We Design Kitchens That Inspire

How to Optimize Your Restaurant’s Social Media Presence

Posted on May 09 2019

In 2019, if you’re not on social media then you don’t exist. Restaurants are using Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest to engage consumers and move them further down the purchase funnel. But not everyone is doing it right. Between dead web links, accounts that haven’t been updated and “sell, sell, sell” messaging, some restaurants give consumers a hundred reasons to turn away.

Whether you’re a small independent restaurant or a multinational chain mastering social media can be a challenge. Here are our some of our strategies to optimize your social media presence:

Focus on the Right Channel: Restaurants think that they should be on every social platform and that’s not the best strategy when they aren’t consistent in posting and engaging with the audience. Figure out where your customers ‘hang out’ on social media. Focus on one or two platforms then expand to other networks.

Think Mobile First: Restaurants should be mobile-centric because most consumers visit social media sites from their smartphones. Restaurants have to make sure their website is mobile-friendly because the purpose of social media is to drive traffic, depending on your business, it would be smart to include some type of SMS campaign to offer coupons or promotions.

Get Visual: Visual social media marketing is huge — images and videos receive the most engagement, Restaurants that are great at storytelling will connect with their followers. It’s important to get customers engaged, then they are more likely to share the post, photo, or video.

Facebook is the best platform for video marketing because it allows users to post in more detail compared to Twitter. However, Instagram and Pinterest are good options, too. If the brand has a cool product, it should definitely be on either Instagram or Pinterest because these are the top two visual social networks

Be Consistent: Restaurants should have a different strategy for each social media platform, but their content should be consistent. Restaurants that want to maximize their reach also need to speak to consumers—whether it’s Pinterest’s predominantly female users or Instagram’s teen-centric audience—in a message that resonates with them.

Know When to Pay to Play: Some social sites now charge Restaurants to expand their reach, but it’s still possible to build an organic audience. Twitter is the best place to do this. Pinterest recently introduced Promoted Pins, but Restaurants can still grow organically on the platform, too. Facebook is a bit harder to build an organic community because of Facebook Ads, but if you have a budget for Facebook ads use it to your advantage because Facebook is still the top social network.

Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment: New technology is making it easier for Restaurants to engage consumers, so they shouldn’t be shy about using it. Periscope and Meerkat, two live-video streaming apps, are creating a lot of buzz. Both apps let Restaurants do live Q&A sessions and the video autosaves so they can use it again as content.

The broadcast is shared to Twitter, which also helps increase followers and engagement, and if you’re on Twitter, take advantage of Twitter chats to converse with followers in real-time about a particular topic.

All these tips will grow your customer base. But if you forget all of this, the most important rule of thumb for businesses is to: educate, engage, and have fun on social media.