Vine may only have 45 million users at the moment but with recent improvements that allow the uploading and editing of existing video it is sure to have a banner year as 2014 transitions into 2015. As a social media marketing tool this video snippet sharing channel offers restaurants a tremendous opportunity to capture the short attention spans of foodies looking for “the next big meal” in their locale. If you truly want to set your eatery above the competition when it comes to online marketing you will want to adopt the use of a Vine, before everyone else starts doing it. Today the SEO (and social) Chefs are offering a few tips to restaurant mastery of this highly visual social medium.
5 Ways Online Restaurants Can Use Vine Video to Attract Customers to their Establishment
1. Showcase a Not-so-Secret Recipe in Action
TV shows like Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives are very effective in garnering interest from the public because they show the host in the kitchen of featured establishments going over the explicit recipes of their most popular dishes. This sort of “kitchen to table” content serves to get viewers salivating before the final dish is even put on display. While you may not want to give up any secret family recipes you can certainly use Vine to show users the ingredients being whipped into action by your chef. A cracked egg, a dash of spice, the sizzle of olive oil and the like can all be conveyed in split seconds right up to the 6 second mark where the final plate is presented. Offering users this sort of “behind the scenes” look will garner trust and appreciation from prospective patrons, turning them into paying customers.
2. Showcase the Staff in Action
People go to food trucks strictly for the food. People go to restaurants because they want the complete experience. When marketing your eatery online you want to present the entire experience to help prospective patrons make their final decision as to whether or not they will visit your establishment over that of a competitor. Vine can help you accomplish this. By stringing together snippets of your lively/friendly management and staff working the kitchen and floor you attach an online persona to your restaurant that consumers of today want to see. Again, this is evidenced by the success of all of these reality shows on the Food Network. Diners want to see beyond the plate, they want spend an hour or so in a restaurant where everyone from the hostess to the server to the chef and owner/operator truly appreciates their patronage. Convey your corporate persona with Vine and you’ll quickly be embraced by online customers.
3. Showcase Satisfied Customers
Social networks like Vine are seeing great success because of the simple fact that people want to see and be seen. A truly satisfied customer is almost always happy to share their experience with others not only as a reward to the establishment that delivered beyond expectations, but because they inherently want to be seen as opinion leaders amongst their peers. Providing impromptu reviews on the likes of Vine presents them with the opportunity to do so. These short snippets need not be traditional customer testimonials, as a lot can be conveyed within a simple clip of a diner scooping a large piece of scrumptious pasta into their mouths and throwing a “thumbs-up” to the camera. Your best resource here are your regular customers who are the most likely to offer their video endorsement. It doesn’t hurt to ask and the positive public relations that can come of it cannot be exceeded by any form of paid advertising.
4. The Food, of Course
The end product, the food on your menu, is certainly your most powerful subject for Vine. Everyone knows that visually appealing dishes dominate the posting landscapes of many social networks. Vine is no exception. If the mozzarella stretches from the tray as if to pull a slice of pizza away from the hungry grip of a dining guest then you’ve got something for Vine. If your chocolate lava cakes oozes molten fudge from its core, pooling upon the plate once poked by the prongs of a dessert fork you’ve got your video clip. If…well, you get the idea. Showcase the best of the best items on your menu on Vine and viewers will follow that six seconds right into the front door of your establishment.
5. Connect Vine to Your Website and all Other Social Networks
All of the above will be for naught if the Vine videos don’t actually get public views. Give your clips the best possible shot of being discovered by connecting your Vine profile to all other social networks that accept the integration. Vine naturally connects to Twitter (which owns Vine) so that’s a snap, but be sure to share each new addition/edition on your restaurant’s Facebook Page. Install a Vine plug-in on your website as well so that you can connect applicable clips to relevant menu items, about pages, and blog posts.
We expect Vine to grow exponentially in 2015 as Twitter looks to make further improvements to its video app acquisition. Start swinging on Vine today to take the lead as the king or queen of the social media jungle for restaurants.