With the entire world on the social media, it makes it imperative for your restaurant to make its presence felt in this virtual world. Social media for restaurants have become extremely important since it is the medium through which a restaurant can expand its reach and can spread its web to increase its customer trial base to a great extent.
Not only does social media for restaurants help in branding, but it also nurtures a healthy engagement with the existing and the potential customers. Reviews on social media is an excellent way through which the restaurants can unearth what the customers think about them, the areas where they can improve and the areas where they need to change their strategy to keep the customers hooked to their restaurants for a long time. In addition to this, social media is a great way to publicize your deals.
How to Utilize Social Media for Restaurants
Social media is the need of the hour, and hence it becomes essential for a restaurant to try and attract attention and increase the customer trial base and also engage with the existing ones. Social media has become a very effective platform for reaching out to new customers and also engaging with the existing ones. 77 percent of the US citizens have a social media profile. Considering this, it just makes sense to utilize social media as a potential restaurant marketing platform.
Some of the most popular social media sites to promote your restaurant in the USA are –
- Snapchat
- YouTube
Here are the ways you can make the best use of social media for your restaurant business.
1. Engage with the Customers
Social media, be it Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat can be utilized well enough to educate your customers about the new things that your restaurant is venturing into. Be it any changes in the restaurant timings, any new menu item insertions, new events that your restaurant might be hosting, new campaigns or any other such new initiatives that your restaurant might be taking. One of the best ways to keep your customers hooked is by communicating well with them, and social media is a lucrative channel for you to do so. Also, having a well-informed customer base will increase the chances of getting them back at your restaurant.
2. Publicize Your Offers, Discounts, and Events
Since it is more than certain that you will find all your customers on the social media, publicizing your offers, discounts and events become imperative if you want to make them a success. Well before a particular event, you can create a page on Facebook and run campaigns on that. Keeping people informed about what your offer, discounts or events have in store for them, is the best way to keep their attention intact.
Before an event, put up pictures and videos about how your restaurant is gearing up for the event. Keep the apprehensions alive by reserving a surprise for the main day. This will make sure that you have a long queue on the day of the event.
3. Encourage Reviews and Ratings
There’s this option where your customers can post a review or rate your restaurant on Facebook. You should always encourage your customers to rate and review your restaurants on these channels since a wholesome number of such reviews will automatically increase the credibility of your restaurant on the social media and to the potential customers who might stumble upon your page on the platforms.
However, you must not turn a dead ear to the rise of negative or fake reviews. It is important to address each review as soon as possible. In case of a negative review, look into the issue raised, apologize, and resolve the problem. You can also offer a discount or a complimentary item to appease the disgruntled customer. Since your social media page is open to the public view, how you address the comments and reviews plays an integral role in the online reputation of your restaurant.
4. Reaching Out to New Customers Through Paid Ads
Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram give you the option of reaching out to potential customers by showing them paid ads. All of these sites allow you to target your audience based on their geography, age, gender, and interests. This helps increase your reach and also improves your branding.
Keeping the importance of social media for restaurants in mind, ensure that you follow these tips and include them in your restaurant marketing plan.
