Hungry for customers?
Great food does not fill tables on its own. People have to find you first.
Pretty content only earns its keep if it puts bums in seats.
Social can feel like a beast you can never feed enough. It does not have to.
tldr; everything you need to know
So what should you actually post?
Eight things any venue can start this week. No fancy analytics, no marketing degree.
Sharpen your knives and get ready to dig into eight tips to help your restaurant reach more customers on social media.
1. Get on TikTok
TikTok is full of people deciding what to eat next. Give them your dish to look at.
Deciding where to eat can be an arduous task for even the most decisive among us. From looking up reviews to browsing restaurants on Instagram, everyone wants to make sure they’re making the right decision before handing over their hard-earned cash.
Food content, home chefs, and restaurants are wildly popular on TikTok. It’s an excellent platform for getting your content out to the masses and potential diners drooling. Use a few targeted food and local hashtags, and jump on board with the trends or challenges that suit your venue.
2. Make sure your page is updated regularly
You don’t need us to tell you how important it is for your restaurant to have a presence on social media. Australia has 21 million active social media user identities, and plenty of them are using social to decide where to eat tonight.
Your restaurant’s Facebook and Instagram accounts must have all the information diners need. What are your opening hours? Are you BYO or fully licensed? Are you pet-friendly? How do I contact you?
3. Make sure your menu is on your page
Speaking of information, what is the number one thing your potential diners want to see? Your menu. No ifs or buts about it. Your menu needs to be readily available on your Facebook page.
While Instagram is more visual than Facebook, there’s less space for traditional information found on your Facebook page. There are no excuses for leaving your menu off the platform. Post your menu as a Story, save it to a Highlight called Menu so it stays on your profile, and add a menu link to your bio. When the menu changes, update all three that day.
4. Embrace hashtags and location tags
Instagram has two free ways to help the right people find you. Hashtags are the first, and they now work best in small numbers: a few targeted tags beat a long generic list.
Embrace a daily hashtag such as #tacotuesday or something more locally specific like #perthbrunch, and your posts can show up when someone searches that tag. You can also create your own hashtag and ask your followers to use it. Every post that uses it is free advertising from someone who has eaten there.
Location is another big deal on Instagram. Tag your venue’s location on every post, Reel and Story. It puts you on the location page people browse when deciding where to go, and makes it easy for diners to tag you too.
5. Make use of user-generated content
If you have an active follower base that loves engaging with your restaurant, make sure you show them off. Let people know how much your diners love your food by reposting some content from your followers. User-generated content is great for reach, bulks up your content library and is essentially an authentic customer review that works like ‘word of mouth’. It can build trust in your restaurant, increase engagement and help you reach new audiences.
Consider how your user-generated content can help you tell your story. This is where the hashtag we suggested you create will come in handy!
6. Run a poll on your Instagram story
The whole point of social media is to build a community. And how do you do that? By talking to your customers.
Got an idea for a new signature cocktail but want to test the waters? Are your diners over gin, or can’t get enough? Find out! Ask a question on your Instagram Story with Polls.
7. Build hype with countdowns
Instagram Stories has a countdown sticker too, and followers can tap it to get a reminder when time is up. From launching a special seasonal pop-up to introducing a new menu, countdowns are a great way to build hype for your restaurant. If you want to keep the mystery alive, you don’t have to say what will happen when the time runs out. Who doesn’t love a bit of mystery?
8. Don’t just stay behind the camera: get in front of it
People come back for people. Resist the urge to stay behind the camera and put your people front and centre.
Think behind-the-scenes tours, Q&As with your superstar staff, and how-to tutorials on making the perfect negroni. You get the idea. Relax, have fun and remember that you don’t need a degree in filmmaking to win on social.
Followers do not pay the rent, diners do. We can show you what to post to fill more tables, or get Coffey Talk for monthly ideas.
From our work · Amani Bar & Kitchen1,416%growth in Facebook page likes