Around 25 percent of the catering in the Netherlands doesn’t use social media. In 2015 that’s a large percentage and even 50 percent of the 75 percent does not use social media properly. During the years the use of social media has become more and more important, it’s not only an advertisement tool but you need to create a bond with your customers through social media.
You have a lot of platforms which can be used to to express your restaurant. The first one is WhatsApp, which is forgotten by a lot of restaurants. We don’t want you to stalk your customers, but use WhatsApp to make reservations and even for feedback from your customers. It’s quicker and easier than email or phone calls.
The next one is Facebook, which is a popular one among the restaurant. A lot of them use it to give information about the opening hours and address. Thereby they also post contests to win free lunches or make advertisements about a new product. At the moment a lot of restaurant are glad when they have a a lot of likes, but they forget that comments and shares attract more attention. Create contests where for example people need to tag each other, this will put your company in the spotlights and eventually you restaurant will be showed at the newsfeed of a lot of people.
Besides the traditional sharing and liking on Facebook, the upcoming social media as Instagram and Snapchat are also of great value to the restaurant. Pictures say more than words, that’s the rule where restaurants should live by. Create beautiful pictures of food en drinks and show them to the world. People like colourful pictures, inspiration and passion behind the images. It will create more value to your restaurant. Snapchat can be used to give daily customers a look behind the scenes. Customers love transpiration en thereby they will promote your restaurant more and more off- and online.
Besides the connection with customers it’s also important to be active at social media platforms such as LinkedIn. Expand your network and show what you can offer for other companies, such as lunches. Several companies will try this out and if it goes good, than they will promote it to other companies and your network will expand which will have a positive influence on your image.
With all the social media platforms it’s important you keep your information up to date and you keep interacting with your customers. Good interaction with customers will result in loyalty and free offline marketing and good reviews will attract new customers in the future. The customers should become a fan of your restaurant and thereby it’s important to attract more publicity. One of the ways to attract publicity is by taking part in a contest. An example is ‘The Bogue Gouden Burger Spatel’, which is hold every year in Rotterdam. This contest is about which restaurant has the best burger in town.
You can find more interesting subjects about food and quotes on ‘Foodporno’ and ‘Motivationquotes.co’
IF YOU LOVE BURGERS AND LOVE ROTTERDAM, CHECK THIS VIDEO ABOUT THE BEST BURGER OF 2014 ! ! ! 🙂
(2015, Starboost, http://www.starboost.nl/2015/07/28/toekomst-van-social-media-in-de-horeca/)
(http://www.aandacht4all.nl/de-online-marketing-trends-voor-2015-voor-horeca-ondernemers/)
Wow, I am so surprised by the high percentage of restaurants/catering that do not use social media (at all) or properly. You would think that they realized by now that customers can discover them so much easier when they are active on social media. Additionally, if your food is really good, the positive feedback can increase your customer base if people leave this feedback on social media.
One of my favorite examples from advertising in the “food world” is Subway’s app: Subprise. It’s an app where they show the daily deals/menu/locations/etc., but they also have this spinning wheel. You can spin it every 24 hours and you will win a menu, a discount, or a drink! When I worked in the city and had lunch or dinner breaks, I would almost always go to Subway, simply because of this spinning wheel that gives you great discounts.
That’s a great example, Subway attracts people with discounts and offers. That should also be used by other food restaurants. For example Burger King has it as well, by providing exclusive online discount vouchers for their menus. It’s a great thing for every food restaurant to implement, you will attract a lot (potential) customers.