How To Properly Use Facebook as a Restaurant

There has been a lot of hate on Facebook lately and although it may be well deserved, the platform is still outperforming other Social Media platform when it comes to getting guests into your restaurants.

For a restaurant, using Facebook (effectively) is so important for building and attracting a good client base. Facebook is great for countless reasons, some of those reasons are because it helps your restaurants SEO (Search Engine Optimization), helps showcase your food and restaurant to the online community, helps drive traffic to your restaurant and helps people find you.

Here is a list of ways to effectively use Facebook as a Restaurant:

Facebook Page Optimization

It's not all about having amazing content, you also need to make sure your Facebook Page is properly setup and functioning properly. Here is a checklist:

• Proper Cover Picture/Video showcasing what your restaurant is about

• Proper Profile Picture preferably your logo

• Setup Page URL to match your other platforms and website

• Verify your page

• Setup your page CTA - preferably to a profit center

• Complete the About Us section thoroughly

• Upload current menu

• Setup all the proper tabs including services, jobs and sales (gift cards, swag, delivery, special events)

• Setup multi-language posts if applicable

• Link your email database (mailchimp)

• Turn on reviews

• Auto Welcome Message

• Auto Response Message

Posting Photo/Video Content

Photos are essential for successful Facebook marketing. People simply don’t want to read something without a visual drawing them in first - this keeps the audience engaged and helps new prospective customers see what it is you offer!

Encourage Conversation

The key to social media is to encourage and create conversation. You want your customers talking about your restaurant to their friends, family members and sharing stories about their positive experiences with your restaurant. This means asking questions in your posts, encouraging people to leave a review or share their opinion, everyone wants to be heard so why not be on your restaurants page!

Drive Traffic to your Website

Want customers to FULLY understand everything your restaurant offers? Then share your website! Encourage the online community to click on a link on Facebook that brings them to your website - because your website is the hub of your business.

Post Reservation Links

Make it easy for everyone. By posting reservation links you are simplifying the process of people having to click through multiple websites to book a seat at your restaurant. We don’t mean bombarding people with reservation links in every post, but every few posts they should always be able to find a reservation link.

Contesting

A cool and fun way of growing your brand awareness and getting new guests into your restaurant. Giving away gift certificates or discounts by making your fans participate always yields great results.

Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads are the most cost effective solution out there. For as little as $5 per day, you can drive traffic to your restaurant and actually account for the result. We have seen returns of 30:1 on Facebook ads and still do to this day.