebook updates. _You could even create a lookbook of your current menu items. _

3. Exclusive offers and group discounts — Post special offers on your Facebook Page. Give deals to customers if they “like” your Page. Give social coupon special offers to attract your Fans to share your deal with their friends — and get those friends to turn out to be Fans of your Page too.

4. Embed videos — Videos are fantastic when embedded directly into an update or in a tab. If you have videos about how your food is cooked or made, or you have an interview with your chef/ food suppliers/ happy clients — incorporate them into an update.

Social Media Marketing for Restaurants #3: Instagram Marketing

Instagram is a popular photo sharing platform. With its smooth integration with Facebook, it is used around 95% of the time when your customers are posting images to their Facebook friends. You can use Instagram in association with your Facebook strategies, or you can use the site on its own. Here are some tips for Instagram marketing, on its own:

1. Use trending hashtags — To increase recognition of both your Instagram profile and your restaurant, include relevant trending hashtags. For example, if it is to be #nationalcheesecakeday , and your culinary delights include cheesecake, post a delicious photo of that dish.

2. Use niche hashtags — Get discovered more easily by your niche market by using specific hashtags. For example, if you’re a bakery in NY, and are located in Soho, use particular geographic tags, like #sohoeats. Instagram is a mobile social site — you use it on your phone. Incorporating a specific location in your tags can get you found by foot traffic looking to eat — and they may be just outside your door.

3. Photo Contests — If you want to gain a lot of user-generated content, set up a photo contest on Instagram. A photo contest can encourage your customers to engage with you, your menu items, and your restaurant. They can generate a lot of customer commitment, as someone who takes a photo and submits it to your contest will care if they win or not. They will probably think about that photo, your menu item and your restaurant for no less than a little bit of time.

Bottom line

I hope you’ve learned a little bit more about why it is essential to use social media marketing for your food line and how to use these social media platforms to market to your restaurant customers. There are lot more strategies you can use, such as trying out Snapchat or Yelp or creatively marketing with YouTube videos.