Social media marketing for restaurants and food franchises is not a choice anymore; it’s a requirement considering how Covid-19 disrupted the economy. The pandemic resulted in the closure of 34% of small businesses in the U.S.

During the recent economic downturn, only a few local restaurants and food companies were able to maintain customer communication using social media for product marketing and delivery.

Businesses that survived was because they leverage the power of social media marketing to promote their business on social media.

6 Ways to Increase Sales in a Recession or Economic Downturn

If you’re still asking if social media marketing is essential for food businesses, the answer is yes because your customers are on different social media (58.4% of the global world’s population uses social media).

Social media marketing is a crucial part of any restaurant’s marketing strategy. With the rise of Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and other social media platforms, restaurants, food, and beverage companies can now use these channels to connect with their customers to make more sales.

Today, you will learn ways to promote your food business with actionable social media marketing strategy for restaurants and food franchises.

Food social media marketing

Food social media marketing is marketing and advertising food, beverage, and drink products via social media platforms. Social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook made it easy to advertise food products on social media. Posting aesthetic images and food videos attracts interest in consuming specific recipes and foods.

The goal of social media marketing for restaurants is to increase brand awareness, generate leads, and drive sales by using a variety of different channels.

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What are the best social media marketing strategies for food franchises?

There are many ways restaurants and food companies can promote their business on social media. Below are the best social media strategies food business owners can leverage to get more leads and customers on social media.

Leverage data and statistics to position your brand efficiently.

One of the critical components of a successful social media marketing campaign for restaurants is data, which helps you understand what values connect your consumers and which ones are not working.

Data helps you measure marketing campaigns and results, identify trends, and make adjustments based on your findings.

Data helps you understand what are going well or poorly to further refine your food business social media marketing plans.

For example, if your Facebook post has a lot of likes, shares, and comments, then your Facebook content strategy is likely efficient.

The most valuable type of data is the one you get by yourself. Also, you can use industry social media statistics to find out what consumers in the food industry think and do on social media.

We ran an experiment at Sociallybuzz.com to determine which campaign type is the most effective for our clients. After further analyzing data, we discovered that Google Performance Max is the best type of campaign for our company to spend our marketing budget.

Before, we spent more money on less-effective P.P.C. campaigns until we leveraged data to come up with the final verdict. We’ve saved our company and clients a lot of money by leveraging the power of data in digital marketing.

Why is data essential for social media marketing in restaurants?

1. Data in digital and social media marketing opens room for more opportunities and optimizations for food franchises.
2. Data helps you curate a restaurant social media campaign that will achieve a positive result.
3. Data shows what works in the food industry and what doesn’t work.

Using data and trends for restaurant social media marketing is one of the best social media marketing strategies for food franchises.

Choose appropriate social media channels for your food business.

Social media is a powerful tool for food businesses; it is a place where they can share their products with the world, build a following and increase their sales. But not all social media channels are created equal, so it is essential to choose the ones that will work best for your food franchise business.

When choosing social media channels for your food business, the first thing to consider is which ones are most popular among your target audience.

If you target Gen Xers and Baby Boomers (older generations), then Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit may be better choices than TikTok. On the other hand, if your target audiences are Gen X and Gen Z (younger generations), then Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, are your best picks.

Another thing to consider when choosing social media advertising channels for your food business is which ones have the most potential for engagement and interaction with your prospects or customers.

Below are the best social media platforms for restaurants and food franchises:

• Best overall: We recommend using Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and TikTok for restaurant social media marketing. Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and TikTok are the best social media platforms for restaurant social media marketing, so you should prioritize them as your best social media promotion channels to boost engagement and reach more people.
• For direct orders: For food companies and franchises that prefer the convenience of sales through direct messaging, we recommend WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger for immediate orders.
• Customer care: Twitter and WhatsApp are great tools for customer support and customer service. Both platforms allow you to provide regular feedback/support and communicate with your customers and prospects.

Food businesses on social media should post photos and videos.

People are more inclined to follow your business on social media if they see you are posting aesthetic photos and engaging videos. When people see the food being cooked or served, they will be more inclined to follow that business.

Share behind-the-scenes footage or sneak previews to generate interest before releasing new products.

The type of content you post on social media impacts how well your restaurant does. Crafting the right content can help you promote your restaurant more effectively and make it easier for people to find your food business on social media.

You should make sure that the content is relevant and valuable for your customers. Images of food, in particular, have a much higher chance of attracting people on social media. They are processed by the brain faster and more quickly compared to text posts. Engaging and eye-catchy images are what we recommend to make the best out of your food business social media marketing strategy.

