Posted on by CT

implementing a social media strategy for your restaurant

1. Determine an overall budget

Think about how much you can realistically invest in social media advertising, whether it is $30 a month or $600 a month. Having an overall budget will help you plan what you can afford which will, in part, determine where the best place to put your money will be. If you can only spend $1 per day, you will not be able to use Twitter or LinkedIn. Facebook is your only option (it’s a good option and something that I recommend every restaurant invest in).

2. Create a Social Media Marketing Plan
A social media marketing plan will keep you focused and on track when it comes to your social media. I prefer the Brandeo Marketing Calendar because it covers all the bases. I update the categories based on the business. It’s a great template for dividing up your work and spreading it out evenly. Remember: Marketing isn’t just about social media. A good marketing plan has elements of social media, direct marketing, SEO, and email marketing.

http://www.brandeo.com/content/2014-marketing-calendar-template

Filling Out Your Social Media Plan

  • You can change the headings on the side. For a restaurant, I suggest adding a coupon line as well as a photo feature line.
  • Space out your blog writings as much as you need to. There is a great content generation tool at http://www.portent.com/tools/title-maker. Use this to come up with interesting topics. If you want to do a blog topic on food, enter the subject and voila!
    • 5 Ways to Become the MacGyver of Food
    • Unbelievable Food Success Stories
    • The Evolution of Serving Food
  • You can also enter special menu items in here.
  • Use the top line for key holidays and other key dates so that you can be prepared for upcoming holidays.
  • Commit to your keywords (see below).
  • Set aside time each week to answer customer reviews and complaints (the sooner the better).

3. Schedule Carefully
What tends to happen with a lot of small businesses is that they invest heavily in social media for a while and then quit. That is one of the worst things you can do as a business. Make sure that whatever you commit to, you can maintain. It is far better to post good quality content once a week or every two weeks than to go hot and heavy and quit.

4. SEO Is Not a One Time Investment
SEO is a twisted and wicked web. Many businesses find an SEO company to handle their search and then expectations fall short as it does not help with visibility. It takes time to build results. It takes time to get listed on Search Engines. If you use keywords, that takes time as well.

The algorithms are always changing for Google, Bing, Facebook, etc. 2015 is all about local and custom content. There is a tool called Moz Local (https://moz.com/local) that can help you. It is $84 per year and is a pretty sound investment. It will help you register your site and resolve any conflicts that exist in your information. Note: You lose Google points if you have duplicate information so clearing that up can be doubly helpful.

5. Custom Content – YES! YES! YES!
If you really want to commit to custom content, hire a writer. You can usually find a writer on www.thumbtack.com for about $30 per article. Commit to having new content once a month or every other month.

Take a lot of pictures. The restaurant / bar industry is great for pictures! People love food. They also love knowing what other people are up to.
Video is all the rage! Everyone has a camera on their phone these days. Take some video. Uploading a fun night, a funny karaoke performance, or cooking tips will take your social media from bland to fantastic.

6. Switch up your Social Media Headers
I put a space in the calendar for this. It’s a reminder to do it in the beginning of the month. Use hi-resolution pictures.

The monetary and time commitment to social media does not have to be over the top. It is a commitment though – you need to invest what you can without it becoming overwhelming. Remember it isn’t about quantity its about consistency and quality.

$30 a month and 15 minutes a day will help! Just don’t let it fall off your radar. Start considering social media as important as ordering food.