We are kicking off our series on Social Media Marketing and growing your restaurant business. This series will tackle one social media outlet per week and share strategies and tips on how to better utilize that outlet to benefit business.
We just completed a similar segment where we discussed how email marketing can grow your customer-base, raise awareness and bring in a positive ROI. If you missed our previous articles, click on the links below:
- Email Marketing 101
- Email Marketing: Why use it?
- Email Marketing: Make a Positive ROI
- Email Marketing: Tips for a better campaign
In the coming articles, we are going to cover the social medias below:
- Snapchat
- YouTube
- Google + and Yelp
- Having a strong website
You may be asking, why social media?
Social media has become a more important part of a business’ success. Here is a stat to put social media use into perspective. Remember, this reflects numbers for ALL social media outlets, but the outlets we will cover are the most popular: In 2016, 78 percent of U.S. Americans had a social media profile, representing a five percent growth compared to the previous year. According to estimates, the number of worldwide social media users reached 1.96 billion and is expected to grow to some 2.5 billion by 2018.
Channels like Facebook and Instagram are MADE for restaurant marketing; they offer the perfect platform for showcasing beautiful and enticing photos of menu items and cocktails.
All of the above social media channels are FREE places to advertise specials and upcoming events. If your restaurant isn’t taking advantage of all that social media has to offer, you are missing out on potential customers and sales.
The biggest obstacle most restaurant owners face when considering a social media campaign is time and knowledge. As a restaurant owner, you’re already taxed to the limit trying to manage staff, orders, schedules, budgets and so on. The last thing many owners want to deal with is snapping food photos for Instagram or composing a witty Facebook post. It is easy to see why this type of marketing falls low on the list of priorities at many restaurants.
Many restaurants owners don’t like social media because they don’t understand it. So, if you don’t use Facebook or Snapchat or Twitter, how can you be expected to market with it? Luckily there are lots of free resources and courses available if someone wanted to learn the basics of using social media to market their small business.
Like any skill, the more you use it, the better you’ll be at it.
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