Restaurants And Social Media: 4 Tips For Facebook Marketing

If you run a business, establishing a strong and consistent presence on Facebook can be of great benefit, and restaurants are no exception. Competition is stiff—you want to do everything you can to get them to choose you over the establishment down the street. Everyone has to eat and it is highly likely that most of your customer base is using the king of social media platforms, so take advantage.

Create a Facebook Landing Page

Any restaurant marketing on Facebook wants to create a landing page; here, you can introduce people to the concept of your restaurant, provide incentives to like your page, such as coupons or giveaways, showcase your most popular dishes, and create a welcoming atmosphere. This is the first thing people will see if they visit your page on Facebook so plan accordingly; also, it is important to know that once people like your restaurant, they will not see the landing page again.

Be Transparent and Responsive

If you are offering a product or service, there is always the chance that someone will be unhappy or mistakes will be made—in the restaurant industry, this may come in the form of messing up an order or getting a waitress that was not on her game. No one is expecting complete perfection at a restaurant, and a willingness to engage and rectify the problem is what differentiates a good establishment from a bad one. So, if someone leaves a negative comment on your page, do not just delete it, address it. It is also important to interact with everyone and not just people who appear to have a lot of ‘’clout’’ in the form of large numbers of friends—this can mean very little in terms of getting people to come eat at your restaurant. The average Facebook user only has about 130 friends so pay attention to every customer that comments and respond accordingly.

You can learn a lot about how to improve your restaurant by establishing a two-way street of communication with your Facebook fans. They can serve as a valuable source of feedback about a host of things from redesign of menu covers to what new specials you should consider adding. What better way to run a successful business than finding out what customers want directly from the customers?

Showcase Your Food and Restaurant Visually

Do not just let customers read about your food and your restaurant—show them; upload pictures of your menu items, the actual restaurant space, your bar staff, kitchen staff and customers. Show them exactly what they can expect to experience when they enter your establishment. Videos can also work well—customers now more than ever are interested in where their food is coming from and how it is made. If you pride yourself on bringing in locally grown food daily, shoot of a video showing the shipment coming in and explain a bit about how you select the food, or shoot some videos of the chefs preparing some of your most popular dishes.

Be Careful with the Giveaways

Giving away discounts, free items,etc.. on Facebook is a great way for businesses to boost sales and get people in the door. But, unlike businesses where a person may only be a customer one time or very infrequently, restaurants can turn someone into a customer for life, coming back over and over and over again. For this reason, you do not want to give too much away—after all, you want to build loyalty, not just attract the people who are always looking for a deal or free stuff. You need to make money after all. Frequent giveaways or discounts can make your product appear less valuable to customers, which would make them less likely to pay full price for your food at other times.

Author Bio:
Kelli Cooper is a freelance writer who enjoys discussing all things marketing.