10 Best Ideas For Restaurant Social Media Campaigns

The best social media campaigns for restaurants requires thoughtful planning and creative design. It is more important than ever for your restaurant to be visible on various social media platforms.

If you are new to social media check out our Beginner’s Guide to Social Media for Restaurants!

Now we’re going to take it one step further. Because it’s all well and good knowing what platforms to be on and how they work. But it’s another thing to know how to create the best restaurant social media campaigns on them.

It may seem overwhelming at first. And some owners can struggle to think of what to post. That’s why we’re here with some awesome content ideas that you can use and some real-life examples of brands that are already using them.

So, without further ado, let’s get to it.

10 Tips to Create the Best Restaurant Social Media Campaigns Possible

Here are 10 content ideas you may use today. The best restaurant social media efforts generate engagements, leads, and sales. With just a smartphone, any restaurant owner can design them. So, guys, there are no longer any justifications for barren social media pages.

1. Smart Offers To Attract Customers

Who said your social media pages had to be filled only with pictures of your food or restaurant? There’s absolutely no reason why you can’t use your social media pages to drive people through your doors or to your website’s online ordering system. And smartly designed offers are a great way to do this. Offers does not necessarilty needs to be discounts.

If you feel like you are losing out to third-party ordering platforms, coupon offers can also be a great way of making sure more money goes into your pocket. People are looking for deals that provide the most value. They don’t care if they order through your restaurant or a third-party, so give them a strong reason to use your own ordering platform.

Applebee’s offer customers 20% off

2. Engage with Video

You should always be using high-quality images in your posts. That’s a given. But don’t be scared to mix it up with a video now and again. Videos are more much engaging than images and perform a lot better than photos on social media, too.

If you don’t know what kind of video to post, think of creative ways to showcase your food. It could be a short video of your fresh pasta getting made or your dough getting needed. Or you could share a video of a customer being sung happy birthday by your team. This is a great way to wish someone a happy birthday and also show that you’re the perfect place for parties.

Starbucks use video to show off their new reserve store

3. Make ordering available on social

Making sure your Facebook page is well set up is just as important as having great content. We talk about profile pictures and header images in our Facebook 101 guide, but now it’s time to kick things up a notch. If you use Delivery.com or Slice to receive orders, you can integrate their system into your Facebook page. Here’s a handy how-to from Facebook. If you don’t use Slice or Delivery.com, you can still use Facebook’s standard shop now button as shown by Pizza Hut below.

Pizza Hut makes online ordering easy

4. Ask for word of mouth marketing

Don’t feel shy about asking your customers to spread the word about your service. It’s getting harder for brands to get their content seen on Facebook, so getting your fans to share your content for you can lead to huge boosts in engagement. In short, don’t be afraid of asking for a share.

Dairy Queen get their customers to shout out their favorite Blizzard

5. Make the most of the moment

Great brands always find a way to capture the moment. Think back to Superbowl XLVII when the lights went out at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. Within minutes Oreo had released a social media ad making fun of the event. You don’t have to be as timely or as witty as Oreo, but big events such as Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, and public holidays are a great chance to piggyback your way to customer engagement.

Subway make the most of National Cheese Day

6. Host competitions

Competitions have long been a staple of successful social media campaigns and there’s no sign of that stopping. Whether it is a free meal, a discount, or a ticket to your town’s hottest event, competitions on social media can be a great way to increase engagement.

Chipotle giveaway tickets to one of London’s hottest events

7. Pull back the curtain

Everyone likes to see what’s behind the scenes. Not only do we love the voyeuristic nature of a behind-the-scenes look, but it’s also a great way to know that the restaurant your eating at is clean and does things by the book. With that in mind, why not create a video (see above) that shows your chefs in action. What’s more tempting than seeing your delicious food get made on Facebook?!

Little Caesar show off their new Pizza Portal

8. Share customer images

Customer photos are a fantastic source of publicity. So it’s important to encourage your customers to take and share as many as possible. How do you do that? Well, one way could be to share your customers’ photos on your social media profiles. This nice little ego boost for your diners may encourage them to post more and often for a chance of getting featured on your page. Just make sure you ask for permission first!

Dunkin’ Donuts share user-generated content

9. Engage customers

Social media is about engaging with customers, not engaging in a one-way conversation. That means it’s important to respond to your customers in a quick and friendly manner. And that includes negative reviews! Yes, review sites are part of your social presence, so take care to manage your presence on the most important review sites and to respond to any negative reviews in a way that befits your brand.

Wendy’s is the queen of customer engagement on Twitter

10. Sell your menu

Got a new dish on the menu? Then show it off on your social accounts! Got a new seasonal menu? Let everyone know about it. After all, what’s the point in cultivating an audience of fans if you’re not going to let them know when something exciting happens. New dishes and menus make for perfect social content, just make sure to include high-quality images to really capture your audience’s attention.

Taco Bell encourages customers to get their Orange Cream Pop Freeze before it’s gone for good. 

A Custom Social Media Strategy Created Just For You

If you’ve got to the end of this post, you should raring to start creating awesome social media content for your website. Remember that best restaurant social media campaigns drive engagements, leads, and revenue. However, running social media campaigns isn’t for everyone. Some restaurant owners are just too busy to take care of their social presence, no matter how good it is for business. If this sounds like you, The Digital Restaurant is here to help your brand create the best restaurant social media campaigns that will leave your competition in the dust.

We create and execute custom social media strategies for restaurants just like yours. To find out how we can help request a demo of our NGAZE restaurant marketing platform or get in touch with a member of our team today. We’re here to help! Learn more about how we can help your restaurant social media campaign.