Social Media Marketing for Restaurants

Old media strategies focused on businesses announcing themselves to the public as a way to sell their products and services. This was done through traditional print campaigns as well as TV commercials and radio ads. Consumers, though swayed, viewed these ploys as an interruption in their daily life. New media is all about encouraging a dialogue between consumers, which focuses on a business, product or service. This new, permission based style of marketing lends itself perfectly to restaurant industry, where word-of-mouth advertising often produces better results than a traditional marketing campaign.

What is Social Marketing?

A social marketing campaign using new media utilizes sites like Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Pintrest, Yelp, Foursquare, Stumblupon, Revver, and Instagram. These sites piece together online conversations and images and help build an online identity for your restaurant.

Social media allows you to reach out to customers more than ever before. There are many different ways to use social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, or Pintrest, for customer service, from announcing daily specials to addressing customer complaints. The key to enhancing your restaurant customer service through social media is consistency. Read on for ideas that will build a social media presence among your customer base.

Start Social Marketing With a Restaurant Website

The whole point of a social marketing campaign is to garner business for your restaurant. Your tweets and wall posts and all other social media sites should have one overarching goal- to drive traffic to your website. It is at your website that people can see your menu, make reservations, buy tickets to tasting dinners and gift certificates. they can also check out pictures of your restaurant or even take a video tour.

A good restaurant websites is also a critical tool for customer service, including engaging customers through a comment/ guestbook section, to videos and photos of your regulars (just ask their permission before posting any photos, first). Read on for more about building your restaurant website.

Decide on a budget for your restaurant website.

An informative, attractive website can attract new customers. Restaurant websites range in price from free- thanks to open source sites – to thousands of dollars. Your budget, more than anything, will determine how large or small your website is. Depending on how tech-savvy you’re feeling, there are many free website templates available that can be customized for your own restaurant website. Of course, as a restaurant owner or manager, you probably don’t have a whole lot of time to be creating and building an entire website. Lahle Wolfe, About Guide to Women in Business, has a great article about free website templates memberships and what you need to know before you sign up. She also has a fantastic article about how to customize free templates and save you’re your restaurant thousands of dollars.

Advertising With Social Media Can Save Your Restaurant Money

Advertising is crucial to gaining new business for your restaurant. However, you don’t have to spend a fortune to attract new business, when you think outside of the traditional advertising box. Social media allows you to advertise without spending a lot of money. It is important to note that in order for a social marketing campaign to be effective, you need to be consistent. You need to post status updates and tweets regularly. Update pictures and specials lists frequently. And respond to any customer comments as soon as possible. It is this type of active engagement that will build your online social media presence, enhancing customer service and bringing more in business.