Social Media Marketing for restaurants or any businesses has become vital after the pandemic as more and more businesses are going online. Having a website and a social media page is very important for any business in today’s time. But that does not mean you need to be active on all social media. Depending on your niche, you can create your account on different social media. For restaurants, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are very popular to market their business, as their targeted customers are there. It can differ depending on where you are, so you need to know where your target audience is.
Have a website for marketing
Once you have a website, people can check on your menus and know more about you, so it is very important to have a website first. Before you create a social media page if possible create a website first for that extra boost from the search engine. Having a website is the first step towards social media marketing for restaurants, as a section of people still prefers to get information on a website. If you have a blog section and post various articles on different categories, do not forget to apply Schema Markup.
Local SEO for Social Media Marketing for Restaurants
For a restaurant business, it is very important to have your business registered on Google Business. It lets your visitors know about your opening times, your location, reviews, and so on. Once verified, you can rank under the nearby restaurant keywords as well. It not as easy as it sounds if there’s a lot of competition, however, this is the first step towards optimization. Do your own keyword research to add on the about us section, as it’s a property of Google and it is likely that your business is shown on Google and Maps as per the keywords and contents you have. Finally, ask the happy customers to leave a review for you on Google.
Facebook Strategy
The restaurant can post any events that are going to take place in the coming days, for example, if there is some offer going on for Christmas and so on. They can also post about the menu changes, their recipes, or so on. Competition is also very popular on Facebook. For a boost, Facebook Ads works very well for the restaurant business, but it should be optimized well. You need to know who your target audience is. For a vegan restaurant, it can be a challenge, you will have to sort things out properly according to the niche of your business. Ask the customers to ask for reviews and like your page. From time to time, share a video or a photo from events or day-to-day activities to engage people.
Instagram Strategy
Instagram is all about photos and videos, the more graphics you have the more followers you gain. You can be very creative with Instagram, ask questions on the story, introduce your employees, share behind-the-scenes photos and videos. Ask your customers to post photos on Instagram and create a contest. Create a fun reel video on Instagram, this is really giving a boost to your Instagram account in 2021 as they are really focusing on short video content these days. Instagram hashtag strategy should also be the main focus.
Twitter Strategy
Twitter is a conversation platform, jump into the conversation from other tweeters, talking something related to your business. A lot of brands have some healthy conversations going on from time to time, learn from them. It gives you an extra boost. Make use of your hashtag, it is really powerful.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer Marketing is huge today. Find a local influencer, who has a loyal fanbase. An influencer can be of micro or macro level depending on the budget you have. Ask them to share a photo or a video about your business, and share a coupon code with them, so you can track your customers coming from the influencer marketing campaign. It can give you an extra boost in the beginning if you are new to the business.
Use of Third Party Delivery Apps
As take-out becomes more popular, and if you do not have a house delivery system, you can use third-party apps to deliver foods to your customer. It can be beneficial to both parties, You are also cross-advertising your business through other platforms and can get extra customers because people can find you on the delivery apps sections.
Content Strategy
Depending on platforms content strategy may vary. However, in every platform, it is very important to have a good about us section which includes, a logo, cover picture, bio, email phone number, location, and hours. Post content that is engaging to the customers so that you attract more new ones. All the platforms love businesses using their platform as much as possible so do not disappear after posting one content for a long time.
Have a content strategy for each profile on a daily or weekly basis. Ask your customers to post their experience on social media and tag you, so you can have more engagement and a social media presence. Show people behind the scenes, the employees, what they do, celebrate having them in your restaurant, it shows that you value your staffs and from an audience perspective, it connects people. Jump into a trending topic on any platform, it surely gets you a lot of attention. There is no particular content strategy for every day, but make sure you post everything related to your business. It can be applied in the now or future which keeps the audience engaged.
Get the restaurants listed on sites like TripAdvisor
There are various places you can add your restaurant to the lists like Trip Advisor. Let’s say I visit your cities, like every traveler I might do my research on travel forums and websites, it is very likely that I will come and visit your place if I see it in the recommendation sections. Not only should you advertise locally, but also look on other platforms where you can find your potential customers. Think big on this case.