Build customer loyalty with good users experience for your food business

A good user experience is paramount to any business, and it is the foundation of customer loyalty. A customer who has a good experience with your product, service, or brand will return for more and tell their friends, colleagues, and family members about it.

Improving customers’ experience can be as simple as ensuring that you deliver what you promised or providing customers with the information they need to make the right decisions.

Below are ways to build your customer loyalty with a good user experience:

1. Freebies: Consider offering freebies to your customers as a promotional social media strategy for food franchises. Freebies can be branded clothes, water bottles, key holders, etc. You can even surprise your customers with gifts.
2. Discounts: To ensure your customers come back to eat at your restaurant or order from your company online, why not give them a discount on their next food order?
3. Good communication – Personalization is a great way to communicate with customers on social media. It’s good to create groups for prospects and customers interested in your company. You can focus on providing them with valuable information they need on social groups. Good communication entails empathy; customers are more likely to patronise your brand if it shows compassion for their needs.
4. Customer highlights: This is another way to promote your food company on social media because customers are the backbone of any business. It is crucial to make them feel appreciated. One way to do this is through customer highlights. Customer highlight is when a company posts something about a customer to show their appreciation, encouraging prospects to become their customers.

Your user experience should be a higher priority in social media marketing for food companies and franchises.

Run paid social media campaigns to get more location visits to your restaurants.

One of the best ways to promote your restaurant is by running paid social media campaigns on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and many social media platforms. The best part about social media campaigns is targeting your ads to a specific demographic of people who are most likely to visit your restaurant. 

Key takeaway 

• The most effective social media ads have an emotional connection with the audience. They evoke feelings and memories that are positive and uplifting. Your social media campaigns should have positive emotions, feelings, and memories if they are to connect with the audience.

Need help with social media marketing and advertising for your food business? Contact us for free social media strategy..

Deliverability is your value proposition in social media marketing for food business.

Deliverability is how restaurants deliver food to their customers within a specified timeframe. One of the most vital parts of a food franchise’s social media marketing strategy is the ability to deliver on time.

Food delivery is critical, and if you do it right, customers will come back for more. Your customers will order again when they receive food within a reasonable time frame. If you delay an order from your customer, there is a chance that your customer will lose their appetite and stop potential business deals with your company.

Partnership with thought leaders, public figures, celebrities, and influencers

There are many benefits to partnering up with someone who has a large following on social media. The most obvious one is that you will be able to gain more followers and increase your business visibility. This will lead to more people seeing your products which means that there is a higher chance that they will check out your website to buy your product.

It’s a good idea to partner with popular influencers to promote your food business (this is one of the best social media strategies for restaurants and food franchises)

Consistency is vital in social media marketing for food businesses.

Do you want your food businesses to dominate on social media? If yes, you need to maintain a consistent content publishing strategy. You will get more followers on social media if you can maintain a regular and consistent content publishing schedule. Posting content regularly on social media helps you build a good reputation for your food brand.

• Don’t appear for a month and reappear for another. The key to success with restaurant social media marketing is consistency
• To be consistent, schedule posts on social media to grow your food business. You can schedule posts using social media tools to extend your reach on social media platforms.

Use of social media marketing software for food companies.

Social media marketing tools are essential for restaurants; they help grow and manage the company’s social media presence.

You can use social media marketing tools to automate your marketing on social media, giving you the ability to focus on other aspects of your business. Many social media marketing software is available on the market, but some of the most popular ones are Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Buffer, and social pilot. These tools allow restaurants to manage their social media accounts more efficiently. You can use them to save time on repetitive tasks.

• You should keep track of your food company by using social media monitoring tools to monitor the performance of your social media marketing efforts.
• Using social media marketing tools for food franchises or restaurants can help you optimize your reputation on social media, gain insights into your customer behavior and preferences, and spot new trends.

Use hashtags effectively in social media marketing for restaurants.

Using hashtags is a convenient way to make posts and tweets more visible on social media. Your franchisee’s food business can reach more prospects on social media with effective and strategic use of hashtags.

Here are some popular hashtags for food franchises and restaurants: #restaurant, #food, #foodie, #foodporn, #instafood, #bar, #dinner, #meal, #breakfast, #lunch, #yummy, #delicious, and #recipe.

Use them effectively to promote your food business on social media.

Summary of restaurant and franchise social media marketing strategy

Social media marketing is vital for restaurants and food franchises. It plays a significant role in the food industry because it is a great way to connect with a broader audience and potentially bring in new customers.

Businesses that take the time to build a social media strategy have a higher chance of success than those that do not have a social media strategy.

Sociallybuzz is a social media company that focuses on helping franchises and b2bs grow by using different social media advertising platforms and strategies.

Get in touch with us for a free strategy call, and see how social media can grow your food franchise online.

Read more:

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