Social media is a powerful marketing tool that can be used to increase awareness of your restaurant. From fast food joints to fine dining establishments, social media helps owners and managers engage with diners and get more customers in the door.
Why Social Media for Restaurants Matters
At Digencore, we know how cost-efficient and effective social media for restaurants can be. For starters, most restaurant social media activities are free—a big plus when you’re working with a limited marketing budget. But budget isn’t the only advantage social media has to offer.
- Customer Engagement. The greatest advantage social media provides is improved customer engagement. Whether you’re using Instagram, Twitter or Facebook, social platforms make it easy to interact with new diners and current patrons.
- Brand Identity. Your restaurant has a unique brand identity—a distinctive look, feel and culture that sets you apart from the competition. Social media provides the perfect vehicle for communicating that identity to your diners.
- Transparency. Today’s consumers want to know more about the brands and businesses they support. While you don’t have to give away super-secret recipes, social media breaks down barriers, making your restaurant more transparent to customers.
- Marketing Reach. While viral posts are few and far between, diners often share restaurant social media posts with their followers. This relevant and useful content can expand your marketing reach further into the local community.
Social Media Tips and Strategies for Restaurants:
Social media for restaurants may sound simple, but successful social marketing requires a clear strategy. Simply creating a profile on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook or other social media sites isn’t enough. Create a strategy that incorporates several tried-and-true restaurant social media tactics, including:
- Diner Interactions – Social media is more than a place for posting content about your restaurant. It’s an opportunity to interact with diners and hear what they are saying about your food and other aspects of your business.
- Photos – Images are as important (or maybe even more important) than words for engaging social audiences. Menu items, staff action shots, daily specials—everything is fair game for topical social media photos.
- Exclusive Deals – Specials, coupons and other promotional exclusives help cement your relationships with social followers. Promotions can also stir up business by motivating social audiences to place takeout orders during a specified time period.
- Hashtags – While hashtags are most commonly found on Twitter, they can be used on nearly all social platforms. Hashtags make it easier for diners to discover key words and phrases about your restaurant on social media.
- Check-Ins – Social media platforms like Facebook and Swarm (previously Foursquare) allow diners to digitally check in at your establishment. Check-ins broadcast your restaurant to the diner’s entire social network and tell followers that their friend trusts your restaurant for her next meal.
- Social Sharing – What do social media and tapas have in common? They’re both all about sharing. Consider using contests, hashtag campaigns and other strategies to encourage diners and employees to share social content about your restaurant.
At Digencore, we help restaurant owners and managers connect with hungry diners using our convenient online and mobile ordering platforms. With a large, loyal community of diners, we take social media for restaurants to the next level by connecting with local customers and sending them to your restaurant to place takeout orders.
