With all of the different social media platforms out there, we’ve created some tips on how to promote your restaurant on each one!
Using Facebook Fan Page as your main hub for your restaurant
Facebook has the most amount of active users on it to date. It’s also proven that Facebook is one of the most popular social media platforms for individuals of all ages. Make sure that your brand identity on Facebook matches your restaurant. The cover photo and profile picture should make it recognizable to users.
Since social media is very visual, make sure that you are posting either a photo or video with your posts on Facebook. You can promote specials, favorite dishes, client testimonials or discounts. Be sure not to over promote yourself and keep the content engaging.
Tweet Your Specials
Twitter is a social media platform sort of like a micro-blogging site. You are limited to each post being 140 characters, less if you have a link and/or picture. For Twitter, you should post about daily specials, promotions and last minute changes as Twitter updates in real time and it’s meant to provide quick information to your users. Users also have the opportunity to retweet you which will broaden your reach. You can also use the Twitter ads platform to create ads around specific meal times depending on what your restaurant focuses on.
Check-In’s on Foursquare/Swarm
Foursquare, an app that allowed you to “check in” at places, now has a sister app, Swarm, which does the same thing while Foursquare is more about promoting your business. Make a listing on both of these apps so that people can tell their friends quickly and easily where they are. You can see in real-time who is at your restaurant and what people are saying about their order.
Blog Blog Blog
Blogging provides many additional benefits for your website and ranking than social media does. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing love new and fresh content. If you are posting new recipes on your blog, videos on how to make a specific item or what your specials are for the week, give it to them on the blog and then share it across your social media platforms.
Yelp & Local Directories
Local directories allow you to have reviews from real people about what they liked regarding your restaurant. You can claim and create the page and when people tell you how good something is in regards to your restaurant, have them write it online so other people can see. You can connect your Yelp with Foursquare so all check ins show up on Yelp as well. Google has a good local directory along with many others located on our blog.
Utilizing YouTube
YouTube is used after Google has the second biggest search engine daily. YouTube is videos only that you can upload on to your channel page. Use the branding to ensure accuracy and upload fun videos. You can create your own cooking channel where you show people how to make a specific dish of yours or how to cook in general. You could do video testimonials of customers. Tips for cooking or highlighting employees. They don’t have to be long videos; short bursts of content are great for videos.
Take Amazing Pics on Instagram
Instagram is all photos and videos less than :60 seconds. You can integrate this with Facebook so when you post on Instagram, it goes to Facebook. Be sure to use hashtags on Instagram that are relevant and make sense for your business. Create a branded hashtag for your restaurant like #JoesHotDogStand and then use hashtags that are related such as #ChiliDogs #CheeseDogs #FriedHotDogs, etc. You can also pose and take great looking photos of your food and drink to make users want to come to your restaurant.
Pinterest Boards
On Pinterest, you can create boards that have pictures with captions regarding your restaurant. Create different boards for all occasions: breakfast, lunch, dinner, specials, menu items, holidays, weekends, happy hour, etc. If a customer leaves a great testimonial about a specific food item, be sure to put the testimonial under the picture of the food so that other people know what people are saying about you.
Now that you have all these great ideas for your restaurant, be sure to start implementing them on your social media. If you have a dedicated person doing this, be sure that they are doing it consistently. If not, contact us to learn about how we can become your external marketing team and do all of this for you. Contact us today at (201) 553-1200 or online at www.PixlGraphx.com.