Firstly the important thing to
understand and follow: “A man not only eats with his mouth but also
with his eyes”
Social sites which can be used:
- Facbook
A facebook page is a MUST for the
restaurant. Among all the social media sites facebook is one which gets most of
the fan following. When I say fan following I mean true followers. People
blindly following a particular brand will first search a facebook page of the
brand to get all the latest updates about it. Having a fan page that customers
can “like” on Facebook can lead to brand recognition.
Just like putting up a hoarding
facebook provides similar thing called “Cover Picture” with no chargers. It can
be changed whenever there is a new offer or new menu being launched or any
contest or any event.
Posting images is necessary
because visual is everything in this business.
Conducting contest and letting
them know about the different deals and offers available. This will generate
customer interaction.
Facebook has added a new feature for restaurants and bars of posting menu.
It allows the business owners to upload their entire food or beverage menu onto facebook page.
Instagram is popular photo
sharing site.
People generally use it to share
Instagram images with facebook or twitter friends.
Restaurants can link their
Instagram with facebook and twitter. This will help in keep all the connected
social sites up-to-date.
Use Trending Hashtags: To spread
awareness about the restaurant and the Instagram profile. For instance
#100happydays was trending, restaurants could have posted daily images of the
cuisine served and restaurant for 100 days with this tag being added to the
image.
Use Niche Hashtags: Get found
more easily by your niche market by using specific hashtags. Eg: using #mumbai
#streetfood #mumbailocal #mumbaifood if the restaurant is a Mumbai based.
Conducting Contest: Interaction
customers. Running up different contest where they have to post images of the
food as the contest requirements. Making a unique hashtags which can be used
only for the contest of you restaurant.
Posting: Images of the menu card
and its contents, posting employee, you can use these types of photos to shows
that you’re an establishment that values the people that work for you.
Twitter is a
very successful marketing tool for restaurants, both large and small and from
high end to fast food. With only 140 characters per update, tweets get read,
and shared at very faster rate comparatively.
Tweeting: When
you tweet something interesting about your restaurant, your Twitter followers
have the option of re-tweeting it so it reaches an even broader audience. You
can even tweet fun photos like customers reading their menu covers or of the lunch-time rush. Time your tweets, tweet to
you followers during different meals time and add hashtags such as #lunch,
#dinner #breakfast or during a some particular event.
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Add Link: Adding
link to the website or the link to the menu, this gives your followers further
action to take, and lets them interact with your more.
Interaction is
important: Interact with your customer. Reply to their tweets. It can be a
complaint or a suggestion or just question they have about your restaurant or
food. Answer to always with timely intervals. This will build their trust upon
you.
Use Promoted
tweets: Choose your best tweets, and pay to promote them to a targeted
audience. This is particularly effective for your timed updates being sent out
around meal times.
Some other social sites which can be used:
Pinterest:
Pin images from
website, it retains the URL of the page it originally came from. Share quality
content, a great pin can spread like a wildfire. More people re-pinning more
the buzz is created. Use proper keywords related to your restaurants for Search
Engine Optimization (SEO). You can never play with the keywords. Create
different pin boards of wide variety of cuisine from the menu. Turning it into
an online menu. Start a conversation with someone or re-pin other people’s
content, interact with the audience
Foursquare:
Foursquare is a
website that allows users to “check in” to the different venues including
stores, restaurants and events. Many Foursquare users have downloaded a mobile
application that allows them to “check in” to places on their smart phones. By
claiming business listing on Foursquare you have the ability to see who is
“checking in” to your restaurant in real-time.
You Tube
Videos are a
great way to give people a behind-the-scenes look at your restaurant and even
short videos capturing employee interviews or of the chef cooking up a
signature dish. Once you record the videos, upload them to YouTube and start promoting them on your other social
media channels.
Blogs
You can blog
about anything related to your company or your industry, but make sure it is
worthwhile for the reader. Share interesting facts or information about the
food you serve, or even recipes of your most popular dishes!
Setting up
Google alerts for your restaurant name is a great way to track brand mentions
on the Internet. To do this, visit
http://www.google.com/alerts and set up an
account. You can tell Google to send alert messages to your e-mail whenever
your restaurant name is mentioned online and they will send you a link to the
site where your restaurant is mentioned. By doing this, you can track the
sentiment people have with your restaurant whether it is positive or negative and
even respond to them.
--- CHEERS!! ---
