Restaurant social media is massivly important in this age. Whether you’re trying to decide where to make dinner reservations or are about to head to a new place for Sunday brunch, the first thing you do is look up the restaurant on social media to check out their atmosphere and see the deliciousness of the menu items. For restaurants, this means that you must have a strong presence to help attract new customers and create loyalty with your regulars. As the restaurant social media scene changes and evolves, here are our top five essential steps to help restaurants be successful on social media:
1. Announce new menu items – Whether you have new flavors of the week or release seasonal specials, letting your social media followers be the first to know makes them feel as if they have the inside scoop. Restaurants like Mr. Holmes Bakehouse are choosing to give their followers the first notice of what is happening on the menu, creating a feeling of “if you don’t want to miss out you better be following along.”
2. Promote weekly events & happenings – From Taco Tuesday to Wine Wednesday, if your restaurant has weekly specials, it’s essential that your customers know about them. By promoting these specials on social media, friends will start tagging their friends and the word will quickly spread. It’s also important to share any upcoming events that are happening at your restaurant, such as a holiday wine pairing dinner or 7 course meal.
3. Showcase your food & drinks – Nothing can argue with really great looking food. For restaurants, social media is the perfect platform to showcase what they can do and what their menu represents. It’s important to use it wisely though. Make sure you have high-quality photos and consistently update them as time passes and the menu changes. Also, try to capture lifestyle shots of a whole meal or a group of friends enjoying the food to get a wider range of content.
4. Encourage customers to share their photos – The restaurant Instagram will tell you the importance of making sure your restaurant can make it on Instagram. People want to be able to see the food, the ambiance of the restaurant, and what others thought about it. Encouraging your customers to share their photos on social media can not only help you build user generated content, but more importantly it establishes you as a popular favorite. Interaction is HUGE in restaurant social media.
5. Offer exclusive deals – Create a special discount code and only promote it on your social media channels. According to the majority of restaurant Instagram research this rewards your current followers and gives other people an incentive to start following your restaurant in the hopes of redeeming future promotions.
