If you don’t build your reputation, someone else will. This is true in just about any scenario, but especially so when it comes to running social media accounts for your restaurant. If you don’t post great photos of your offerings, customers will take their own and post them to Google, Facebook, and Instagram. If you let negative reviews fester, you’ll lose that customer and possibly their friends. If you don’t post menu updates consistently, customers won’t see the creativity and innovation happening in your kitchen … you get the point.
According to Menu Tiger, “50% of diners claim that social media can influence their restaurant choices,” while 45% became skeptical of a restaurant because of social media posts. Meanwhile, OpenTable’s blog states that “87% of people have visited a new restaurant based on finding it on social media.” In short, we’re looking at an ongoing digital revolution in the restaurant industry. It’s not enough to just claim your Google listing and update your hours occasionally. You must actively maintain and innovate on these platforms.
To get you started, here’s 5 restaurant marketing tips designed to get you on the right path. These tips won’t simply provide types of social media posts, but may suggest mindset shifts in regard to marketing efforts.
Updating your menu? Let customers know!
Restaurant menus are constantly evolving. Whether it’s a new weekly special, seasonal changes, or the chef’s creativity, it’s important to make sure potential customers are aware of menu updates and innovation. Creating a social media post of new and returning menu items will help keep customers excited and informed. Share a photo of the food item that was added and write about it with enthusiasm. Grab writing inspiration from the chef, or even interview the chef on their creative additions. Include a call to action such as “make a reservation today” with directions on how to do so.
Bistro 26 on Erie, Pennsylvania’s west side created a post honoring their seasonal pumpkin pie cheesecake. The photo is aesthetically pleasing due to the perfect plating, whipped cream, and silky caramel drizzle. They combine that beautiful plating with the pairing suggestion of Baileys coffee; together, it’s irresistible to potential customers with a sweet tooth.
Events at your restaurant = easy and great social content
Restaurants often host events such as trivia nights, live music, karaoke and holiday celebrations. Chefs and restaurants can also appear at festivals and cooking competitions. Use social media as a way to promote your restaurant’s upcoming events and appearances. When crafting a post for any upcoming events, make sure to include a short description, the time and date, and any specials you’re offering for the occasion. Along with your post, be sure to create a Facebook event. If you’re collaborating with another business or organization for the event, allow them to be a co-host. This gets your event on their calendar, organically increasing potential awareness. If you’re part of a festival (catering, competitions, sponsoring) ask to be a co-host on their event. If they don’t mind, it could get your business name in front of a slew of new potential customers.
Hopefully, the engagement you see from events will create a snowball effect; you’ll realize how hosting events leads to easy and great social content, and you’ll host more as time goes on. These events will slowly but surely make you a community gathering place in whatever region you’re located. Events also just make you seem busy and active as a company.
Ellicottville Brewing Company, based in Ellicottville, New York, recently shared a post on Facebook detailing their upcoming presence at an Oktoberfest Concert. In their post, they highlighted the businesses they teamed up with, when they’ll be there, and how to get tickets as their call to action. Ellicottville has also created event posts for cornhole tournaments, the “Run for Sponge” 5K race, their own fall fest, and a Monday night football news appearance.
Riverside Brewing Company, based in Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, advertised their Saint Patrick's Day celebration to customers on Facebook. Riverside spotlighted their chicken wings special, their green St. Patty’s Day beer (a delicious Blue Raspberry Chocolate Sour), and reminded folks that they’re dog friendly. At the end of the promotion, they added “while supplies last” to easily create urgency.
The Edinboro Hotel Bar has a packed calendar on their Facebook. This allows customers to check out trivia nights, an upcoming comedy show, and their famed “Pasta Bar.” Again, this makes the business seem active and innovative, while keeping customers informed of when they should stop by (and hopefully spend money!).
You can’t ignore short-form video
It’s pretty simple. You can’t ignore video. Especially short form video. Innovative brands are doubling down on quick videos and the stats back up the shift: according to Sprout Social, short-form video is “2.5x more engaging than long-form video.” In addition, popular short-form app TikTok is the “most engaging social platform by engagement rate,” and both Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts are increasing in visibility and users (in June 2022, “YouTube Shorts topped 5 billion monthly active users”). In addition, according to Hubspot, your social viewers are “52% more likely to share video content than any other type of content.” Hubspot’s research also tells us that “66% of consumers have watched video content (i.e., product demos, reviews, FAQs, unboxings, etc.) to learn about a brand or product.”
Your creative direction in the short-form game depends entirely on your in-house assets. So, what do we mean by that? Are your employees charismatic and energetic? If so, shoot some behind the scenes videos of them having fun in the kitchen. Does your food crunch or crisp or sizzle? Capture those sounds like Virgil’s Pizza in Erie, Pennsylvania. The crunch of the crust being cut is almost like ASMR for pizza lovers; you’ll absolutely remember that sound the next time you’re searching through Google’s local listings for “Pizza.” It obviously helps that the pie looks great, with heaping toppings and gooey cheese.
