You are an experienced restaurant owner with great food and a great staff. You are successfully
managing your customers and traditionally advertise with your local newspaper. Happy?
Sure. Business is swell, but what happens next might paint an uncomfortable picture. A similar
restaurant opens near by and is now the new buzz of the block. Leveraging social media is a vital reason for their quick success and continuous growth. They are acquiring customers at a fraction of the cost of traditional advertising. What’s
happening?
Social media is currently being used by 65% of online adults. Businesses that are not leveraging
social media properly are being left behind.
We have identified a few digital strategies to implement that can help your restaurant reach its goals.
QR (Quick Response) Codes
These bar codes are popping up virtually everywhere. Smart phones scan the bar code, and take you to whatever link you decide to take the user to. Restaurant owners should consider taking the customer to a video describing a particular dish, wine or beer can scan them. They can also be used to direct customers to a business' social media profile pages for customer to "Like" or "Follow" them. QR codes have increases worldwide 20% from Q2 to Q3 in 2011, and 42% growth in the US. The trend is continuing upward, in June of 2011 alone 14 million people scanned a bar code. It is time to take advantage of this tool and see
what it can do for your restaurant.
It is one thing to have social media presence but another to manage it correctly. These social networks are living and breathing entities, if we pay them attention and perform the proper
maintenance they will remain healthy and continue to grow.
Facebook
Facebook is the core network of engagement between you , your customers, and their friends.
Here are 5 best practices for managing Facebook restaurant pages:
1. Create an Engaging-landing page.
2. Create a Fan Box Widget
3. Make Sure Everyone Participates
4. Pictures, Pictures and more pictures.
- High quality (e.g. dishes, dining room, patrons, menus)
5. Use applications made available.
Promos and Sweepstakes
Restaurants and bars should run promotions and sweepstakes to generate an engaged audience of loyal fans. You could run a promo during a busy happy hour and turn one time customers into lifetime customers.
Example: Win a free happy hour for you + 9 friends by either:
- Tagging yourself in a picture
- Writing a recommendation or a tweet on spot.
- Writing “open bar” on our wall
These promos provide real engagement and exposure to the social networks of you customer
base.
Twitter
Twitter is the ultimate tool to engage users in conversation. Local businesses can
leverage this real-time customer feedback to decide which specials to run for the day. People
appreciate seeing that restaurants value their opinion. /
Foursquare
7.5 million active users are checking-in to get access to special offers and direct
their friends to their favorite establishments. Foursquare is adding 10,000 new users a day to
its platform. Offer a promo to your customer when they show the waiter that they have just
checked in to foursquare for the first time, a free fries or a drink.
Classes and Wine Tastings
Restaurants are leveraging events to grow a real audience of loyal customers. You can offer
cooking classes by your chef himself to let your customers experience the inside of your
kitchen, in order to allow them to feel a real connection with your brand. You may also decide to do a wine, beer, or whisky tasting. It's all about identifying who you customers are and offering them unique memorable experiences with your brand.
On-line Reservations and Ordering
There are many great tools that allow your customers to make a reservation online, place an order for take-out or even create a custom mobile application to download.
Realizing the value these strategies provide together with us executing them will make all the difference for your restaurant's future success on the digital landscape.
