Social media – it’s no longer just a medium that people use to communicate and interact with each other. If you take a look at some of the social media statistics for restaurants, you will understand how vital it is for your restaurant to have a digital presence. You may have just created your restaurant’s page on social media, but it’s the social media strategy you create and execute that will help build and grow your audience.

But before you jump into chalking out your restaurant’s social media strategy, let’s talk about a few of the popular social media platforms and how you can use them to generate buzz and walk-ins for your restaurant:

1. Google: Most restauranteurs often fail to see the social media advertising potential that Google carries. For starters, ensure that your restaurant is listed on Google’s business pages. It will help potential customers easily locate your restaurant through Google. Another useful tool by Google is Search Ads which, by the help of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), lets your restaurant pop-up every time someone searches for it or the cuisine served at your restaurant. For e.g. if your restaurant specializes in Thai cuisine, then ‘Thai cuisine in (your location)’ become the keywords. By Optimizing your website, whenever someone looks up Thai cuisine on Google, your restaurant will feature in the search results.

2. Facebook: A Facebook page can be considered as the penultimate social media marketing tool. Not only can you interact with your customers and potential diners in real-time, you can also share updates about your restaurant which will show up in your followers’ feed. However, the challenge lies in building and more importantly, maintaining the audience on your page. From running a Page Like campaign (which helps increase your fans / followers) to Promoting Posts which feature Interactive, creative, short videos and humorous GIFs, there’s so much you can do on Facebook. Make sure that your communication is friendly and the tonality is in line with your restaurant’s brand personality.

3. Twitter: What a Facebook page can do using creative posts, Twitter can do even better. Though you can only communicate using a maximum of 140 characters and short-length videos, we assure you that’s more than enough to get your restaurant’s message across. Since Twitter functions primarily on trending hashtags, you can make the most of it by riding the trend, i.e. promoting your restaurant by using appropriate and catchy hashtags which feature in your region or industry.

4. Instagram: Instagram is popular for sharing photos, something which almost every customer does when visiting your restaurant. To make the most of this medium, you can upload pictures of your restaurant’s dishes, decor, or certain topical images along with hashtags, which are relevant and trending in your area. Instagram now also lets you post pictures / videos that last for just 24 hours, called Insta Stories, which you can use to share other content such as some behind the scenes or events at your restaurant, i.e. food preparation by the Chef or staff, launch of a new dish, staff meetings, trainings, etc.

5. Snapchat: Snapchat lets you post temporary images or videos as well. While it may not have an audience as wide as Facebook or Twitter, it is very trendy amongst teenagers and young adults. If your restaurant caters to that consumer group, you need to be on Snapchat! While you can follow the same strategy here as that of Insta Stori
es, i.e behind the scenes, plating, etc., it also allows you to send personalized posts to your followers, which can be made the most of, particularly during restaurant promotions, branch expansions, etc.

Now that you understand the social media platforms well and how effective they can be for your restaurant, it’s time you start promoting your restaurant digitally.
In case you want to get more benefits from social media for your restaurant, you can reach out to us at Ribbon, where we will help you get familiar with the digital world. You may write to us at info@ribbon-me.com or give us a call on (971) 4 360 5758 and we will be happy to help!