1. Have an engaging website that conveys your brand
Your business needs a website that tells customers who you are and what you are doing, and in the case of restaurants, it should take online orders. This is an easy way to ensure that customers become regulars, but it is also important for your business’ brand.
People usually want to see the menu, know how to contact you, learn about discounts, special offers and make an order! These key aspects of your business’ information should be reflected amongst your restaurant’s brand identity.
Use high quality delicious images of your food to attract customers and entice the hungry ones to directly visit or order from your restaurant with an online order button visible on every page.
2. Keep your customers updated on social media
Since the vast majority of people search for restaurants and spend hours on social media sites, the marketing of social media for restaurants is incredibly important to the success of your restaurant’s business.
Most people turn to social media to post about their meals and experiences and use them to find new restaurants. In fact, food is the centrepiece of a restaurant’s marketing strategy for online engagement.
Social media marketing covers a wide range of platforms, and each offers different ways to connect with customers. Facebook and Instagram are both especially useful platforms to market your restaurant and allow you to tempt customers with your yummy food.
Your social media should likewise convey similar branding to your website’s presence to maintain consistency in your brand’s voice and have instant recognition amongst the different platforms.
It’s important to update your social media regularly to keep your customers engaged with your restaurant.
3. Be responsive online
Human connection is really important in restaurant marketing, as it allows restaurants to add personalisation and give real value to your customers from your brand.
It is very useful to share customer generated content amongst your online platforms. Your online presence should ideally be an ongoing conversation with your customers where you can take valuable feedback or comments onboard and respond directly to them. It’s important to reply to any comments you receive and continue connecting with your customers on a personal level.
Restaurants can keep these conversations going by initiating interaction, such as asking fun questions, holding competitions or challenges online.
4. Sign up to eStart4
Within the third party food delivery apps, it is easy to get lost amongst the endless crowd of restaurants available online. That’s why now more than ever before it is a great time to focus on taking orders directly from your restaurant’s website or social media.
Taking direct orders is a great way to boost customer loyalty because with every order someone makes they directly interact with your brand, making it easier to boost online customer engagement.
By signing your restaurant up to the eStart4 platform you can integrate your social media marketing with your point of sale, alongside consumer analytics and delivery partner integration.
If you’d like to learn more about how the power of social media can be converted into online orders, check out our blogpost here.
5. Don’t forget about email marketing
Emails are a great way to keep in touch with your customers and keep them up to date with all of your latest offers and promotions.
Your restaurant could have a monthly newsletter promoting your brand and reminding customers of your presence and current deals.
Your business could even set up personalised birthday emails, which customers receive if they offered their birthdates when signing up to your email list, enticing them to come back for more with a special offer.
Don’t forget to update customers with new items on your menu such as weekly or monthly specials. With brief yet powerful emails you’ll leave your customers consistently coming back for more.
