The New Rules of Social Media Marketing for Restaurants
How to Use Social Media to Build Community and Drive Restaurant Traffic
October 4, 2023 | ASHLEIGH PIERCE AND COLE ROBERTS
Photography: Eaters Collective via Unsplash
In our ever-evolving digital world, it’s evident that social media marketing matters—but why? It’s reported that 82 percent of restaurants in the U.S. utilize social media, 63 percent of consumers use social media to find new restaurants, and 22 percent of guests are inspired to revisit a restaurant due to its social media presence, according to Menu Tiger. Social media is valuable not only for brand awareness, but it is also highly effective in driving traffic from both new and returning guests. That said, maintaining an effective social media presence isn’t as simple as it was even five years ago. Here are the new rules of social media marketing for restaurants to set your brand apart from the crowd.
Rule #1: Provide the same care for your digital community as you do for dining guests.
Restaurants are community gathering places, and your restaurant's social channels are an extension of your physical locations. Nurturing an online community is critical and maintaining a positive digital presence can translate to seeing results IRL (in real life). Social community means different things depending on the type of business and level of community involvement. In the hospitality industry, it means ensuring that the content you put out is valuable, relatable, and engaging, and that your channels are used as a method of two-way communication. If your restaurant or brand has an established social presence, you may take an approach that promotes storytelling and reviews; whereas, if your restaurant or brand is building recognition, you may focus on partnering with community organizations and sharing user-generated content to raise awareness. Prioritize not only engagement and follower growth, but also the sentiment and quality of your content. Establish consistent two-way communication for online feedback, whether through DMs or another method. Leverage those dozens of five-star reviews by sharing them on social media and letting people know why your restaurant deserves their attention. Nurturing an online community requires the same care that goes into real-life community building—friendliness, politeness, offering assistance and answering questions, and providing the same quality of service as in your restaurant. Social media is not just a place to post content—rather, it’s an important place to learn about your guests and what they love.
If your restaurant or brand has been around for a while, you may take an approach that promotes storytelling and reviews. Scoma’s nurtures community by regularly sharing reviews and encouraging their audience to tie memories to the restaurant.
If your restaurant or brand is establishing recognition, you may focus on partnering with community organizations and sharing user-generated content. High 5ive nurtures community by regularly partnering with community organizations and treating user generated content with the same care as influencer content
Rule #2: Sharing valuable content is as important as sharing valuable experiences with your guests.
What is “valuable” content? This is subjective, of course, and will vary depending on your audience and goals. In general, content should provide a complete sense of what it’s like to dine at your restaurant. Consider what will make prospective diners excited about visiting, and the experience you want to convey. Quality photography and videography highlighting the food, drinks, and atmosphere is a must. Social media is visual medium and high-quality imagery is key. This means good lighting, composed tablescapes and vibrant settings—and a human element is always a nice touch (remember, no one wants to eat in an empty restaurant!). A successful restaurant Instagram will also capture all five senses—in a compelling video, you don’t need to smell the house-made falafel to imagine the exact notes of herbs and chickpeas you’d inhale as all the ingredients are mixed. With this in mind, it’s important to determine who is capturing your content and who is in charge of managing your social media accounts, which may or may not be the same person. Are you providing your social media manager with valuable content? Moreover, are you willing to invest in professional photography, or is someone on your team equipped to capture quality content in house? Asses whether each role has the time, skills, and resources to create content that adds value.
Next, be sure to utilize all content real estate to its fullest. Use an engaging content format such as a 10-second Instagram Reel, or an interactive story post and captions that are true to your brand voice. Captions can be a great opportunity for storytelling or engaging with your audience. Don’t be shy about including a call to action, which could be as simple as prompting users to send the video to a friend they want to dine with. Lastly, tag your restaurant as the location and ensure the proper keywords and hashtags are used to optimize searchability.
When measuring the success or quality of your content, focus on key performance indicators for specific asset types: Views for video content, shares for story posts, saves for in-feed posts, and so on, along with other KPIs including engagements and impressions. Learn how you can improve through social listening by analyzing online conversations about your brand. This can allow you to understand the community perspective of your restaurant in order to better connect with your guests, and provide more value in areas where they may see an opportunity.
Diversify the way you showcase experiences: Video and image carousels can tell similar stories in very different ways.
