It’s a dream come true for you – owning your own restaurant. With a menu of the food that you love. And the interiors reflecting your colorful personality. It is everything you ever wanted.
But a restaurant is a business, It has overhead expenses. And you have competition – lots of them. How do you differentiate your restaurant from the others?
Through social media.
Social media marketing for a restaurant these days is not an option but a necessity. Know why:
Majority of people now work from home and stay at home majority of the time. Your target market just don’t go around town that much anymore. They get most of their information on what to eat from social media, TV and radio. But it costs so much to advertise on TV and radio. On social media, you can even start with free posting of your restaurant with pictures and even your menu. Or that you inform people that your place does take out and delivery. You can upgrade to paid advertising in social media at a fraction of the cost to place ads on TV and radio. Anyway, people now are more attuned to social media than TV and radio.
Consider these statistics on why focusing your efforts on social media will yield positive results
- 93 percent of website visitors confess that online reviews influence their decision on where to get their food.
- 84 percent of them rely on online posts and reviews as much as personal recommendations.
- 75 percent of online browsers buy a product or service because they saw it on social media.
- 68 percent of these consumers are agreeable to paying as much as 15 percent more for the same products or services if they get the assurance of a better and more convenient experience.
https://brand24.com/blog/restaurant-social-media-marketing/
And you can do so much more for free or at minimal cost with social media :
- Communicate with customers through online messages. You don’t even need a paid landline phone to answer inquiries from customers. You answer them back and forth for free. You can even send pictures of your food, your location and your menu.
- You can post regularly your daily or weekly menus. People tend to be forgetful. But if you remind people regularly that your restaurant exists, and it so happened that your menu offerings are what they are craving for at the moment, they will patronize your business.
- Regularly post beautiful scenes and videos of your restaurant.
- Share information about the food you offer.
- Show customer testimonials. They should be real statements from real customers. Sincerity and truthfulness will eventually win you over loyal retained customers and new folks curious to discover what you have to offer.
- Host contests wherein potential customers can earn or win coupons they can only use at your restaurant. This marketing scheme creates engagement with your customers and develops a warm rapport with them.
Owning a restaurant is a dream come true. Nothing warms the heart and the stomach more than delicious food. But you’ve got competition, and social media marketing will make you stand out from the crowd.
