Social Media for Restaurants: 4 Hurdles to Overcome41972

Integrating Posts to Multiple PlatformsConsistency and Discipline Chapter 2 Getting the Timing Right When to Use Social Media When Not to Use Social Media Chapter 3 Finding the Right Aud

Social Media for Restaurants:

4 Hurdles to Overcome

Integrating Posts to Multiple Platforms

Consistency and Discipline

Chapter 2

Getting the Timing Right

When to Use Social Media

When Not to Use Social Media

Chapter 3

Finding the Right Audience

Set the Tone

Don’t Worry If People “Like” You

Always Include a Photo and Link

In a world saturated by advertising on radio

and television, at billboards and bus stops,

and in newspapers and on the Internet,

would it surprise you to learn the most

effective means of marketing is … none of

the above?

By a wide margin, the most trusted forms

of advertising available to businesses today

are recommendations from family, friends,

and acquaintances — online and off In a

comprehensive study by Nielsen, 83 percent

of respondents indicated they trusted word

of mouth over television commercials (63%),

newspaper articles (60%), mobile advertising

(43%), and online banner ads (42%).1

Even the closest two types of marketing

— branded websites (70%) and consumer

opinions online (66%) — still don’t compare

to the power of someone you know personally telling you what they think But could that be changing? Those two items

in particular took a ten and seven percent rise respectively in the course of just eight years, according to Nielsen’s data That’s a spectacular jump and reflects a very real difference in how we live our lives today than

20 years ago

So, yes, it’s true We live our lives online With every old friend we keep in touch with over Facebook and holiday season shopping completed with a click of the button, it gets harder to remember what it was like to not have the Internet at our fingertips every moment of the day We make friends, go on dates, run businesses, and publish books, all with the aid of a world wide web connecting

us with people near and far

We live our lives online.

Introduction

But restaurants and bars are not online chat rooms You run

a real physical space that needs people to show up (or, at

the very least, place orders from) in order to survive, much

less thrive The challenge becomes how to make the best

use of the virtual world to support your restaurant’s success

in the physical one How do you reach customers online

and transition them into customers walking through your

doors and sitting down for a meal?

Well, it’s not easy But social media platforms like Facebook,

Twitter, Instagram, and others are vehicles to reach out

beyond simple word of mouth — if you can jump past the

hurdles in your way Ultimately, social media is not the

end-all-be-all of your total marketing plan, but it is a great way

to engage potential and current clients in addition to your

other efforts

In our first of four chapters dealing with key challenges

to building a social media presence, we start where every

smart business plan should start — at the beginning:

grasping the basics behind setting up your social media

accounts

1

Before any social media novice can run, you

have to walk And there’s a lot that goes into

setting up your social media accounts before

you even begin to post Setting yourself

up for success from the very start involves

making some important decisions with

long-lasting consequences, starting with your

name…

Your Handle

Also known as your username (a term

some of us might be more familiar with),

your social media handle might be the

most important decision you make — and

it necessarily comes before all the others

It might seem obvious, but it is important to

spend more than a few rushed moments on

choosing a handle that aptly describes your

brand, goals and identity out in the social media landscape

Your handle needs to be interesting, easy

to remember and clearly relates back to your brand Once you’ve decided on your handle, you can include it in a variety of places, such as your website, business card, email signature, and so on But there are real variables to consider: should it reflect your real name (especially if you are well known IRL — in real life)? Should it reflect your business? It absolutely should be easy

to type, to spell, and not take up too many characters on platforms with limitations like Twitter

No matter what you choose, commit to

it Changing your social media handle is sometimes difficult, often not possible, and

Grasping the Basics

always a bad idea if you want to continue

building brand momentum with social

followers

In this day and age, when we have multiple

channels for social media/online presence,

it is important that if you do engage in

cross-platform marketing make sure your

Twitter, Instagram, Google+ (and other)

accounts are named as close to each other

as possible, cross-promoting each other

wherever and whenever possible

Your Business Bio

Gone are the days when readers would read

through a page-long auto-biography This is

the age of the ‘3 second attention span’ and

you need to incorporate that awareness into

everything you do online

Ask yourself: what is your goal for using

social media? Is it grabbing more eyeballs

for your business? Is it expanding your brand

as an industry highlight? Whatever it is,

know it, own it, and customize your business

bio to tie into that goal and the likely content

of your posts This will ensure your public image always aligns with your goals and purpose

Hashtags

Hashtags are the currency on social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, but it is important that you be judicious and savvy in their use When used well, hashtags can drive a lot of traffic to your post — and consequently, to your profile But it can take

a bit of practice to nail the balance between socially relevant, currently trending hashtags and ones that are relevant to your goals

An easy rule to follow is to use an ‘anchor’ hashtag that establishes the goal for your tweet/post and then supplementary hashtags to support it Take this example:

“Enjoying delicious #cookies

@SweetStDesserts @NRAShow!

