Everyone has to eat. And most people also love to post or tweet about what they eat (see #FoodPorn). Because of this, there are ample opportunities to showcase all the amazing dishes a restaurant has to offer and amplify the voices of the customers who already love the food.
Here are three tips on managing a restaurant’s social pages.
1) Turn Lemons Into Lemonade
Angry posts and rants are inevitable, but how you handle those posts will determine whether those customers will return to your restaurant. From bad customer service to burnt food, the list of things people can and will complain about is endless.
While you may want to yell right back at the angry user, the simple answer is don’t. Creating a timely and appropriate response to negative comments from customers is the best way to handle this situation. Think of complaints as a customer’s way of reaching out to you for help to remain a customer. Taking the time to listen, understand what happened, and making an effort to improve or prevent future issues for your customers will go a long way.
And chances are that customers will appreciate this action enough to give your restaurant another chance – and this time, they’ll have a great experience. Voila – lemonade!
2) Show Off Your Goods
Restaurants have the unique opportunity to showcase their food and drinks, especially if they taste good, smell amazing and look beautiful. Why not post photos of your delicious dishes to get your customers in the door? Food photography tips will definitely come in handy.
Test different filters and find out which ones work best for you. If you have weekly specials, take multiple photos of the dish or items that you feature to use for future posts so you have a variety of photos to work with. Also, make sure your photo looks its best on each platform. With tools like Canva, you can create templates for your weekly posts, and with Facebook’s 20% advertising rule for images, this is a quick and time-saving way to create images without having to start over every time.
3) Let Your Fans Be Your Voice
You can also go a step further and utilize user photos of your food and drinks. Start by searching hashtags associated with your restaurant (your name, names of popular dishes or drinks, etc.) While it’s not required, it’s nice to ask the user for permission to repost or regram their photo and give them credit for it.
Here’s a few examples of great user photos:
This should be automatic, but some restaurants don’t take the opportunity to let their customers do the talking for them. Hashtags make it easy to find out not only what your customers are saying about you, but to also see your restaurant through their eyes. Why not broadcast their endorsements to all of your followers? This can go a long way in gaining the trust of new customers while reminding loyal ones why they love you.
Always remember – your guests are posting and talking about your restaurant. Whether you choose to listen and join the conversation is up to you.
– Meg Lerma, Outreach & New Media Assistant
