Social media is a portal to endless content consumed by people worldwide. Almost every business is active on social media and profits from it in one way or another.
Traditional forms of marketing, such as radio and television, are no longer the most effective ways to target customers. Apart from leisure, the business side of social media offers products of all kinds. Whether it’s retail, beauty, healthcare, travel, or food, you can find their presence on all social platforms. If your restaurant is not on social media, you’re missing out on a significant portion of your market.
As the world of technology evolves, your marketing techniques should too. When finding a new restaurant, most people either rely on a recommendation from a friend or online reviews. People trust online reviews as much as a friend’s or family’s opinion. Having a poor social media presence can also negatively affect your business. Most millennials avoid restaurants that lack an engaging social media presence. That is why your marketing strategy must be well thought out and creative.
Why Is Social Media Important For Restaurants?
Everyone can benefit from social media in one way or another. For restaurant owners, there are multiple ways to take this form of technology and use it to their advantage. Social media is a tool that helps reach millions of people within seconds. Social media can help your brand get all the attention if you follow the right restaurant marketing strategy.
Here is a list of what social media can do for your restaurant.
1. Easy On The Wallet
Advertising your business on social media is free unless you run paid ads which are comparatively cheaper than other forms. Television commercials, radio ads, and large graphics such as billboards can cost anywhere between $250 to $15000.
Social media is a cost-effective way to reach large audiences from anywhere. It’s entirely up to you to choose how much you want to invest in your social ads. Simple yet strategic restaurant marketing efforts can help your content get views and go a long way.
2. Reaches Larger Audiences
Each year, cable TV loses millions of subscribers. Most people today choose to consume entertainment and media through the internet. Moreover, about 4.62 billion people are active on social media worldwide.
People all over the world can know about your restaurant. Social media marketing can improve your brand awareness and popularity and attract more customers from different places.
3. Builds Trust & Loyalty
When you choose to showcase your restaurant on social media, customers feel they can trust you. Transparency and consistency show that you offer the same service and quality to all your customers. People want to see that they are visiting a safe space where they will have a good experience.
When you live up to the standards of a good restaurant, you build loyal customers. These people are more likely to return or recommend your restaurant to their family and friends. Using social media, you can assure your clients of the quality of service and food by posting exciting photos and videos.
4. Builds Brand Awareness
You can build brand awareness with a well-planned restaurant marketing strategy and consistency. As your social media presence continues to grow, so does your identity. People will begin to recognize your brand more often. Your brand awareness will increase if your restaurant has more satisfied customers.
Your restaurant can be known across large audiences for the kind of service or food you serve. Your restaurant can help diners enjoy memorable moments, and they will want to share them on social platforms. User-generated content can help your restaurant get free publicity and gain popularity. It is up to you how you want your customers to recognize and label your restaurant.
5. Connects With More Customers
Social media helps make it easy to connect with your existing and potential customers virtually. You can communicate with your audience anytime, from anywhere. Social media allows you to message users directly if you want to answer someone’s question or resolve an issue.
It’s also helpful to share any message or updates with your audience. You can let your customers know about changing hours or restaurant policies. It’s an excellent platform to share your restaurant’s motto and what you stand for. This way, customers can understand your passion for serving people.
A successful restaurant plans out its marketing strategy and applies specific techniques that are proven effective. Here are a few tips to improve your social media presence.
Social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest are about visually aesthetic posts. Sharing high-quality photos or videos can engage more people and get better responses than blurry or pixelated media.
It’s a great way to showcase what your restaurant has to offer. You can attract more people to dine at your restaurant by consistently sharing beautiful images and valuable content.
2. Repost Customer Photos, Videos, & Mentions
Instagram and Facebook are platforms where people enjoy sharing their experiences as videos, photos, or stories. Reposting customer photos or reviews can help build trust and loyalty amongst your audience. Your customers will appreciate the recognition, motivating them to continue posting about your restaurant.
Of course, you should only want to share positive feedback and resolve negative ones as soon as possible.
Behind-the-scenes posts are fantastic for social media. You can feature your chefs preparing food and other staff arranging tables and decor. Being transparent allows your customers to trust you better. People like to see the effort that goes into preparing their food. It ensures them that they’re spending their money in the right place.
4. Invest In Paid Ads
Investing in social media ads is affordable and effective. Paid ads are the way to go if you want to boost your marketing results. Ads help you reach broader audiences and persuade them to visit your restaurant. You can target ideal customers in your ads actively searching for a restaurant like yours. Ads are an excellent way to build brand awareness and increase your restaurant’s exposure.
5. Track Analytics
Social platforms help track your social media performance and stay up to date with your progress. The majority of these platforms provide insights into your content. For example, Instagram will tell you how many people viewed, liked, and shared your story. It will also tell you how many external profiles your content reached. When it comes to a post, you can see the views, shares, comments, and other valuable metrics.
With this information, you can determine which content receives high engagement rates and which goes unnoticed. It’ll help you create future content and plan your restaurant marketing strategy accordingly.
Moving Forward
If you feel you’re always short on time or don’t have the knowledge or energy to promote your restaurant, there’s a way out. Instead of hiring a restaurant marketing agency and paying tons of money, get Practina.
Restaurant marketing apps like Practina are affordable and help manage and improve your social media. You can leave your marketing duties to Practina and continue focusing on running your restaurant.
Practina will create original content for you to maintain your audience’s interest. It will also share analytics to help you track the success of each post and run ads to generate more leads.
To learn more about Practina, you can visit practina.com or download the Practina app.
