Social media marketing is a crucial part of any business, especially within the restaurant industry. To keep up with the increase in social media activity and mobile usage, it is essential to have a marketing plan and strategy for your restaurant’s social media. Here are 8 tips to help improve your restaurant’s social media presence.
1. Be consistent.
It’s important that your restaurant’s social media platforms are consistent with the brand and mission of your company. The design, tone and images between platforms should be uniform. Doing so will make your customers clearly understand your business. Ways to achieve this include posting similarly styled photographs and using the same filters on all pictures. In addition, you must have a consistent voice behind all captions and posts.
2. Encourage social media sharing.
An easy way to enhance customer engagement and loyalty through social media marketing is to create online campaigns. This can include hashtags or incentives for customers to post about your restaurant online. As a result, you are essentially getting free marketing by encouraging customers to talk about your business. In addition, you can share your customers’ posts and comments on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram,Twitter and others. Your followers will love to see how past customers truly feel about your restaurant!
3. Have a responsive website.
You can almost guarantee customers are on Google searching for quality restaurants. Therefore, once they find your website it is important that it is modern, up-to-date and user friendly. It is also necessary that your website is mobile-friendly. Having an attractive, responsive website will give customers a great first impression of your restaurant. Most of all, it will make potential customers more likely to visit. Check out our article YOUR WEBSITE, HOW TO MAKE THE ULTIMATE FIRST IMPRESSION to learn more!
4. Collect data and send monthly emails.
Collecting your customers data gives you the opportunity to increase your customer retention and learn what works and what does not work. Email campaigns are also an essential part of any online marketing plan. Creating monthly email newsletters to send to all of your valuable customers is also a great way to keep them informed with your latest offers, events and news.
5. Respond to online reviews.
Businesses should always respond to the comments they receive online, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. Such comments might be found on websites such as Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google reviews. Leaving a personalized response to a customer’s praise or criticism creates a transparent and friendly online atmosphere. As a result, you are hopefully improving that customer’s experience with your restaurant. Rather than trying to hide your mistakes, it is almost always better to publicly address them, apologize and attempt to learn from them.
6. Set your business up on Google+ & Google business.
Having your business on both of these platforms will help new and existing customers find you through Google. It is also a great tool for getting real feedback from your customers. Therefore, if you are doing a 5 star job you will see some great 5 star reviews.
7. Ask questions to engage with customers.
Finally, social media is a great place for your business to communicate with its followers. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter provide great ways to encourage followers to engage with your posts rather than simply skimming them. These social media sites contain various features such as polls and quizzes that serve as a great way for customers to interact with your posts. By asking interactive questions, customers are more likely to remember the content of the post.
8. Share your restaurant’s authenticity.
Sharing your restaurant’s history or back-story with your customers online will capture their attention and make your business stand out from the competition. You can also spotlight your employees on social media to personalize your business. Sharing pictures and stories of your staff on your restaurant’s social media accounts will lead to your customers feeling more connected to your restaurant and the people it is composed of.
In conclusion, the reality is that social media influences the way your existing and potential customers interact with your business. Use these marketing tips as inspiration to improve your restaurant’s social media and better connect with your followers!