Worried that short-form videos may be hard to successfully execute? Don’t Worry! It doesn’t have to be complicated. This video from Erie, Pennsylvania fine dining establishment The Cork 1794 looks great and is only about 5 seconds long (it loops). The food looks delicious, the video has some action in it (the cheese grating), and the video description fills in the information gaps. Here’s some other tips on getting into the video production game:
— If you’re scared of editing and shooting for TikTok, create a private account for practice. Then, when you’re comfortable, delete your practice videos and start producing for your real audience.
— Focus on your unique offerings. What makes you different from the other restaurants in your neighborhood? What makes you different from the other Italian restaurants in the city? This obviously goes right along with the “menu updates” section of this post.
— If you’re a natural teacher, use that! Teach a mini cooking class that relates to your food offerings. If you’re an Italian restaurant, can you make a short video about pasta cooking times? If you’re a BBQ joint, show us how to perfectly cut brisket. As long as you’re not giving away the family recipes, this is an easy way to spice up your short-form schedule.
— Browse the trending sounds, filters and video formats on Reels and TikTok. Use them as creative inspiration, but don’t be controlled by them. In the end, you’ll want your videos to echo your own brand voice and not necessarily daily trends. Also, make sure you’re using a business account! This will remove any music or audio that will get you into copyright trouble.
Underdog BBQ, out of Erie, Pennsylvania, recently shared a short video on Facebook introducing their chef, Maleek. This video shows him prepping meals in the kitchen along with delivering the final product to the window so it can be served. The video also has a caption that introduces Chef Maleek to his diners at Underdog. This can create a closer relationship between the customers and those producing their favorite food. Using the “Mission: Impossible” theme helps ratchet up the tension and fun (again, when using any music, make sure you’re safe from any copyright issues).
The Skunk and Goat Tavern, based in North East, Pennsylvania, showed off some brunch offerings via Facebook Reels. Anyone who crosses this short video on their feed can view the caption to see breakfast hours and plan their next outing with friends and family.
HelloFresh, the popular meal prep business, provides customers with great video content weekly. This example has Chef Christina instructing customers on when oil is ready for cooking vegetables. How hot does it have to be? In a short 28-second video, HelloFresh customers walk away with more insight on how to tap into their inner chef and how to use the HelloFresh products correctly.
Even Gordon Ramsay, one of the most celebrated chefs in the world, uses short-form video to connect with followers. Here, Ramsay, or someone operating his account, showcases a raw seasoned steak and its transformation to finished product; in the end, he highlights this mouth watering dish that’s paired with grilled confit tomatoes.
Promote Your Vendors & Partners
It’s very important to create close relationships with your vendors. Highlighting them on social media can communicate to customers that you use local ingredients or much-loved national brands. Vendors will also love this extra attention and perhaps share your content.
U Pick 6 Public House in Erie, Pennsylvania recently partnered with New Belgium for a special “Beer Brunch,” making sure to tag them in their Facebook post. They also have an ongoing “Brewery of the Month” celebration, in which they highlight a partner and suggest food pairings. How could you not feel appreciated as one of their vendors?
Gordon’s Butcher & Market, out of Erie, Pennsylvania, recently partnered with Northern Scoop Craft Ice Cream to celebrate Valentine's day. Gordon’s shared a post and an awesome photo encouraging customers to enjoy an ice cream sandwich from their coolers. Northern Scoop commented on the post and shared it! That’s what we call easy collaboration.
Make your restaurant IG friendly
A newly emerging trend encourages restaurants to go Instagram friendly. You can do this by offering unique products that are highly photographable, or by decorating parts of your restaurant to create awesome backdrops.
Bar Ronin in Erie, Pennsylvania taps into this trend in multiple ways. They put great emphasis on plating, individual table lighting is basically made for social media, and they have trendy neon backdrops in places throughout the restaurant. This pays off when influencers/foodies are in town, like the account @delectable_adventures. As you scroll through their photo carousel, you’ll see organic social content that showcases Bar Ronin in an extremely positive light. Customers often want to share photos from their night out; make your restaurant appearance worth showing off.
27 Club Coffee in Cleveland is the coffee shop owned by musician and artist Machine Gun Kelly. This coffee house features a highly photographable pink latte, along with several backdrops in the shop specifically for photography. If you look at their geographic marker on Instagram, you’ll see lots of great examples.
Try Them Out!
With the huge impact social media has on consumers and their decision making, it’s critical that your restaurant has a strategy. These are just a few restaurant specific post formats that bring engagement to your account.