An active social media presence is a must for all restaurants. It not only provides potential customers an inside look into your restaurant but also helps in building relationships and creating top-of-the-mind recall value. According to an intricated report on the Restaurant Industry & Market Evolution, restaurant operators said that they received 43 percent of online orders via direct channels out of which 22% chose social media channels like Facebook, Instagram for direct ordering. However, not all restaurants are able to harness the power of social media enough. Just creating a promotional page on major social media channels may not actually be enough. In this article, we will discuss some common social media mistakes restaurant businesses must avoid.
The Most Common Social Media Mistakes Restaurant Owners Should Avoid
Restaurant marketers tend to commit some common mistakes while doing social media marketing for their restaurants. Here are a few ways of avoiding them
1. Handling Social Media Interactions Unprofessionally
A common perception is that anyone can handle Social Media Marketing. But, posting actively on personal social media accounts and doing it professionally are two different things. One of the significant restaurant marketing mistakes restaurant owners often commit is not hiring a dedicated social media team.
With the vast possibilities of social media marketing such as running paid ad campaigns, branding content, etc., a strategic social media plan and proper execution are needed. Posting inappropriate or plagiarized content on social media platforms may cause you to lose the customer’s trust. Therefore, before posting any content or comment, run it through an experienced Social Media supervisor.
2. Only Sharing Promotional Content
If your restaurant’s social media strategy is just to share promotional content about your services and menu items, you need to reconsider! Undoubtedly, you must share content about your business but it is also important to include engaging or informative content that is not directly related to your restaurant.
Along with marketing your menu additions, operational hours, reshared content, etc., you must keep in mind to post content that is informative like COVID-19 related precautions or entertaining memes. Such content should be published with no direct sales or promotions included.
3. Posting Too Much Or Posting Too Little
If you are not regular in posting content on your social media accounts, customers won’t be able to see your restaurant updates. Social media pages that are not interactive or lack engagement may be on the verge of losing customers and not attracting new followers.
While not posting regular content can weaken the recall value, posting too much content can also be a negative trait. By adding too many posts on your social media accounts, you may be oversaturating your customers.
Posting too much content essentially spams your followers’ timeline. This ultimately results in potential customers unfollowing or unliking your page. The trick, however, is to maintain a balance between posting the content and planning ahead. Create a Social Media Calendar that outlines your posts, formats, chosen platforms, and preferred timings in advance.
4. Having A One-way Conversation
One of the most significant benefits of restaurant social media marketing is that it allows brands to interact with customers on a more personal level. This is especially true for restaurants that lack a physical presence such as takeaway restaurants or cloud kitchens.
Only posting brand content and not interacting with social media users or responding to their comments, queries, or suggestions may put them off and bring a significant negative impact in terms of declining visits or below average spending.
A pleasant exchange of feedback and ideas on social media helps in making your business more real and increases innovation. Make it a habit to acknowledge the audience’s posts, comments, and private messages, as this is the quickest way to form a relationship with your audience and gain new followers.
Do not delete or ignore the negative comments. Responding to the negative comments gives an excellent opportunity to the restaurants to publicly show responsiveness as a brand and win the customer’s trust.
5. Generic Audience Targeting
Almost all the major social media platforms today give businesses the opportunity to do paid marketing. Restaurants have the option to choose the target audience based on demographics, location, and interests. However, this is where many restaurants go wrong.
Only boosting social media posts by paid marketing does not generate any business. Running ads to the wrong audience lowers the Returns on Investment (ROI) of your outreach. Instead, it leads to higher costs and propels you to spend more money. Undo wrong or generic targeting by selecting custom audiences from your CRM database or customers who follow similar pages and businesses on social media sites.
6. Ignoring Insights & Analytics
If you are not paying attention to your social media metrics such as most liked posts, most shared content, etc., you are depriving yourself of valuable insights for creating a social media roadmap for the future. These insights are essential in analyzing factors like the target audience, which type of posts they like or dislike, and what is the best time of day to post.
Use this data to create a social media strategy that’s aligned with the behavior and taste of your audience. Continuously test new engagement techniques and new types of content to improve your results. Social media today has become a crowded and extremely competitive place. Therefore, it’s crucial for restaurants to identify the most effective social media strategies that could help reach your overall business goals.
Social media marketing for restaurants is an effective way to create greater visibility for your business. However, if your restaurant is not having a proper social media plan in place, you can easily make one of these common mistakes. Therefore, monitor, measure, analyze your social media efforts and hire a team of social media experts to ensure you are reaching the right people. Avoid these common restaurant social media mistakes and witness a superb return on your social media investment!
