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MARKETING YOUR RESTAURANT WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGY creative

Social media marketing is an inevitable and important aspect of running a restaurant. Whether your restaurant is active on social media or not, you can be sure that your guests are tweeting, posting, and Instagramming about your restaurant and food, and that is marketing. Although many restaurant owners and managers may look at social media as just one more thing to do, it’s important to realize just how significant social media is for marketing.

Adding social media to your marketing mix can increase awareness of your restaurant and generate engagement with you and your food that eventually gets more customers in your establishment. New customers that walk in for the first time and because of their interaction with you on social media are already engaged. Remember, 88% of people are influenced by reviews, posts, ads and online comments. Make the most of them by having a great social media strategy.

When 88% of people are influenced by reviews and online comments, having an intentional digital strategy is important to your restaurant or bar.

Can You Afford to Not Be on Social Media?

According to the Q3 2016 Sprout Social Index, 75% of people purchased a product because they saw it on social media. Of that percentage, 60.7% need to see a post 2-4 times from the company before making a purchase.

MARKETING YOUR RESTAURANT WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

How do you do this social media thing?

First things first, most promotional posts talk about discounts or a specific product. Don’t do that! At least don’t do that all the time.

Your posts don’t need to be obvious marketing posts. Incorporate action shots or product placement in a way that is visually attractive to your customers. The best photos or videos can get your customer momentarily imagining themselves at your business.

Start a conversation with you followers, everyone loves to talk it up on social media.

Here are some of the things we talk with our clients about:

1. Ask a question2. Solicit customer opinions on new products3. Incorporate user-generated content into your strategy4. Location and Time5. Think like your customer6. Offer an incentive


Ok, if you know even a little bit about marketing then this should be very obvious. One of the first steps in successful marketing your restaurant is to know who you’re talking to. This may be even more true when you are targeting social media. Think like your customer, and about why they would want to visit you and more importantly, why they want to come back. Create a tone for your social media based on your customers.

If you want your place to be known as the cool place to hangout - create a tone that you’ll use across all of your social media platforms. Post in a friendly, hip tone.

If you want to be known for your food - create your social media postings around your signature dishes.

Think about your customer as you plan out your restaurant social media strategy.

Even without professional help from an agency, it’s possible to create consistent message and imagery for your business. It allows your brand to become more than just your restaurant, enabling guests to relate to your business outside mealtime, your establishment becomes a destination for new customers and a first choice for extisting customers. Use social media as an extension of the guest experience, solidifying your brand loyalty from guest’s everywhere.

Think Like Your Customers

Create a Consistent Voice


Post at Optimal Times for Your RestaurantIt’s important to know when to post to social media, but make sure you understand your audience first. Take time to analyze your current traffic to know when to best reach your customers.

For example, if your restaurant doesn’t open until 11 a.m., then posting about dinner at 9 a.m. won’t work very well. Also, don’t post about specials the day of, that’s too late. It’s also important not to post too soon. This is why it’s important to work with time ranges instead one specific set time.

Because social network timelines are more algorithmic, we highly recommend a social media advertising strategy that pairs with your posted content. You can promote posts at a designated hour to ensure that your customers see the burger special before dinnertime.

What’s the point of posting a mouthwatering dinner photo if your customers don’t see it until the next morning?

Take Advantage of Location-Based AdvertisingLocation-based advertising allows you to control when and who see your ads. On Facebook, you have the ability to target from specific locations and demographics. Facebook ads let you do very specific, niche targeting. For restaurants and diners, this is ideal. You can target your ads to be seen only by people in your particular geographic location. You can also target your ads to be seen by those with specific likes, and by those who like certain pages.

This is one of the best features in all of social media marketing. Facebook has over 1 billion user world wide so the ability to drill down those users to your specific area and target is amazing. It takes some pratice to get your demographic perfected, but it’s worth it... and cheap.

Locations and Time


Encourage customer social media engagement by offering an exclusive deal to customers who share online! Reward your social media network for talking about your business and sharing your content with others. Additionally, coupons are more likely to be shared among friends and can inadvertently increase the size of the restaurant’s network overall.

According to a study from Whaleshark Media, 74% of active coupon users indicated that they would be likely to try a new brand if they received a coupon or promotion code.

Use fun games like caption contests for restaurant merchandise to engage followers. They select a winner for the most creative comment and let them know they can pick up their merchandise at the restaurant, chances are they will stay and eat.

There are a million types of contests you can run on social media. They’re quick wins for both the restaurant and the fans. A quick Google search will give you enough ideas to last the year.

Host Contests



One of the most important aspects of social media marketing is to improve engagement on social media. The best way to get people involved is by asking fun questions and encouraging responses. Followers are more likely to remember the content of the post when they are asked to participate.

Social media is about more than just telling your followers what specials you have and what’s happening at your restaurant. It’s also about asking for their input and listening to them. The big three, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are a great way to create that dialogue with your customers. Ask questions like “want to name our new drink,” “what is your favorite item?” and “what new items would you like to see on our menu?” to inspire followers to engage with your posts and to interact with you rather than simply continuing to scroll down the page.

Ask Questions

Don’t be afraid to ask for shares and retweets. You will be surprised how many of your loyal

customers with do so.


You will get negative reviews and comments, it’s the nature of the beast. By addressing these and showing appreciation for positive ones, your can create a transparent and friendly persona online. This tells your customers that you are not afraid to talk about your flaws and make a public attempt to improve upon them. Use any negative reviews as an opportunity to learn about your own business and to turn naysayers into brand advocates. Even if you’re not able to address every post, it’s a good idea to address your disgruntled customers and to try to turn that relationship around.

Give your social media followers a chance to be featured on your brand’s social media pages. Your restaurant should constantly share customer photos on all of your social media channels.

What this does? It turns your customers into valuable brand ambassadors by sharing their comments and photos online. By acknowledging these posts and encouraging them with the your hashtag, You are helping to create a buzz that is organic.

Respond To Reviews and comments

Share Customer Generated Content

#CreateAHashtag


Hopefully this guide has given you an understanding of the different elements of developing your social media strategy.

Our goal is to give you the information to understand how to best use social media as part of a larger marketing plan. We have worked with clients and their social media campaigns and have seen it work. Social media is the most cost effective advertising and marketing you can do to reach the highest number of potential clients.

If you have any questions or feedback, please email [email protected].

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