Rule #3: Show What Makes You Unique
Being unique is all about highlighting the flair that is specific to your restaurant. Take inventory of your competitive edge, what current trends are relevant to your restaurant, and how your guests interact with your staff, menu, and social media channels. Scoma’s, an iconic pier-to-plate seafood restaurant in San Francisco, started as a coffee shop for fishers in the mid 1960s; they now serve a Fisherman’s Special at their bar, as local fishers are their oldest clientele and a unique pillar of their community. Yet unique offerings don’t have to be niche. iCHiNA, a contemporary Cantonese restaurant in the Bay Area, has become known for their luxurious afternoon tea service that features a stunning tower presentation of signature pastries, paired with premium imported teas. Try making use of “Instagrammable” presentations to encourage social sharing—word of mouth travels fast, but it travels even faster with the tap of a button on social media (and it helps if you have something people can’t get anywhere else!).
Uniqueness can come in many forms. For iCHiNA, it’s about showcasing a decadent experience inspired by Cantonese dining.
One way that Scoma’s, a historic bayside restaurant in San Francisco, showcases their uniqueness is by tailoring specials to their closest neighbors: The local fishers on the pier. They serve a Fisherman’s Special available at the bar. And remember to showcase other aspects of the restaurant—not just the food—which could include stellar views or distinctive decor. This is one case where if you’ve got it, flaunt it.
That said, perhaps your restaurant hasn’t been on a pier since the ‘60s, and your presentations aren’t overly Instagram-worthy. Even so, there is always something that makes your experience unique and special. Is there a story behind the name of your restaurant, an item on the menu, or a cook who has been working there for a decade or more? If storytelling isn’t at the forefront of your brand, consider stylistic differentiators, such as experimenting with the photo style in your feed a la Les Trois Chevaux in New York City, or cultivating a unique brand voice that makes sense for your restaurant and your audience. If you’re trying to reach Gen Z, an authentic tone of a brand that doesn’t take themselves too seriously tends to resonate, whereas millennials might gravitate toward something a bit more polished yet still playful. Wendy’s became famous for roasting people on Twitter, which goes to show that a little personality can go a long way. Keep your audience in mind while remaining true to your identity. Discover how personifying your brand can help create a connection with your community. Make an effort to listen to both your guests and competitors, focusing closely on audience feedback (or lack of feedback) instead of vanity metrics. Ultimately, you’ll want to mold the specific vibe to the type of brand you’re trying to build, and and audience with whom you’re hoping to engage.
Rule #4: Go With the Flow
Similar to running a restaurant, it’s important to be adaptable to try new things or double down on what’s going well. A restaurant’s social media presence is an opportunity to listen and to take part in important two-way conversations. You’ll have access to a perspective that may not be expressed the same way during a dining experience. As long as you have a firm understanding of your brand, social media is a fun space to try new things. Focus on making your channels an approachable and relatable place to meet your brand. Are you utilizing social metrics to influence your operations? You can learn a lot from your online audience. Use both quantitative (analytics) and qualitative (social listening) insights to continuously assess and evolve your strategy. Determine what’s working and what’s not, and when you find something is performing poorly or not resonating with your audience, social media allows the flexibility to try a different approach.
Consider the timing of how quickly you can approve social content. Social media trends come and go at a rapid pace—it’s important to be nimble in order to jump on these trends as they appear, which is a great opportunity to get more eyes on your brand. You can find trends simply by being active on social media, or there are online resources such as Later that compile the social trends of the moment. As a general best practice on social media, it helps to embrace change. The platforms and their algorithms are always evolving, with new styles of content constantly being introduced, and some are favored more than others. Platforms themselves even come and go—Twitter is now X and Threads (Instagram’s new text-based platform) is new on the scene. Don’t be afraid to pivot when it comes to social media. When hundreds of millions of users signed up for Threads at launch, it was uncharted territory for many brands, but exploring and having fun with it allows you to determine what is effective and makes sense for your business.
Social media isn’t static. You can pivot faster and try new things more easily than on other marketing channels. Because it’s constantly evolving, it gives more of a license to play and experiment.
In summary, social media can be an invaluable tool when it comes to understanding your audience, building and nurturing a community, and setting your brand apart from the competition. A successful social strategy requires the skills and understanding to capture and share quality content that evokes the experience of dining in your restaurant, as well as the experience you want to convey. Take advantage of the flexibility of social media by experimenting with your content style and brand voice or online persona. A restaurant’s social media presence can only be successful if it is nurtured the right way; play by these new rules, and—with a bit of patience—you’re sure to gain a better understanding of your audience and your brand that can translate into business. Are you willing to step up your social media presence?