Five Post Ideas For A Restaurant

There are two sides to Social Media. The first is to increase brand awareness to existing and conquest audiences, whilst the second is developing and maintaining relationships. Not only can restaurants utilise Social Media to increase bookings from new customers, but they can also use it to give them a reason to stay engaged and keep coming back.

Therefore, it’s important to get the right balance of content, mixing between promotional posts and engagement-driving ones.

Here are five easy post ideas to start padding out your Social Media content plan.

Latest Menu

The first thing on anyone’s mind when booking a restaurant is what delicious food they will be consuming. In fact, most of us browse the menu way ahead of time and likely know exactly what we’ll be ordering.

With this in mind, be sure to share your latest menu, any specialities or seasonal yumminess across Social Media to stay front of mind and get your follower’s tastebuds tingling.

Cooking Tips & Inspo

Of course, you’re the expert when it comes to all things food so how about sharing some tips and inspiration across Social Media to help engage your audience?

Cooking tips will also help keep your restaurant front of mind and encourage interactions with your customer’s in-between visits. These can be done via ‘Live Cookalong’s’ so your audience can ask questions in real-time and join in on the fun.

Private Events & Corporate Hire

Many restaurants offer private bookings, whether it’s the entire space or a private room. If this is relevant to you then be sure to share key information such as how to book and prices (where suitable) across Social Media to raise awareness of the service and help drive bookings.

If you have feedback or testimonials from previous customers who have booked then share these too so anyone researching venues knows what to expect.

Reservations

Now more than ever customers are conscious of the need to book ahead to secure their table at restaurants. Whether it’s over the phone, email or via an online booking portal, let your audience know how best to make a booking with you.

It’s also helpful to include your opening times in these posts, especially if they’re changing due to Bank Holidays or festive occasions. Furthermore, if you offer a delivery service then make sure this is well known too with detail on how to place an order.

Promotions & Discounts

Restaurants will often run promotions such as Valentine’s Dinners or discount days/times. Social Media is a fantastic way to quickly and cheaply spread awareness for these and will help to reach conquest audiences as well as existing customers.

Drive Engagement

Some consumers like to stay loyal to certain restaurants because they know exactly what they’re going to get and have their favourite dishes. Others, however, like to hop around and try a bit of everywhere.

One key way to ensure repeat customers is to deliver exceptional customer service and, of course, fabulous food. However, with posts like the above, you can also help stay front of mind and drive engagement in-between visits on Social Media.

Share posts that are designed to start conversations, such as how to cook the perfect roasties for example, and educate, such as how to cook healthy dinners that are still delicious.

Being a business on Social Media is all about adding value to your customers feed and sharing content that they will be interested in – not just trying to get them back in the door. However, it’s a win-win because by encouraging post interactions, you will increase your organic reach and therefore brand exposure.

Schedule In Advance

The key to a successful Social Media strategy is to share quality content consistently – so your audience begins to expect your posts on their feed (and hopefully look forward to them too!).

Sometimes there just isn’t enough time in the day and we completely feel your pain there. However, by prioritising Social Media and setting aside some time each week or month to plan and schedule you will surely reap the rewards.

Furthermore, it’s important to maintain your brand guidelines when posting to Social Media, as it’s essentially just a digital extension of your restaurant. Use appropriate copy, creative assets and converse with your online audience just the same as you would those in your restaurant.

By being organised and scheduling your content in advance you will have time to ensure your key messages are covered, proofread your content and be confident that your posts are suitable for your audience and brand.