Until further notice, Facebook remains the best virtual storefront for restaurant marketing. This social network has all the dimensions needed to generate customer “engagement”, a term that refers to the emotional connection necessary to influence purchasing decisions and ultimately increase the sales volume of establishments.
Because of its extreme efficiency, the ideal is to make Facebook as profitable as possible through strategies adapted to different promotional needs. Here are 3 practical and very effective actions that you will not fail to want to implement on your restaurant’s Facebook page .
Conduct surveys and engage customers
Customers are on Facebook to satisfy different consumer needs, but mostly for entertainment . You must therefore create a fun, interactive and interesting Facebook profile for your restaurant, which makes customers who subscribe to your page want to come and eat in your establishment.
Surveys are effective tools. You can run surveys at frequent intervals that will help you increase the number of visits your restaurant receives. An example: organize a survey asking customers to help you choose the missing ingredient in one of your dishes.
For a limited period, your customers will be able to participate in the selection of the ingredient, presented in a drop-down list. The winning ingredient is the one that wins the most votes, and it’s the perfect excuse to finally invite your customers to come and try the dish, which they all participated in anyway.
This marketing action for restaurants allows you to strengthen the link between your customers and the activities of your establishment, helps you promote the dishes on your menu and of course, enhances your brand image.
Restaurant Management: The 3 Pillars Of Success
Increase bookings
To carry out this marketing action for restaurants, it is first necessary to install a reservations engine on your Facebook page that will allow your users to make their reservations online without leaving this social network . LaFourchette offers you a free reservations button: click here to get it .
Once the booking engine is operational, you can then develop a strategy that is both very effective and dynamic. It consists in offering a promotion, for example of type “3 for the price of 2” (3 guests including one guest free of charge) to subscribed customers who make an online reservation with the Facebook button on a certain date, within a time slot. precise. For example, the promotion may apply to all bookings registered between 6:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on the date indicated.
The idea is to increase your bookings for a limited time, to encourage your customers to use the button on your Facebook page and of course to increase your sales. In order for your strategy to work well, you need to post the promotion action several times before the date it takes place. This allows you to invite your subscribed customers and create a feeling of expectation in them, as they will eagerly watch for the moment when they can book on your Facebook page and win deal 3 for the price of 2.
It is an easy-to-control restaurant marketing action , as the LaFourchette Manager reservation management software shows you the reservations received via the engine installed on your Facebook page, as well as the data of customers, who you can contact to announce them. that they won.
Increase the number of subscribers
In order for Facebook to function as a platform for you to increase your restaurant’s sales, the main thing is to have followers that your communications reach. To get new subscribers, you can run the following promotion, which many restaurants have already tested with great results:
To get started, add a call-to-action button in the top pane of your page, for example with the label “Subscribe”.
To do this, you just need to go to the cover photo of your page and click on + Add button
This button is associated with a link that directs the customer to a home page created on your website, with a form for them to register their data to win a prize, for example free dessert, discount, etc.
This restaurant marketing action offers you two advantages. On the one hand, you attract new Facebook subscribers, because those who have signed up will most certainly notify their friends and relatives so that they too can benefit from the promotion. On the other hand, this way you will also get the email addresses of your customers to whom you can then send emails about your new promotions. The Johnny Rockets restaurant chain is thus offering a hamburger to new customers who sign up to this strategy:
Such actions will allow you to acquire new customers and of course increase your turnover. The secret, however, is to carry out these actions frequently, always accompanying them with striking photos of your dishes, with suggestive texts. Facebook also has more sophisticated tools that are great for restaurant marketing, such as paid advertising with Facebook ads and contests targeting certain segments. There are no limits except the ones you set for yourself. The important thing is that your Facebook profile is constantly generating interaction.
And of course, don’t forget the following either …
The basics of restaurant marketing on Facebook:
- Add your customers’ reviews and ratings on TripAdvisor to your Facebook page to entice your followers to book.
- 80 % of customers prefer to book online. It is therefore essential that they can easily book on your Facebook page using an active reservation button.
- Include a button that redirects your subscribers to your website . Such a button is fundamental so that your subscribed customers can have all the necessary information about your establishment, and contact you in case of doubt or question.
And if your restaurant does not yet have a Facebook page… don’t wait any longer! Read this article which provides you with all the information you need to create the ideal Facebook profile for your establishment.