Posted by You know that your restaurant’s crackling pan-seared salmon, with dreamy-cheesy potatoes and a bunch of crispy asparagus, dipped in heavenly Hollandaise sauce set the taste buds to go on a celebration mode.
We do too!
But your restaurant’s footfalls are not encouraging and your sales is not going off the charts. You don’t have to hand out leaflets or plaster posters on busy street corners to get patrons to walk through your doors. All you have to do is harness the promise of social media to drive traffic to your restaurant.
Developing a social media marketing plan is not a choice anymore. If you want your restaurant to build and maintain an online reputation, you have to devise new and exciting ways to engage your customers. Here are a few sure-shot tips on using social media marketing to improve the restaurant and food delivery business.
Winning Social Media Tips for Restaurant and Food Delivery Business
1. Create a voice for your brand using Facebook and Instagram
Your restaurant has a unique voice and you have to nurture that. For example, if you want to be seen as a friendly neighbourhood hangout spot, make sure you use a casual tone on all your engagement channels. The tone, colours, and food choices should reflect your restaurant in all your social media images, contents, videos, and even your menu card.
It would help if you stayed relevant and updated on social media platforms since 35% of diners relied on restaurants’ online reviews before choosing to try it. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram create intensifying conversations with businesses and customers. Posting high-quality photos of your restaurant and dishes along with click-worthy content on these platforms will get you more visibility.
2. Engage in Creative Visual Storytelling
Social media images speak louder than your content. According to a report, Facebook posts accompanied by images saw an average 37% increase in engagement. And photos are shared more than content.
You don’t have to stick to images – videos are also great forms of storytelling. And who doesn’t like a good story? Short and engaging ads or videos can help you develop your brand image. Instagram stories, Memes, GIFs can create the necessary buzz around your other marketing campaigns too.
3. Optimize Media Influencer Marketing
With many followers, social media influencers can help you capture a new demographic or better engage with your target audience. All you have to do is reach out to food or lifestyle bloggers and ask them to try out your restaurant or food delivery service. They can be asked to review your service. This mutually beneficial relationship is similar to word-of-mouth.
What’s more? With the influencers having full access to your target customers’ attention, any influencer’s review or content won’t sound like a paid advertisement.
4. Focus on Geo-Targeted Ads
Restaurants can launch geo-targeted advertisements, offer special discounts and run campaigns. If you are running a campaign that is specific to a region, you can promote it to that geolocation by tagging. Similarly, you can also target your market according to specific demographics.
It is the same case with food delivery businesses too. They can run discounts or offers to a particular location using geo-tagging instead of promoting it pan-region.
5. Create Engaging Mobile Apps
Mobile apps are a must for both restaurants and food delivery services. 70% of digital orders coming to your restaurants are through your apps or website, and the remaining orders come through third-party apps or platforms.
It is essential that your restaurant not only has an app but it should also offer value to the customer. Another data shows that 54% of users will completely uninstall your app within the first month of downloading. When involving in food delivery app development, you should ensure that the app is an extension of your brand.
The app should also have an engaging menu, a simple ordering process, ease of tracking, and quicker payment processes. Food delivery apps should also focus on offering real-time tracking of orders. In fact, 27% of people who order food using apps are willing to pay extra for their orders’ faster delivery.
6. Reply and Reach Out to Customers
Social media is the perfect place for you to build a conversation with your customers. It is not enough to have great content, picture-perfect photos of your restaurant, or even drool-worthy discounts. You should continue to provide value to the conversation. Always reply to the comments and questions as early as you possibly can. Keep an eye on the feedback.
You should also keep track of negative feedback. No service business can escape from a negative review. And there is no need to hide it. If one negative post pops-up, you can be sure that your prospective customers can be influenced by it. So it is better to reach out to the customer and attempt to rectify the issue.
7. Give an Exclusive Inside View
You can also use social media platforms to give your customers an insider view of your restaurant. Share some anecdotes, show candid moments, and give your customers a glimpse of your behind-the-scenes.
As a food delivery business, you can put your staff on the spotlight. It makes them more personable and helps build great relationships with customers.
8. Share Customer Content
Sharing customer-generated content is a great way to convert your customers into brand ambassadors. Re-sharing customers’ content also makes the customer feel like a part of your business and increases digital engagement.
Wrapping Up
Social media is here to stay and leveraging its potential is the right move forward for your business. These engaging tips will help your business stand out from the rest and keep the conversation going.
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