How To Make The Most Of Your Restaurant Social Media Marketing in Essex
Whether you’re a gastropub or a Michelin-starred restaurant, a street vendor or traditional tea room; in today’s world you need to make the most of social media. The myriad choice of social media platforms at your disposal mean there’s something for everyone. A strong social media presence is increasingly becoming tantamount to traditional qualities with which we would normally associate an eatery’s calibre; the food, customer service and pricing, to name but a few.
To those ill-versed in the trappings of social media, this can seem bizarre, perverse even. However, that’s how it is, and you only have yourself to blame if you’re not utilising it in some fashion or other. The team here at VerriBerri, a respected agency offering restaurant social media marketing in Essex, wanted to explain how to make the most of these opportunities, so that you’re not the one left languishing behind whilst others steam ahead.
People Eat With Their Eyes
First and foremost, people want to see the kinds of dishes you put out as a restaurant. Now, whilst the option is there to go on review sites such as Trip Advisor, most people nowadays will sooner reach for their phone and go on Instagram; it’s easier, quicker and just how people have been conditioned in recent times. If you’re not putting aesthetically-pleasing photos out on a consistent basis, you’re putting yourself at a distinct disadvantage. There’s a reason, after all, that the term food porn has been coined.
User behaviour doesn’t seem to indicate any kind of discrimination between the type of food displayed, either. You can be an American barbeque-style diner offering huge stacks of meat, or you can be an experimental fusion restaurant offering dishes finished in one mouthful. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that the photos you take are well put together and look inviting. Here at our agency offering restaurant social media marketing in Essex, we have a simple rule; if you look at a piece of food porn, and your mouth doesn’t salivate, then you’ve not done your job well enough. You haven’t done your dish the justice it deserves.
You’re Thinking Too Broadly
As a culinary establishment, unless you’re a big chain or a world-renowned restaurant, the chances are you’ll be angling more towards the local demographics than further afield. There’s no point marketing to widespread audiences if you’re not getting locals at your tables. Bearing this in mind, you should approach your social media marketing in much the same way. Target the local hashtags and establish a footing as one of the leading local restaurants. Word spreads quickly on social media, and especially amongst local circles. All it takes is for one prominent, local blogger to expound the multitude wonders of your greasy spoon, before you see an increase in footfall in your restaurant, trust us.
Also, asides from ascertaining the best-performing, localised hashtags, place yourself in the mind of your customers and try to figure out what you’d search if you were looking to eat at somewhere like your restaurant. It sounds simple, but in a bizarre way, people often forget about the customer when it’s exactly the customer who they should be focusing on!
Use Social Media As A Vehicle For Incentives
Who doesn’t love an offer? I know I do. Provide discount codes, meal vouchers, special offers and prizes to customers who come through social media channels. For example, offer a complementary full three-course meal as a prize online, and all you have to do is like the photo, follow the page and tag a friend. This kicks the wheels of engagement into motion, and your reach as a business will expand quickly. By incentivising social media, people will subconsciously think of your restaurant’s social media in a more positive light. If they think of it in a more positive light, then they’ll be more inclined to grace you with their custom.
Don’t Just Focus On The Food
If you’re establishment has a theme or a gimmick, lean into it. Your strengths are strengths for a reason, and you shouldn’t be afraid to utilise. If those strengths lie in your restaurant’s interior design, then make a point of showing that off within your content. If you pride yourself as a business on how ethically and sustainably you source your food, then show that! Secure some content of you or your employees at the farm, the market or wherever it may be; sourcing produce. Too many people think they need to adhere to a rigid formula when it comes to social media success.
Whilst you should focus on those food porn style pieces of content, you should definitely be augmenting these with other facets of your business that you think show you at your best. If you’re proud of something, that pride rubs off and transfers into the quality and enthusiasm showed within your social media posting.
If you don’t know where your unique strengths lie, then this is something an agency trained in restaurant social media marketing, in Essex, can offer too. They can sit down with you and work out what will best showcase your restaurant to the masses.
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Food and social media go together like fish and chips, bangers and mash and toad in the hole! Their marriage is one that can serve up oodles of opportunity if you use it in the appropriate way. Get on your chef’s hat and start cooking up some ideas of how you’d like to use social media to your advantage! If you’d like to find out more about our agency offering restaurant social media marketing in Essex; then get in touch! Call VerriBerri today on 01376 386 850. We’d love to sit down, have a chat and explore new culinary and marketing avenues together.