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7 social media platforms you must master to increase traffic

An SEO content specialist for the foodservice industry offers a primer on using social media, a must-have in today's foodservice business.

October 31, 2018 by Richard Traylor — Writer, WebstaurantStore

In the age of constant communication, your foodservice business can greatly benefit from a strategic, on-brand social media presence. By evaluating your primary customer base, developing a content strategy and reviewing audience interactions, you can transform curious followers into loyal customers. Take into consideration the following tips for effective restaurant social media when creating your own strategy.

If you're choosing to engage with customers online, you must create a social media strategy first. Having a strategy in place beforehand prevents you and your team from sharing content sporadically, engaging unprofessionally and missing crucial marketing opportunities. Creating a strategy can be done before, during or after you decide which media outlets may be best for your business.

Consider the following as you create a concrete strategy for your online presence:

Tone of voice. Bring a personality to your business's online presence, but make sure how you speak in a tweet or post mimics your business's values and brand. Consider whether or not you want your online presence to be light hearted and funny or informative and professional.
Responsiveness. How quickly can people expect you to respond to their comments, posts or direct messages? However diligently you choose to check your social media, be sure to make your response times consistent. In general, it's good to try to respond to customer inquiries within a few hours to one day.
Content. When you choose to share information, what kind of content are you focusing on? Give your followers valuable content that relates well to your brand. Sharing interesting, thoughtful posts gives consumers a reason to continue following and interacting with your page.

Did you know that there are more than 60 popular social media sites? To reach your target audience and keep your online presence manageable, it's important to focus on a few of the most popular and engaging channels best built for your business. Below are a few of the most popular social media sites with tools that can help you interact with your target audience.

Start with Yelp

If you don't know where to start, begin by building a strong and healthy presence on Yelp. Unlike other social media outlets, Yelp is specifically designed to provide curious consumers with ratings, reviews and feedback on local businesses.

Considering the majority of consumers read online reviews before choosing a destination, positive reviews on Yelp can be a big customer draw for your establishment. In addition, Yelp can provide potential patrons with important information about your business including an address, hours of operation and any special amenities you may offer.

There are a few important steps you as a business owner can take to gain more Yelp reviews:

Place Yelp stickers or signs around your establishment to encourage customers to leave a review.
Offer professional and informative responses to current negative and positive reviews.
Ensure your information is up to date.
Entice new customers with exclusive Yelp deals or gift certificates.

How to use Facebook

Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world, which means your business would be smart to use this channel to your advantage. While it rose to fame targeting high school and college-age consumers, Facebook has gradually shifted into a platform used most commonly by those between the ages of 25 and 44. For many businesses, this demographic fits right in with their customer base, making Facebook an effective channel for reaching their target audience.

Facebook profiles provide businesses with plenty of space and opportunity to offer customers important information including:

Address and directions.
Hours of operation.
Ratings and reviews.
"About" including history, goals and values.
Links to a menu and website.
Upcoming events.

Use Facebook posts to share images, videos and links pertinent to your establishment and brand. In recent years, the platform has even released Facebook Live, which allows your business to stream live video on your page. This can be an effective tool to offer behind-the-scenes looks at your kitchen, question and answer sessions with chefs or bartenders, cooking demonstrations or how-to videos.

In addition, paid promotions can be used in conjunction with geo-fencing to ensure you're creating Facebook ads that reach your target audience within a certain location.

How to use Instagram

Considering there are over 294 million posts on Instagram using #food and 33 million with #drink, it's safe to say people are more than happy to document their meals on this popular medium. Since Instagram allows you to post pictures and videos, this social media outlet should be an opportunity to showcase your photogenic menu items and location.

One of the best ways to use Instagram to your business's advantage is to collect user-generated content. Encourage guests to use a hashtag specific to your business, or tag your business on their post. Happy customers willing to share great photos means free content for your profile. Just be sure to ask customers before reposting their photos under your own profile, and always give credit to the original poster.

User-generated content should supplement your Instagram posts, but don't create a strategy that relies heavily on it. You cannot control the rate at which customers post or the quality of the images posted by other users.

Instagram stories are images or videos that live in a horizontal strip above the traditional Instagram feed. Each image or video you post in your business's Instagram story shows for 24 hours before disappearing. These images and videos tend to be more time sensitive and informal than posts because of their lack of permanence. Additionally, users are encouraged to add stickers, gifs and text to their images and videos to create a fun, visually attractive post.

Consider sponsored ads

Just like Facebook, you can budget for sponsored ads on Instagram to reach your target market. Similarly, you'll want to ensure you're using these ads along with geo-fencing to capture the right audience in the right location. It doesn't do your business in Baltimore, Maryland any good if Instagram users in Houston, Texas are seeing the ad.

How to be ‘Instagrammable'

Only in recent years has it become acceptable to use "Instagrammable" as an adjective. Making your business "Instagrammable" includes creating trendy, aesthetically pleasing decor that serves as the perfect backdrop to customer's Instagram pictures. This could include a particularly stylish wall with lots of plants, accent pieces or pops of color.

When customers see your business on their friends' feeds or the explore page, it can make them more inclined to come and enjoy the food and take pictures of their own.

How to use Twitter

Twitter is designed for sharing small, snackable content in real time. This makes it great for announcing timely events such as your food truck's current location or the time and place of your next pop-up restaurant. Instantly tweet out your location for customers to find you and see live updates.

Short text combined with dynamic images can make your Twitter feed an important and relevant source of information. Be sure to strategically time your tweets to correlate with when people are getting ready to eat. Try to post before breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert, depending on your menu.

How to use Google My Business

You can create a free listing on Google My Business to offer customers googling restaurants in your area pertinent information including business hours, an address, reviews, wait times and a phone number. Additionally, this platform creates a location pin on Google Maps, which makes it easy for curious customers to find your establishment.

Part two in this two-part series will explore how to create content for social media.

Marketing

About Richard Traylor

Richard Traylor graduated from Temple University in the winter of 2014 with a degree in Strategic Communications. After graduating, he taught English in South Korea for two years, during which he was fortunate enough to travel and see the world. In October 2016, he returned home and started to work in SEO Content at Webstaurant Store. This blog previously ran on Webstaurant Store.

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