Fill Your Seats with the Help of Social Media
The days of businesses asking whether or not social media marketing is worth their efforts are gone. It is now a foregone conclusion. This is no more true than right here in the restaurant industry. All over North America eateries from food trucks to fine dining establishments are leading the way in social networking, and proving ROI in the process. The implications are simple; those that adopt social media as a big part of their customer outreach are gaining an edge on their competitors. The rest? They fall on the other half of that spectrum. In order to make sure that you stay ahead of the game we are setting you off on the path to comprehensive social network optimization with a top five list of channels that your restaurant will reside on. The following does not detail a list of “nice to have” networks, it directs you towards the social media profiles that you absolutely must maintain if you expect your restaurant to remain competitive in today’s socially savvy climate.
5 Social Networks Essential to the Website Marketing Success of Your Restaurant
1. Facebook
It may sound like we’re stating the obvious here but even today many businesses take the effectiveness of Facebook for granted. Let’s put its impact into perspective for a moment. By the summer of 2014 Facebook reported a daily active user base that is approaching one billion and a monthly active user base of nearly one and a half billion. Your prospective customers are on Facebook, you need to be there with them to get their attention. In addition, Facebook advertising has shown to be one of the most effective online marketing options around. You can test out boosting posts for as little as $5 which we’ve seen take the reach of a post from dozens of followers into the thousands. Your business page should be posting original content and engaging your audience on Facebook every single day.
2. Pinterest
The results on Pinterest usage are conclusive. The most popular category on Pinterest is Food & Drink. Women account for over 92% of all Pinterest posts and comprise 80% of the user base on this photo focused network. Factor in the fact that women are the dominant force in spending decisions, out of home dining included, and it is clear where your restaurant website needs to be.
3. Instagram
#FoodPorn is no dirty word on Instagram. That hashtag alone has nearly 37 million posts and meals do indeed account for a very large portion of ALL Instagram posts. The photos are taken while casual foodies and foodie bloggers are in restaurants, your establishment included. If you’ve been in business for even a month, someone has posted a picture of your food on Instagram and they’ve likely hashtagged the menu moniker of the dish AND the name of your venue. You’ll want to be there, as a brand on Instagram, to respond these posts (positive or negative) and to promote your offering. Mastering Instagram is easy enough for restaurants as your subject matter was made for this social media platform.
4. Google+
One of the first things that our restaurant website design and SEO firm does for your business when securing our services is to set up your Google+ Local Page. Maintaining a strong presence on Google+ (posting daily and engaging users) has the effect of impacting your rank on Google search. In addition, and contrary to public knowledge, Google+ actually has a reported monthly user base of over 500 million. When you consider that any time one of these users clicks a post from your website their personalized search on Google is skewed to favor your business the implications of not being active on G+ are huge.
5. Twitter
Twitter offers a quick and easy way for your restaurant to grown an online following while updating users on daily specials, promotions, contests, and for food trucks – location. Aside from the Twitter specific content that your restaurant will Tweet, maintaining frequent activity on this channel is easiest of all. All of the above social networks can be connected to your Twitter profile, so that when you post content on one, it is pushed out as a Tweet as well. Twitter connectivity kills two birds with one stone – pun fully intended.
Keep in mind that not only does your restaurant need to be represented on the above five networks to enhance your online marketing plan, you need to be on them because your customers expect nothing less of you. Set up, optimize, and stay active on these profiles every day to grow your audience and to reel in new patrons. Don’t worry, you’ll actually have a lot of fun in the process!