In these ever-changing times, it is more important than ever to market your restaurant effectively. So, here are 8 hints and tips to help you get ahead of the competition.
1. Social Media Competitions
Everyone loves to win something and when that something is food all the better!!! Creating a competition on your social media platforms where a follower will tag their friends or share a post will cause a ripple effect across social media. This will increase your exposure all thanks to your loyal followers.
Be careful with what you offer though, offer too much and people either won’t believe you or you could be giving away more than you get in return. Give too little and people will be upset with what they get. Find the middle ground and everyone, especially the winner will be happy!
2. User Generated Content
User Generated Content is one of the most important aspects of social media for any business. As businesses are trusted less and less, when a friend or a person posts a photo or video of your restaurant and food that is a review that other people will trust more than your posts as a business. It’s important to share these and hold them up as the standard, after all who doesn’t love being mentioned in someone else’s feed?
3. Web design & SEO
Remember when we could go outside and walk past a restaurant and thinking “that looks nice, I want to try their food!”? Well we can’t catch that foot traffic anymore; we have to catch the virtual foot traffic through Google searches. And the best way to catch someone’s attention on a google search is through Search Engine Optimization (SEO), explained more here. Basically it allows your page to appear above your competitions organically. I mean who is really looking at the second page of Google Searches when you’re hungry and looking for a feed?
Once you have someone click on your restaurant, then what? You don’t want them landing on an unattractive hard to understand mess that gives them no information about what food you offer and how to order. User Experience (UX) is more important than ever, it’s the window shopping of the digital world. Website Design is hard for people who don’t know what they are doing, luckily there are programs out there that can help, like Wix and Wordpress but the process can be time-consuming. We at Eat & Repeat can help with this process.
4. Boosting Posts
Boosting posts is a feature provided through Facebook, which allows you to expand the viewing of your post. It can be very effective and cost-effective if done correctly. Facebook allow you to promote through Facebook, Instagram and even WhatsApp. It is up to you how large the potential audience will be and you can change the metrics of the boost demographically, geographically and by interests. It takes a lot of research to find out what your customers like and follow as well as where they are located geographically. Have a look at this article we did on creating customer personas for more information on this.
5. Responding to reviews
Everyone has an opinion and wants to be heard, and Social media is the perfect place for this. Whilst this is a great thing is can also be very damaging for businesses when receiving a negative review. It is very important to respond to all reviews, yes even the bad ones, to make sure you clarify any miss understandings or correct a false perception the reviewer had of the food or service. If handled correctly you can spin a negative review into a win for the restaurant, but if there is no response at all then that review is given credibility.
6. Make it Insta-worthy!
In this day and age it is almost impossible to see someone without their phone, not to mention posting about something they just did or saw. People love to take pictures of their food most of all and to share those pictures with everyone they know whether you want to see it or not. That’s why it’s more important than ever to make sure the food you send out looks amazing. Nobody wants to take a photo and send around a picture of a sad looking burger (unless they are giving out). Make great looking food and the results will show in other people’s feeds.
7. Quality Counts
When searching for somewhere to eat more and more people are searching online, but not just through Google, people are also searching through social media. That’s why “quality counts”, having high quality images of everything you have on offer means you are putting your best foot forward. Taking a photo from your cracked screen iPhone 9 just won’t cut it anymore, for a quality Hi-res image suitable for social media and websites you need a professional photographer (LINK).
But, professional photographers can be expensive and quality from an untrusted source can vary. Do your research; who have they worked with before? Can you see those images? Where they happy with them? These are all important questions to ask.
8. Influencing Influencers
Influencers come in all shapes and sizes and odds are you are following several of them for various different reasons. You might follow them because you both agree on certain issues or they take really good images or their views align with yours. But these influencers have a following and are trusted by their audience. Linking with them can be very beneficial for your restaurant. But be careful, don’t just Google search it, do your due diligence. Some influencers take a one off fee, be sure you are talking to the right ones though and be sure that these influencers align with your establishments values. Finding and talking with influencers can be a difficult and sometimes tedious practise; luckily we have done this on many occasions for various restaurants. If you are in search of a reputable influencer that has delivered results please do not hesitate in contacting us.
We hope that these hints and tips have been useful for you and your business. If you want more hints and tips grab our FREE eBook 30 Restaurant Marketing Ideas.