How do you reach your restaurant’s customers? This is a question that should take a long time to answer, because ideally you are active on numerous platforms. Today’s consumers are savvy, looking in many places to find out where they want to go and what they want to eat every day. It’s your mission to reach them wherever they are and convince them they’re making the right choice. Some recent innovations have changed the playing field in this regard. For instance, social media is a bit of a catch-all. There are a variety of tactics that work on this medium, and it’s up to you to master them.
Social media that works
Creating an ideal social media approach will involve many different components, all working together to give your customers a positive experience. A recent roundtable covered by Big Hospitality gave an overview of best practices to keep you on task.
- Commonalities: Social media programs bring restaurants and customers close. According to the source, marketer Sam Lynas underlined the importance of finding the middle ground between your attitude as a business and what your customers believe in. He called for communication that is in agreement with consumer values.
- Top channels: Another panel member, Simon Heusser, stated it’s important not to waste time on lesser channels in your social efforts. Instead, you can dedicate yourself to handling the top few. He suggested conducting your own searches, seeing where the top hits for your company are and focusing on them.
- Stay consistent: There is a lot to be said for consistently sending messages that are identifiably yours. Big Hospitality reported it’s a good practice to make it clear that the content across your many networks is all from the same original source, and that this will give that sought-after stamp of approval: authenticity.
Word-of-mouth promotion goes digital
Restaurant News contributor Kyle Noonan recently explained that word-of-mouth marketing can be carried out through social media. For this type of promotion to hit big, you need to take some action in the real world. This may mean setting up opportunities that are too good for your customers to pass up sharing. Items that are made to be photographed through their unique presentation or areas that call out for patrons to snap pictures of themselves are great creators of free marketing. Then, if your official account shares the posted images to its followers, you and the customer are working together to promote your offerings.