Running social media for restaurants can be tricky, but is becoming increasingly important in today’s marketing landscape. It was reported in 2017 that the average American adult spent more than 11 hours on social media throughout the day. If you aren’t active online, your restaurant is potentially missing out on hundreds of new customers. Social Media for restaurants can increase visibility to your business, attract new customers and increase revenue. Without a social media presence, it can be difficult to compete with other restaurants in your area.

A poor or unorganized social media page can seem very unprofessional or out-of-date and scare away some customers. Especially groups like the Millennials who get the majority of their information and form important buying decisions online. There are a few basic social media marketing strategies for restaurants that make a huge difference. Here are BusySeed’s tried and true social media marketing strategies for restaurants.

#1 Share customer-created content

Tell your followers to tag you in all posts about your restaurant! Once you’ve been tagged in these posts, reshare and credit the customer. This small action makes customers feel valued, and like they have a close relationship with your business. These close relationships are very important in creating a loyal fan base.

#2 Run promotions to get customers involved

You should also encourage people to check-in and leave reviews for your restaurant. Facebook, Yelp, and Google are the most popular for online reviews. Make plenty of social media posts reminding your followers to leave a review of their experience! Include a link to your Yelp page on all receipts and have the sticker visible in your storefront window as extra reminders.

It’s also a great idea to encourage people to leave a review by giving them something in return. Things like small discounts or a free appetizer or dessert at their next visit are always popular and cause a huge increase in reviews and check-ins. If you do decide to run such a promotion, let your servers know! They can tell customers that may not have seen the social media post.

Social media for restaurants should be focused on raising awareness and increasing revenue. Having a large number of check-ins and positive reviews online and visible throughout your social media platforms is one of the easiest ways to achieve these goals.

#3 Don’t forget to interact

Interacting with your customers on all social media platforms is vital – this means on posts, comments, and reviews! Your posts should be starting some kind of conversation with your followers. This not only helps you avoid issues with the new Facebook algorithm but also improves your page’s overall engagement statistics. In the comments, make sure to like and respond to as many customers as you can. When going through your reviews, make sure to respond to everything, the good and the bad! This makes customers feel their voice is being heard and appreciated.

Would you like to learn more about social media for restaurants and different strategies you can use? Reach out to the BusySeed team today! We are always there to help.