How to optimize your facebook and instagram to attract more customers
You should know by now how important social media is for your business. It used to be impolite to have your phone on the table at dinner, but if your customers haven’t taken photos, shared them & tagged you were they even there? Does your restaurant have any validity? Its proven that nearly 70% of millennials take photos or videos of there food/beverages before chowing. Now remember millennials make up over 50 mil in population and are spending nearly $3 trillion annually. So to not target them in your marketing strategy is plain stupid.
So whats “instagrammable” to them? From the moment they walk in your establishment every detail matters from interior design, to decor and food plates to beverage presentations everything needs to be “sharable”.
We’ve broken it down into five key elements to remember when optimizing your social media to generate more foot traffic as per the below:
1. Key info must be easy to fine
2. Select the right photos
3. Use brand and non-branded #hastags
4. Include customer reviews
KEY INFO MUST BE EASY TO FIND
First things first, you need to encourage the people who discover you on Facebook and Instagram to book online so you need to make it as easy as possible for them.
Think about what your customers need to know-your address, contact number, menu, price, website and hours of operation and add this to your about section on your facebook business page.
BE SELECTIVE WITH YOUR PHOTO CHOICES
One of the most effective ways to promote and market your restaurant on social media is by sharing lots of food photos. Let your food take centerstage! Regardless of the platform you’re using — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Yelp, Google, whatever — be sure to develop a plan around regularly uploading high-quality, mouth-watering shots of your menu items.Visuals are everything, people look at images of food and either want to eat it, or never want to touch it. So your photography matters, make the right choices when shooting your images.
1. Shoot in natural light
Lighting is the key to taking beautiful photos. Whenever possible, try to shoot photos for your social media channels in natural daylight rather than using artificial lighting.
2. Have fun with colors
Colours draw attention to the eye, they are pretty and when combined together make a huge impact on a picture’s look and feel.
3. Present your food pristinely & creatively
Make sure your food presentation is in order that dishes aren’t messy (unless that’s your restaurant’s thing) and that there are no spills or stains. This image is a representation of your establishment so make sure it looks the part.
4. Style the image with other elements
You can use almost anything as a prop. We suggest using cutlery, utensils, tablecloths, herbs, and spices, or the ingredients you used to prepare the dish.
5. Add a human touch
Something as small as including the human element to your photos will add the illusion of movement to an otherwise static shot.
6. Edit before publishing
Definitely edit your photos before publishing. You can move your photos into Adobe Lightroom, create your own unique image filter and apply it to all your photos.
USAGE OF BRANDED AND NON-BRANDED #HASHTAGS
Hashtags can be #confusing. When do you use them? #What’s #the #wrong #way #to #use #them? How can you generate a larger following by using a simple #poundsign? How will effectively using hashtags fill more seats in your restaurant?
There are over 200 million shared posts on facebook and there are 347 million posts on Instagram with the #food . A hashtag like #food is what is known as a non-branded hashtag since it is general and not specific to your business.
When you want to have a hashtag unique to your establishment this is called a branded hashtag. It will be used by your restaurant, or people dining at your restaurant. For example It’s used specifically by your establishment, or by people in relation to your establishment. An example of this is #YourRestaurantName or even your restaurant slogan like McDonalds #imlovinit.
Remeber using your restaurant’s unique hashtag on every post – even in the caption box – is encouraged. Just ensure that it is indeed unique, and that it isn’t being used by a subsequent restaurant or company. You can check this by simply searching the hashtag before you start using it. Having a hashtag unique to your own business ensures your restaurant won’t be confused with another, and that social-savvy patrons can also add it to their pictures when they post about their dining experience.
Make sure to geotag
Geotags are information embedded in images that reveals where the photos were taken. You can turn off this functionality on your smart phone camera, but in this case, it pays to turn on this feature. This allows Instagram users searching in your area to find your restaurant. It also allows you to take advantage of user generated content (UGC) when they post photos of your restaurant.
FEATURE CUSTOMER REVIEWS
Here’s an easy one: repost your positive reviews! This will act as a testimonial to new customers, and reminds your existing following to stop by for their favorite dish. This is the most powerful way to turn your happy customers into brand ambassadors by sharing their reviews and experiences on social media. Not only do you get to publicly show appreciation for the people that matter most to your restaurant; you also create the kind of social proof essential to driving in new customers.
And there you have it: 4 tips for optimizing social media to get more customers to your restaurant. From your food photography to leveraging with hashtags, geotags, customer reviews, and user-generated content, you won’t miss a beat.
Like our stories or want to hear more? Drop us a line @ Blogpointos@gmail.com.
See you next week!
Your devoted hostess,
Brittany