Social Media and Restaurants: Do I Really Need It?

restaurant

Dec 10

A Recipe For Perfection 🧑‍🍳

Social media and restaurants go together like caviar and champagne. Find out why in our blog post.

Social media and restaurants go together like caviar and champagne. They create an unmatched balance; once you’ve experienced their perfection, you feel like a million bucks.

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Even though social media is vital for restaurants, many establishments neglect their online presence. Focusing on the quality of the food is essential, but so is focusing on a quality-over-quantity approach to social media. Here’s why social media and restaurants go hand in hand and why, yes, you DO need it.

Social Media And Restaurants: Why Do I Need It?

#1: Marketing Made Simple

Showcase your restaurant online with great visuals and offers—72% of diners rely on social media to decide where to eat!

Pause and think about this: How often have you looked up a restaurant or its menu before actually going to the place? IYKYK.

And how many times have you chosen somewhere else to go with pictures of their food that you can see so you know exactly what you’re in for? According to ORACLE GloriaFood, 72% of customers look at social media comments and images to make informed dining decisions.

If your restaurant has an online presence fully equipped with images, videos, clearly labeled specials, and that happy hour on display, you are already putting yourself one step ahead of your competition. Not to mention, you’re doing it for free (unless you decide to run paid ads).

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#2: Instant Transparency

Social media makes it easy to share your menu, specials, and updates—keeping followers informed and engaged!

Yes, social media and restaurants mix to showcase the food, but they also blend together to create a sense of transparency for your followers and newcomers. When people land on your profile, they should be able to see your hours of operation, location, type of cuisine, and any daily events like happy hours or specials.

Additionally, Instagram stories offer the space to share menu updates, changes in hours, specials, or exciting events that are being hosted daily or weekly. There’s no reason why people should have to hunt through your post feed or even your website to find these things when you can update them quickly and easily on social media.

#3: Customer Support

Remember when you had to call and make your first doctor appointment by yourself? Well, some of us have that anxiety constantly—especially when it comes to making dinner reservations.

If you take reservations online through a site like OpenTable, that link should also be easily accessible via LinkTree. In the age of Gen Z and millennials, people are likelier to send an email or message with a question rather than make a phone call. By having someone actively manning your DMs, you’ll be able to make sure customers are happy and feel confident coming into your restaurant.

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#4: UGC Is Key

Collaborate with local food bloggers to spotlight your restaurant and attract loyal diners!

If you search your city + food blogger, you will be flooded with countless content creators who share food content for fun or a living! A food blogger with enough of a following has the power to put your restaurant on the map!

If your restaurant has a social media presence, you can contact local food bloggers to have them come out, try a few plates, and share their experience with their followers. These food bloggers have tremendously loyal audiences, so if you get a great UGC creator to back your restaurants, you better prep for busy nights!

#5: Get Visual

Eye-catching food posts drive diners—#foodporn and #foodstagram prove it works!

You’ve heard the phrase “Instagram ate first,” right? The beauty of social media and restaurants is to create content that is so visually appealing that people come and get a dish of their own (and post about it)!

The hashtag #foodporn has 309 million posts, and the hashtag #foodstagram has 126 million posts—this is no coincidence! Social media allows your restaurant to showcase your best menu options creatively, get people to stop their scroll, and have them book a reservation ASAP.

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Want A Taste of Terrific Social Media Strategy?

At Scott Social, our team is ready to take social media off your plate and serve up a heaping amount of aesthetics and metrics that will keep your customers coming back for more. With everything from influencer marketing to styled photoshoots and social media management, we’ll make sure your socials are always serving.

No reservation required. Just send us a message today to get started!