10 Effective Social Media Marketing Tips for Restaurants

Today, 3 out of 4 customers use Facebook comments and images to decide their next stop to eat. It is proof of how social media influences customer decision-making in more ways than one. 

In this digital day and age, your guests are active across multiple social media platforms. So, having your brand’s presence on these sites is considered important. 

With social media marketing, you can help spread the word, attract potential clients, and embark on organic marketing. 

It is vital to understand that social media promotions are not usually limited to Instagram or Facebook. 

Today, several other platforms are emerging as potential opportunities for restaurateurs to make an impact and expand their business. 

But how do you ace the social media marketing game?

For this, we have listed down the top ten most effective social media marketing tips for restaurants which should give you a heads-up for the task ahead. 

Why do restaurants need to do social media marketing?

While offering quality service is indispensable, it is equally vital for restaurants to market themselves well. And what better than social media marketing to help achieve the desired traction?

Consider the example of a small restaurant in Malaysia. In such challenging times, they barely make enough to cover their fixed costs. It means that they are not likely to have the buffer to spend on full-fledged advertising campaigns. 

But social media changes the game altogether. These small brands no longer have to spend millions of dollars but can use social media tactfully to improve the audience base. 

Here is why restaurants need social media marketing - 

• It helps develop trust and loyalty among its customer base.
• Social media advertising is relatively inexpensive for small restaurant brands.
• It helps improve personal interaction and customer engagement.
• It contributes to an improved customer experience.
• Brands can get significant social listening insights. 

10 social media marketing tips for restaurants with examples

With over 3 billion people on social media sites, it is naturally vital to use them to enhance your business.

Additionally, food is one of the heartthrobs of social media. Search for even the most basic terms, such as #food or #foodphotography, and realise that they generate massive engagement. 

Most platforms support location tagging for their posts, which makes them an excellent option for localised marketing. 

Here are ten valuable marketing tips for restaurants to make the most of social media - 

1. Work on optimising your bio across platforms

We all have seen terrific ads that drew our attention and died as soon as we tested the product/service. 

Imagine you are working exceptionally hard and regularly uploading high-resolution images with the proper caption and hashtags. You even include geotags and other SEO stuff to help improve the reach. 

While you have successfully gained the attention of the audience, when they seek to know more about you, your bio does not have your basic details, such as an email id, location, or phone number. How disappointed would they be?

All the hard work you did goes for nothing!

Therefore, you need to optimise your bio before doing anything else. It should have your basic details, a brief description of who you are and what you do, and a link to the map to help people find you in person. 

Consider this as an example of one of our customers, OUE Restaurants- 

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You should also create and maintain an accurate Google My Business (GMB) profile which provides a detailed bio comprising links to all your social media platforms.

With Momos, restaurants can manage Google My Business listing information such as opening hours across all your locations in the 1 platform. 

2. Feature recipes and behind the scene content

Over half of the people on social media prefer stories over mere facts and data. 

Most people won’t engage with your content unless they find it useful and value-adding. As for restaurants, they can post recipes for interesting delicacies (not necessarily on their menu) and behind the scene content to intrigue the audience and win their attention. 

It can include a story about your team head preparing everyone for a busy day or the staff working. You can experiment to understand what works best and focus on creating more of such content types. 

Here is an example of an Australian plant-based burger chain Soul Burger, posting something interesting on Instagram - 

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3. Allow ordering via social media sites

Another simple but exciting way to improve customer engagement on social platforms is by enabling your audience to place orders through social media itself. It can be via an external link placed on your bio or directly via private messages. It works like a charm in widening the customer base. 

4. Conduct regular events

Most pubs and cafes hold events on weekends to draw crowds. How about you doing something similar, but only virtually, to draw more attention on social media sites?

Nowadays, many restaurant brands, irrespective of their size, create event notifications on social media to inform people of an upcoming occasion. These can range from singing sessions to limited-time offers to curated dining experiences. . 

5. Use different media types for maximum attention

I like images, but you may prefer video-based content. While you may like short-form, others may prefer long-form descriptive ones. 

The point is that preferences vary, so you cannot cater to your broad audience type with a single post. 

Typically, most social media sites now support multiple content types (IG has Reels, Stories, Boomerang, and much more). 

Your restaurant can use a mix of them to see what works best and then focus accordingly to improve engagement. 

Have a look at some of the Instagram posts by Chipotle - 

6. Collaborate with local food influencers and micro-influencers

Social media marketing and influencer marketing work in tandem. 

So, you can leverage the opportunity by inviting local influencers, preferably food influencers, to collaborate with you and help promote your business. 

For this, you can provide incentives like coupons or a free meal to ensure that it is a win-win situation for both. It would allow you to tap their audience and spread the word across the local community. 

7. Maintain consistency across all channels

It is crucial to find a tone that works for you and ensure that your content across all channels follows it. It would make your feed visually appealing and push people to give you a try. 

Since diners in modern times have a virtual presence on multiple social platforms, it is important to tap into the potential of each to cater to their needs. It also requires the integration of multiple contact points so that the customers enjoy a consistent experience, irrespective of their chosen platform. Adapting  omnichannel marketing has become vital for restaurant businesses in the current times. 

Momos Customer Engagement makes it easy to manage and automate all your customer interactions through one platform.

8. Share user-generated content and feedback

Many studies have showcased that people prefer social proof over everything else. 

So, sharing content generated by your audience is one of the best ways to generate interest. For example, when you open Instagram, you may often come across several friends and acquaintances tagging restaurant brands in their posts. 

Most of them are not sponsored but are fuelled by the fact that people love to share their opinions online.

Restaurant brands can use this opportunity to re-share the opinions people have about them and use it as a free marketing tool. 

9. Keep the engagement going

You will find several brands preferring to respond to positive customer reviews within minutes but skipping the queue when the same is not in their favour. While the idea behind it is understandable, it can be disastrous for your restaurant brand to ignore the negative reviews. 

Irrespective of the feedback you receive from your customer, it is vital for you to keep the communication channel open and alive. That way, your customers would know that you value their feedback, and more and more people would be encouraged to post genuine feedback. 

It would also give you a wider perspective to understand where your services need improvement and what you can use to improve your reach. 

Check out our articles on:

“How to respond to your restaurant's food reviews” 

“Tips on Managing Customer Feedback Effectively for Restaurants”

“ How to Respond to Positive Customer Feedback”

10. Involve your employees

Your employees are the backbone of your business. 

They can also be the backbone of your social media strategy. Most customers are intrigued by brands that appreciate their employees and keep them on the forefront instead of limiting them to their kitchens. 

Also, when we have a delicacy we love, we often request to meet and thank the chef behind it. Similarly, when people see an aesthetic image of a food item that looks delicious, they would love to know the person who created it. 

Using human imagery can also be a barrier-breaker and let more people find you.

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Wrap up 

Restaurant social media marketing is an exciting prospect but can get overwhelming at times. 

So, instead of merely seeing it as something we do, it is vital for brands to integrate it with their daily workflow and encourage people to enjoy it. It would not only result in improved performance but also help create a better impression amongst your audience. 

In case you are feeling the heat and struggling to manage all the different types of social media marketing activities, Momos has your back. We offer an all-in-one restaurant growth platform to take care of social media engagement and paid digital marketing. rs. Click here to give Momos a try today.