Are you the owner, decision maker or social media officer of a catering business? Then you are exactly right with us!
If you run a restaurant, café, bar or lounge or are responsible for their social media marketing, you are often faced with questions that you have to solve yourself – the vastness of social media offers plenty of opportunities to benefit from it – but also lots of options, wasted time and resources.
If you really want to get started with social media for your restaurant, it’s easier:
We have summarized the 10 most important tips for your start in social networks, which will save you a lot of time and with which not only the start of your restaurant will be a breakthrough, but social media will also emerge permanently as the best salesperson. More reach means more customers and therefore more sales!
first Focus on certain platforms
Who is everywhere is nowhere.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt if your restaurant can be found on different platforms and that should even be a must. But you will fail if you try to use all networks at the same time.
While there are useful tools such as Hootsuite that make managing multiple networks easier, this is more for full-time professionals.
We definitely recommend using Facebook with an incredibly large reach. Instagram is also becoming increasingly important and is almost as important for the younger generation as Facebook.
second Just make it easy for guests to find you
When creating your pages, make sure that prospects and guests don’t have to search forever.
Just make it easy for your guests to find what they’re looking for. For example, the address of your restaurant, telephone number, the URL of your gastronomy website. Name the social media page after your place (e.g. “Uschi’s Schlemmerladen”, “Kösk Restaurant” etc.).
Especially in the catering area, new prospects want a menu that they can also see online – because they want to know what you have to offer. Pay attention to minorities: The clear labeling of vegetarian or vegan dishes will expand your target group.
Also make sure that the profile and background / cover photo is designed appropriately and appropriately represents your restaurant.
3rd Topicality vs. Time
The greatest menu does not have the desired effect if it is ancient:
Make sure that your content is always up to date and that potential guests get what they see online. It would be worse that the opening times are no longer up to date and guests are standing in front of a closed door.
Here it usually runs “time against topicality”, because: If you want to keep your social media channels up to date, you also have to invest time regularly.
The company Kompass from Stuttgart has created a solution for this problem with the Gastro App :
With the simple app you can, for example, upload the current lunch table from your mobile phone with a few clicks, take pictures of new menus with your mobile phone and conveniently put them online – the app does the rest for you.
4th Reference offline
Do your guests know about your social media activities? If not, that’s wasted potential.
Your regular guests in particular do not pay attention to this because you already know the place – they are regular guests for a reason. Ask them to like or follow the channel or the page of your restaurant and thus to support them online.
You can also draw attention to your social media page directly in the restaurant by pointing out, for example, on posters, flyers or on the menu or dining table: “Follow us on Facebook” + name of the page.
5th Reviews
Ask your guests to rate your restaurant on social media.
Satisfied guests love to do this, but often don’t even think about it. Discreet notices in the form of small stickers, A4 displays or similar directly in the restaurant with inscriptions such as “Rate us on Facebook” or “Rate us on Google” point this out to the guests.
In a personal conversation, it is also advisable to ask guests to leave feedback – on the one hand, seekers benefit from the positive reviews of your restaurant. On the other hand, you can find out directly from the customer where there is room for improvement.
6th Activate all potentials
In order to be found by new guests, you should also make sure that you are properly listed on Google Maps or Google Places.
In contrast to search engine optimization, you have a direct influence on the content that is displayed in Google with a Google Business entry.
Here, too, opening times, a short description, appealing photos – ideally of the dishes, the team, the location and possibly menus – and the contact details such as the URL of the website and the phone number of your restaurant should be essential so that customers can find you more easily.
If you want to go all out, you can also write to bloggers, food blogs and online magazines that report on catering businesses and rate them – as modern restaurant critics, so to speak.
In the best case, this will bring you a lot of customers when a large channel reports on your delicious steaks and great cocktails – you have also indirectly established a cooperation that you can reactivate in future promotions or events.
seventh Offer WiFi for guests
Many restaurateurs waste potential by not offering their guests free WiFi.
On the one hand, this attracts another target group – such as the businessman who has to do things with several drinks and finger food on the laptop – and on the other hand, this serves as free advertising with a multiplier. If the WiFi is expanded with a marketing function, for example through Facebook, both will benefit:
The guest can use WiFi free of charge and informs all of his friends on Facebook by liking / sharing / following that he is surfing the Internet free of charge at “Uschi’s Schlemmerladen” or at least marking the location.
8th Post engaging content
Was bei Facebook wirkt, ist die Mischung aus Entertainment und Werbung:
Do not bore your guests with daily, detached advertising, but also do not lose sight of the goal by posting completely non-themed cat videos every day. If you already have your social media profile and some followers, it is time to offer insights into your restaurant.
The best way to get effective photos, maybe even a few short videos on special events such as Christmas in the restaurant or background scenes when preparing a delicious dish. There are hardly any limits to the possibilities – photos of the team usually have a positive effect and give the whole face.
9th Multiply your reach
If a guest shares your Facebook page in their timeline, all their friends who belong to your target group, but who may not yet know the restaurant, will see this.
So your awareness increases through multiplication – animate your followers to share your posts. This should not be done as a request, but ideally in connection with any action – or at least include a small thank you (“free biscuit”?).
If you have an empathic relationship with your guests, you shouldn’t have any major difficulties in getting your own social media channels talking.
