An excited fan base is great for business. Plain and simple.
When your base is excited about something, not only are they more keen to come in for a bite to eat, they’re more likely to start talking about your restaurant to their friends. When they’re excited about something, they actively want to talk about it. And word-of-mouth is just about the best promotion you can get. (Nielsen reports that 84% of consumers rank word-of-mouth recommendations as the most trustworthy source).
Put your marketing hats on. Let’s get people excited about your restaurant. Here’s five ways to build the buzz in your restaurant.
Take to Social Media
The first place to spark a groundswell of excitement will take place, first and foremost, within the confines of social media. Whether you’re on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and everything in between, social media is the place to be for hyping up your fans.
Your primary goal with social media is to engage your customers. Get them interested in your restaurant. Social media will be the frontline for all of your excitement-targeted efforts.
Contests and Giveaways
Nothing gets the excitement going more so than the idea of winning. Whether it’s a contest or a giveaway, the end result is usually the same. These promotions generate buzz. You can run contests and giveaways either in-restaurant or on social media.
When people win something, especially when it’s unexpected, they’ll experience that little release of excitement. Even if it’s something they never needed or will never use, they become that much more likely to talk to their friends about their experience. “You’ll never believe what I won at this cool restaurant!”
Hold an “Exclusive” Event
One way to build the buzz is to hold a special event planned exclusively for your best customers. It could be anything: a special fine-dining experience, a buffet, a party with a band, or any other event that might best fit your restaurant.
Does your restaurant have a loyalty program? If so, that’s a great place to send out invites. These are your most loyal customers, and they’re the ones most likely to talk about it. Once you’ve done that however, a good method to build the buzz even further is to announce the event on your social media. State that there are limited seats available and that interested parties can still join a waitlist. But if they really want to in on future events, it would behoove them to join your loyalty program.
Livestream something
Even if you’ve never sat down and watched one, you’ve probably seen a livestream pop up in one of your social media feeds. Indeed, livestreams have been perculating throughout Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and more throughout the past several years. Many businesses have taken notice. They’re a great way to interact with fans
So, as a restaurant, what sort of livestream should you do? You have quite a lot of options at your disposal. Go behind the scenes and show off your kitchen. Maybe stream the chef while they’re cooking something. Show off the band when it’s playing! Be spontaneous and interact with fans to keep them excited.
Get Buzz With CoGoBuzz
Building your restaurant’s buzz just got a whole lot easier. With CoGoBuzz, our state-of-the-art digital marketing service, we’re here to help. Through the power of advanced WiFi, SMS, and Email solutions, we get the buzz going both in-store and out.
It all starts through a one-time login to your in-restaurant HotSpot. Customers login through Facebook, Email, or Phone Number, gaining access to the WiFi and being taken to a slick custom landing page for your restaurant, featuring your menus, deals, and more. From there, you can entice them to sign up for your brand new, text-based loyalty program (powered by CoGoBuzz) so that you can keep engaging wherever they go.
To learn more about CoGoBuzz, check out the rest of our website!
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How do you get the buzz going in your restaurant? Sound off in the comments!