Social Media Marketing for Restaurants: 6 Tips to Increase Sales
Restaurant social media marketing is becoming increasingly popular. But social media marketing for restaurants can be competitive, and many companies struggle with making their brand stand out. To help make social media marketing for restaurants much easier, we provide six tips to follow when using social-media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to promote your restaurant and enhance your brand awareness.
1) Post Pictures of Your Food.
If you’re not posting pictures of the food that people will actually eat in your restaurant then you’re missing out on one of the greatest opportunities to get diners in the door!
According to a popular foodie blog, PC Mag, taking photos of pleasurable food before eating it can increase the savoring — the increased anticipation built up from taking photos of the food made it taste better. This is why so many people are hooked on sharing images of their meals right after they are served. You can use this trend to your advantage as a restaurant! By sharing photos of your own meals, you get customers’ intrigued by your dish. This makes it all the more appetizing when they sit down to order it during their visit. It also may even prompt them to duplicate the action and snap a platform-worthy picture of it themselves once it arrives. Free marketing, right there, to all their fellow friends and family. Many of which are likely local and can frequent your establishment as well! This is a critical reason why you should share professional photos of your meals on your social media (as well as on your digital menus!)
People like what they like and if they don’t know what to expect from a dish then they are less likely to choose your establishment over another that has fed them a social post that has them salivating.
When it comes to social media posts, images are much more effective than words so post plenty of them! Also, hire a food photographer. A professional food photographer will have the tools and experience to get even more engagement for your images and you can use the content for far more than just your social media platform! Think website, flyers and more!
With 77% of the US population active on social media today, there is no better place to keep up with trends than the bustling platforms of Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
2. Promote Every New Menu Item.
If you have a social media presence then it makes sense to let your followers know about new menu items. You can do this by posting on social media accounts when something is added to the menu, or even better, offering potential customers special deals for trying out new dishes. Consider sharing an automated social promo code that can be redeemed at the point of sale. This gets more seats in your booths and sales in your bottom line!
Get clever with a social-only coupon or “like” campaign that encourages engagement in order to try the new dish at your establishment. Encourage people to bring friends or tag others to join them for the dish’s debut!
You can even make one of the recommended requests to take a picture of their table enjoying the new menu item and use trending hashtags relevant to your location. For example a new fish entrée could be #FishFriday #NewCatch #YourRestaurantName.
3) Use Hashtags.
As we just mentioned, the social media platforms themselves cannot only help you by giving your posts more exposure, but they also provide tools to make managing social media easier.
For example, hashtags allow you to see what other users are saying about a certain topic and this is where you can build your own popular hashtags, as well as, browse other restaurant hashtags for inspiration on what to post yourself.
If your restaurant is a creamery, look at hashtags like #icecreamtime to see what customers are sharing and #icecreamparlor to view what other ice cream stores are sharing with their audience. Notice their engagement and which posts garner the most attention. Scoop those up as inspiration for your own social platform posts!
4) Post on Social Media More than Once a Day.
The number one mistake that restaurants make when it comes to social media is not posting enough, or worse yet, just once per day. If people are following your social channels then they want updates all the time so if you only post once a day, you’ll miss out.
Keep in mind the different demographics you cater to during business hours. Showcase menu items that are most popular during that time of day. Perhaps just an hour or so prior to rush meal times so that your audience is already getting an idea of what they should order for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
If you’re open later, take advantage of couples sneaking out of the house at night to enjoy a quick bite or a dessert just because. You can also use this option to promote a ‘date night in’ which brings in those quick pick-up, take out orders as well!
5) Advertise on Facebook Ads and Instagram Ads.
If you want social media to help with restaurant sales then using ads will certainly help all the more. Organic traffic is great and all (that is, engagement you get without paying for extra exposure), however, ads on Facebook and Instagram are more effective than any other social platform in driving traffic and purchases.
This is where hiring an agency like Where to Eat Marketing can be a big help. Not only do we understand all the best practices for social media ad platforms, but we know how to get the most out of your ad marketing budget.
Our social ads have incredibly high click-through rates and we’ve seen companies’ business double due to our Facebook marketing expertise, so consider reaching out today!
6) Connect with Your Customers.
Customer feedback is not only important for social media marketing, but it’s vital to your overall restaurant business.
Using social platforms’ new options like polls, “this or that” images, and “ask a question” allow you to get real feedback from the very people who visit your restaurant. Not only will you get the market research you need to make their dining experiences better and better, but your customers will feel special and more inclined to be loyal to your restaurant when their hunger pangs hit again and again!
It also doesn’t always have to be about their dining experience or what is potentially in it for you. Instead, opt for questions that value their opinions, like what items they’d like to see on the menu, what décor they suggest for inside or outside the establishment during holidays, etc.
Social media marketing for restaurants is a great way to reach your audience and drive sales. This in-depth article has covered social platforms, best practices when using social media content for restaurants and how you can increase social engagement. If you’re looking to get more out of social media or want help getting it started altogether, contact our restaurant marketing experts today! We are always ready to dig in!