3 important social media channels for your business!
Even if the catering industry relies heavily on walk-in customers, it is hard for restaurateurs to avoid effective restaurant social media marketing these days. Social media makes it easier for you to reach new customers, present your business in a professional way and receive positive customer reviews. We introduce you to the most important social media marketing platforms for restaurants and delivery services and show you how to use them optimally for your business.
Why is restaurant social media so important?
There are many possibilities for effective and targeted restaurant marketing. Social media is an important part of this, and you can use it for free. With social media marketing, you can increase your reach, attract new customers and promote your latest offers.
Approximately 75% of people aged 13 and over currently use social media. According to statistics from Hootsuite, users spend 2.5 hours a day on social media. This includes not only chatting and exchanging messages with friends and family, but also searching for restaurants, cafés, events and much more.
Tourists in particular use the social media of gastronomy to find suitable places to eat when visiting a new city. Here, hashtags (keywords) are helpful to filter out corresponding posts from the city on the appropriate topic.
Important social media channels for catering
Be found with Google My Business
Google My Business helps you with restaurant social media marketing to be found faster in the search engine. In addition, you can offer added value with a business listing on Google, such as integrated table reservations or a direct delivery service. If your profile is listed on Google My Business, guests who are looking for a restaurant in the area can quickly find you.
For this, it is important that the opening hours are up-to-date, the address is correct, beautiful photos of the shop enrich the profile and guests can reach you via a telephone number or website. Google also gives customers the opportunity to leave reviews. Inspire your guests to leave feedback for your restaurant on social media and Google and to rate you. Discreet notices in the form of small stickers, A4 displays or similar directly in the restaurant with statements such as “We appreciate your Like!” or “Rate us on Google” remind the guest to leave a short comment there.
Sharing content on Instagram and Facebook
Instagram and Facebook are two of the oldest and most popular platforms for online marketing. Instagram serves as a digital photo album where you can showcase your business with great photos and graphics. Since many users spend time on Instagram and search for businesses here – especially when travelling – a presence is crucial for gastronomy marketing. Suitable hashtags (#) help you to be found faster.
Social media restaurant posts that you post on Instagram can automatically be published on the Facebook Business Page as well. This way, you don’t have to manage both channels separately. On Instagram, you can also post short videos of the day’s events in your shop in the stories and give customers a more personal insight into your business. By the way, you can also use both platforms for low-cost advertisements that appeal to your target group.
Tripadvisor for customer reviews
TripAdvisor is one of the most important social media restaurant marketing platforms, because tourists look here specifically for recommendations. The extensive database lists all restaurants, tours, cafés, sights and much more from over 400,000 locations around the world, which are updated with photos and customer reviews.
Tripadvisor currently has over 200 million consumer reviews. After creating a user profile, guests can upload their own photos and reviews of the places they have visited. The most popular places are promoted on Tripadvisor in Top #10 lists. This gives travellers an instant insight into what the best places in a city are.
5 Tips for your restaurant social media marketing
1. Create videos
Especially in restaurant social media marketing, video content is perfectly applicable. Because on social media channels, moving images stand out more than texts or photos or, as with TikTok, are required from the start. There is no better appetiser than to present deliciously served food and drinks in a short video. You can also set the scene for your interior in an atmospheric way and charismatically share your work as a team with the public.
2. Interact with deiyournen guests
React and respond accordingly to the comments and remarks of your followers. Social media platforms thrive on interaction with users. This shows engagement, interest and reliability.
Also, encourage your followers by asking questions yourself, share photos and videos that your guests can post in connection with your restaurant or get guests to tag their own pictures with your restaurant.
3. Use reposting
Reposting or “regramming” on Instagram is great for your restaurant marketing.
You can promote your own brand, but also be in touch with your followers and feature their pictures. This will increase the loyalty of your followers and at the same time increase your interaction rate.
4. Stay up-to-date & relevant
Make sure your content is always accurate and that potential guests get what they see online. Therefore, regularly check that your menu is up to date and maintain your opening hours. To ensure that your channel is regularly updated with new content, it is best to create an editorial plan.
An added value of an editorial plan is that you can offer interested guests the opportunity to interact with your brand through new content. If you don’t post for a long time, your target group might think you are inactive or that your restaurant is closed.
5. Offer contact options
Some social media platforms, such as Instagram, allow you to explicitly mark a profile as a business profile. Make it easy for your guests to find you by including your address, phone number and links to your Google my Business profile and website. A reference to an in-house service is also a good idea. Therefore, name the social media page after your restaurant and use your logo and colours for easy recognition and good results in search queries.
Conclusion
The main goal of your restaurant social media marketing strategy should be to remain approachable and credible. Find a balance between promoting your restaurant and entertaining your followers. A great advantage of social media for restaurants is the closeness that you, as a restaurateur, can build with your guests and potential new customers, so that with time and content, you can win them over as regular customers.
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