Five Tips for Your Restaurant’s Social Media Strategy

If you’re under thirty years of age and you are in the F&B services industry, you probably know the importance of Social Media for your F&B business. Social Media is gaining currency in the F&B industry. It has huge advantages, lower cost of marketing and the results can be spectacular.

If you are planning on a Social Media strategy or already have one, here are five tips that will contribute to a successful strategy:

#Tip 1 - Incredible Content

I never get tired of emphasizing the importance of great quality content for your Digital Marketing initiatives. Whether it’s video, blogs, product description or beautiful photographs, you need to have seriously awesome content. You could have thousands of followers on Instagram but if you post poor quality photographs you will be unable to engage your followers. Great content is a very effective way to engage followers, build your brand image and get more customers.

#Tip 2 - Speak Numbers, Define Targets

Like any business goal or objective, you must define your numbers very clearly.  In the absence of targets, your Social Media strategy may not work. Define how many posts, how many engagements, how many shares and how many followers you target on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. You can start small and gradually grow your engagement.

Many restaurateurs I have met do not have specific goals or targets for their Social Media Strategy. As a result, they are unable to understand if their Digital Marketing strategy is successful or not. I review our customers’ numbers every week and this helps me understand if the campaigns are successful and what else we need to do to increase engagement and reach.

#Tip 3 - Engage on Multiple Platforms

There are some restaurateurs who understand the magic of Social Media and they are clear that the best way to use Digital Media is to engage on multiple platforms. Each platform caters to different demographics, caters to different audiences and has different features. If you want your strategy to be successful, get on at least three platforms (I recommend Facebook, Instagram and Zomato or Yelp).

#Tip 4 - Get the Best Brains

You will be surprised at the scarcity of good Digital Marketing resources. There are so many courses available but you can scarcely find talent in this field. If you get someone good, hire them immediately. Trust me, talent in this field is rare and precious.

#Tip 5 - Work Hard

Sure, Social Media is magical but it requires hard work. Real hard work! If someone tells you that it’s easy then you better be worried. It requires time, patience, hard work and lot of learning to be on top of the game. You have got to post awesome content regularly, respond to your followers immediately, grow your followers carefully and make sure that you’re not doing anything which can get you banned or harm your brand image. It's no different from any other trade.

Conclusion

It is likely that many restaurateurs may not be able to invest enough resources. Photography, regular posting, using the right hashtags, growing followers does take a lot of effort. If you feel the costs are too high, you may decide to drop your Digital Marketing strategy. On the other hand, you could hire an agency which can work out cheaper.

If you do decide to hire an agency please make sure that the above five tips are incorporated in your contract with them.