In 2018, social media for your restaurant has become essential. And that’s not a bad thing. Social media is one of the best ways to get more customers eating at your restaurant, and it’s a highly effective method to cater directly to the loyal fans that care the most about you.

Whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, or even Pinterest, check out this list of tips that’ll really help your restaurant nail social media.

Promote in all the obvious places. Obvious places to feature your social media account are both in-restaurant and online.

When it comes to promoting your social media in-restaurant, just having a little “Check us out on social media!” on the back of your menu will go a long way. On the other hand, in the digital sphere, you’ll want to make sure all of your accounts are linked to on your website.

Use hashtags. Relevant hashtags are critical when it comes to amplifying the reach of the posts you make. Not only do customers like to use them, but they’ll also help your posts get more attention from non-followers – especially if you’re posting about trending topics.

They’re also an easy way to identify posts if you’re holding a contest or having a special event that’s tied to a unique hashtag.

To get you started, here’s a list of 50+ hashtags that are tailor-made for restaurant social media.

Stay active. Staying active means maintaining a schedule. Establishing a set number of posts to make a week ensures that your customers don’t forget about you. At the same time however, you don’t want to spam your customers with too many posts in a short period of time.

Feature visual content. Go scroll through your Facebook news feed. Make a note of how many posts featured a visual (pictures, video, etc.). According to Social Media Examiner, 74% of surveyed marketers use visual assets in their social media marketing, while 60% use video. You should too.

If you’re running a restaurant, this should be particularly easy. Highlighting your delicious creations was practically built for social media.

Don’t over promote. When posting social media content, do your best to provide something of value to your customers. Whenever I talk about social media promotion, the 80/20 rule is one of the most important things I believe is worth highlighting. This rule dictates that only 20% of your social media posts should function as explicit promotional material, while the other 80% should be designed to inform, educate, or entertain your audience.

Look at it this way. People don’t follow your restaurant on social media because they want to see a load of advertisements. They follow you because they want to engage with your brand. Treat social media like an engagement with that audience.

Feature contests and deals. Speaking of exhibiting value, hosting contests and deals on your various social media platforms is one of the more sure-fire ways to incentive people to follow, while also pleasing current followers. Nothing gets people to follow you on social media faster than the prospect of getting an exclusive deal, or getting the chance to win a contest.

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On top of that, we hook you up with fully trackable metrics and crucial data behind all of your customers, ensuring you never miss a beat with your social media strategy. Our amazing platform is the best way to discover what makes your audience tick. Check out the rest of our website to discover more!

Have any tips on nailing restaurant social media? Let us know in the comments!