#NRAShow2017 #inheaven #dessert”

Instagram Post

Here, not only are you using the anchor

hashtag “NRAShow2017” (which was

trending that weekend), but you are doing

a couple things better! You engaged two

other businesses – “Sweet St Desserts”

and the official “NRA Show” accounts – and

incorporated other popular hashtags such as

“#cookies,” “#desserts” and so on

You’re potentially grabbing eyeballs from all

of these different channels and increasing

traffic to your profile and posts It takes a

bit of practice, but a great way to learn is

to regularly visit other people’s pages and

see which of their posts are doing well

(notice the number of “likes”, “shares” and

“retweets”), see what readers are engaging

with, and incorporate those strategies into

your own tweets

A very important thing to remember about

hashtags is that they have a kind of ‘history.’

Before you go ahead and use one, make

sure you’ve done your research Type the

hashtag into your search bar and briefly take

a look at the kinds of posts that populate

and the people and groups actually posting

them it Make sure you understand the

context in which a particular hashtag is

used and that it is relevant to your post, your

brand and your goals

For instance, a fantastic example is the

name “NRA” itself You know it stands for

“National Restaurant Association.” I know

that, too But do you know that it also stands

for “National Rifle Association” and that the

“#NRA” hashtag is also used by firearm

aficionados?

So, before you go ahead and use “Having a

blast at #NRA” please click through and see

what people are posting under that hashtag This will ensure you use the correct hashtag and stay relevant to what you want to post about

Profile Photo

Not much to say here other than that this is

a MUST All generic profile pictures, be they eggs or clip-art silhouettes must be replaced immediately — on your very first log-in — with a mildly professional representation of your actual face or logo No drawings, no pictures of your dog, no plates of spaghetti When people can put something memorable and distinct to your words, you can bet

it goes further than an egg or silhouette would

Keeping It Short and Sweet

Perhaps the most important thing to keep

in mind is that there’s a reason Twitter has

a 140-character limit You are not meant to type page-long essays on this platform (or really, any other) That’s what you have a blog for Keep things short and sweet, engaging,

Facebook Profile

relevant, and above all, in line with your purpose and goal

Don’t go overboard on other platforms either, just because

the program doesn’t stop you from typing The likelihood

is, your post will get cropped with a “Read more…” link if it

goes too long And how many people will click that to keep

reading Not very many

Mixing Things Up

Most social media platforms let you use GIFs and photos

in your posts (with some programs like Instagram designed

around that very thing) And we all know the age-old adage

that sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words So,

make use of these features, save some letters, and let a

catchier visual get your point across

Reach

Once you’re comfortably posting away and you’re ready

to take it to the next level, you can start monitoring how

well your posts are doing On Twitter, for instance, you can

access this information quickly by clicking on the little bar

graph icon at the bottom of each tweet When you hover

over it the popup will say “View Tweet Activity.”

Once you click on it, you are provided with a bunch of

stats that tell you how many impressions, detail expands,

retweets, link clicks and profile clicks that particular tweet

generated These are just fancy ways of saying how many

people saw your tweet, how many of them did something

about it, and how many of them actually clicked through

to your profile from that tweet Keep engaging with these

features

You can also access your “Analytics” via the dropdown

menu under your icon on the upper right hand corner of the

Twitter dashboard for more robust, high level data as well

As you become more comfortable with the platform and the

data, the better insight you will gain that will allow you to

make smarter and more effective posts in the future

1

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How to quickly access Twitter analytics

The 80/20 Rule

This is one of the most interesting and an

often-forgotten or ignored tip

What this ‘80/20 rule’ basically means is

that 80% of your social media posts should

be in the ‘sharing/caring’ category This

means:

• Retweeting other people’s tweets

• ‘Liking’ other posts

• Sharing useful information

• Engage in social commentary where

relevant to your industry or line of work

Only 20% of your posts should be

self-propaganda and promoting your business,

your products, etc If you go on social media

simply to post about yourself and never

to engage others or converse on related

topics, it’s noticeable — and your following

will reflect that fact People like people who

share and care

Integrating posts to multiple platforms

Instagram and Facebook Pages are, of course, very easily integrated with Twitter (and vice versa) It is a matter of a single button click to share your posts across all three platforms simultaneously You should absolutely take advantage of this feature if you have a Facebook page and post regularly

on Instagram as well, to engage in platform posting/sharing Just be careful that all your posts are short enough so your message doesn’t get clipped in moving from Facebook or Instagram to Twitter

cross-Using social media scheduling tools, like Hootsuite and Sprout Social, can help manage the cross-platform marketing/

posting Each of these programs have a dashboard set-up where you can see all

of your social media accounts together, schedule posts, and share simultaneously across platforms

Only 20% of your

posts should be

self-propaganda

Consistency and Discipline

A final point to keep in mind as you further integrate social media into your overall marketing plan is this: just like any other line of work, if you want to see results from your social media, then you need to be disciplined and consistent Treat this as work It’s important to set up a

‘social media posting’ calendar just as you would set up a weekly ‘to-do’ or ‘goals’ list Be intentional and systematic in your posting and plan out quality content in advance

Schedule a consistent number of posts that take care of the 20% quota of your social media posts – the ones that have to do with your work, business, personal presence online Once these are scheduled and ready to go out – five days a week, three days a week, whatever frequency you choose – then you don’t need to worry about these on the day you’re meant to post Your days are then free to engage the online world in interesting and relevant conversations and contribute your 80% of ‘sharing and caring.’

All that said, when you post can be critical to your success

or failure In our next chapter, we break down some of the common do’s and don’ts to social media posting in regards

to timing

Be intentional and

systematic in your

posting and plan

out quality content

in advance.

You get it – you know your restaurant needs

to be active on social media Whether

Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram,

these platforms are great (and free) tools

for social media marketing for restaurants,

allowing you to promote your business to an

engaged consumer audience

And contrary to popular belief, it’s not just

tech-savvy 20-somethings and teens using

these sites today People of all ages check

out social media on a regular basis In fact,

statistics show that 69 percent of all adults

engage in at least one social media platform

regularly, and that number raises to 80

percent for ages 30-49, and 86 percent

for ages 18-29.2 These are your current

customers and your future guests!

But just as more people are using social media than ever, the tolerance for online faux pas is at an all-time low Besides knowing what to post, it’s also crucial to know when to post it What opportunities can you jump on and when should you step away from the keyboard? Following are a few dos and don’ts

When to use social media…

If You’re Running a Holiday-Themed or Seasonal Special

Does your menu include some seasonal favorites during the winter months? How about squash or pumpkin soup around Thanksgiving? Does your restaurant have a prix fixe dinner-for-two menu scheduled for

Getting the Timing Right

Valentine’s Day? Are you offering guests a

decadent peppermint dessert in the days

leading up to Christmas? Let the people

know!

Sending out a friendly “Happy Holidays”

message on Facebook or Twitter and

mentioning your seasonal special is a great

way to connect with your community while

also promoting your menu If your seasonal

menu is online, include a link!

If You’re Going to Be at a Food Event

If your business is scheduled to be at an

industry convention, local food festival, or

community event — or hosting one yourself

— make sure to spread the word to your

social media followers Posting about it a

few days before, the day before, and then

the morning of the event should suffice If

the event has a website where guests can

find directions or check out an FAQ, make

sure to include that link

And when the event is over? Use Instagram,

Pinterest, or Snapchat to post your photos

from the day (and then link to those posts

on Facebook and Twitter) You don’t want to

go overboard with a 100-image gallery after the fact, but uploading a few choice photos while thanking the folks that came out can

be effective, especially if you can include photos of your food from the day!

If You Have Uploaded a New Blog Post

If your restaurant’s website includes a blog, you’ll definitely want to promote it on your social media accounts Promoting your blog post won’t just encourage customers to visit that page, but also to visit your website as a whole

If it makes sense for the topic, include a link

in your blog post that goes to another part

of the website For instance, if you’re writing about your chef’s focus on Italian cuisine, you can link to your menu page If you’re writing about preparing for an upcoming event, link to your event calendar page

Any Other Specials or Discounts for the Day

Whether it’s Happy Hour specials or just the soup of the day, using social media to get the word out for day-of discounts can

be the difference between hungry followers

Facebook Timeline Post

Pinterest Profile