Why Your Restaurant [Establishment?] Needs Social Media

You don’t have to be a “Webhead” to rely on social media as a part of your life. Even the non-technically proficient among us count on social media, if not for interaction, then at least for reviews and recommendations.

 

Does your establishment have a social media presence? If not, it should. This isn’t just another marketing channel to let people know about your restaurant. Today’s social media has a huge impact on how people see your brand. If you want to influence your image, you need to get on the scene and play the social media game with your restaurant.

 

Why You Shouldn’t Fear Social Media

 

Social media can have a HUGE impact on your business–potentially more than paid advertising could ever have!

 

You already know that word-of-mouth advertising is the best kind of advertising you can get – and it’s free! Good social media provides you with word-of-mouth advertising in the online world.

 

When you put your restaurant on a social media site like Facebook, this makes it easy for customers to recommend it to their friends. Studies have shown that 90% of people trust recommendations from their friends (we won’t ask the other 10% who their friends are…).

 

Even better, customers are still 70% likely to trust a review from someone they don’t know – just as long as they feel like the reviewer is a genuine customer and not a business owner posing as one. You can increase these recommendations by building your social media presence online.

 

Best of all, social media presence costs very little – just a little bit of time if you do it yourself. You can also outsource how you represent your brand online, but it’s best to be at least peripherally involved in the process.

 

Other Ways to Promote Your Restaurant with Social Media

 

Ever heard of Foursquare? It provides your customers with valuable discounts – provided they let their friends know they just came in to your restaurant. This isn’t some intrusive sort of spam, either; Foursquare “check-ins” can be set to show up immediately on sites like Facebook. This can really put your brand in front of people’s eyeballs.

 

If you use this service, make sure you display the fact in your restaurant with a sign, or on your menu. Don’t forget Yelp and other review sites, too! There are plenty of ways an operator can make a difference with online media. All you have to do is pick two or three and start rolling!

 

 

How FourSquare Can Benefit Your Restaurant

If you haven’t heard of FourSquare yet, then you simply must go and check out their website immediately. FourSquare is a restaurateur’s dream because it turns visiting your establishment (and hopefully eating there) into a social game which is played between friends. These friends “compete” to see how many places they can claim to have eaten at (or visited in general).

It’s also a great way to offer loyalty points to your best customers so that they’ll keep coming back again and again. Here’s what you need to know:

Like Facebook for the Physical World

Facebook has become the digital meeting place for the world, with people getting together at the website to talk about their problems and to ask their friends questions about the best places to go to eat. However, it has a single flaw – it doesn’t translate well into the physical world.

Enter FourSquare instead. FourSquare is a website which is designed from the ground up to provide for a social networking experience which works in the physical world. The program is basically a mobile app designed for the iPhone or Android phones which can be used to allow a person to tell his or her friends that they are currently at a particular location.

More Than Just Where I Am Now

However, the site is much more than just “where am I now.” It’s also about who has visited the most locations and who has spent the most time in a particular location (FourSquare will declare people a “mayor” of a particular location if they spend enough time there).

How You Can Benefit

Get a FourSquare logo for your restaurant and arrange to display it prominently so that people know you participate. Then, offer a discount for those who show you that they’ve registered on FourSquare as being at your restaurant. It’s a simple and powerful way to gain lots of new customers.

Is Foursquare and Geo Targeted Search a Perfect Match for Food Service?

Foursquare is one of the hottest mobile applications on the market today. Its growth in one year has been phenomenal.  Foursquare offers its users endless ways to connect and network. It is a location-based social networking application.

The program lets consumers notify their friends where they are and vice versa.  Foursquare allows members to collect points, prize badges, and eventually coupons for reporting in with their typical daily business.

How Foursquare Works

Foursquare has amassed one million members in less than a year. The mobile program can be used via iPhone, Blackberry, Android, or Palm Pre.

When members check in from wherever they are, Foursquare notifies their network of friends in the neighborhood, and recommends nearby activities. Users make it a fun game as they try to compete with friends and associates in exploring new restaurants, attractions, and events.

New Business via Friendly Competition

The friendly competition entices many members to visit businesses and establishments offering specials through the program. It’s all in good fun and helps deepen the relationship between consumers and businesses.

The businesses add to the fun by making offers of free drinks, discounts, and free food.  Foursquare also offers users the option of becoming “mayor”. When a user signs in from a business, the mobile application will automatically notify them concerning how to claim the “deal” from the business. Some offer a reward to every member who checks in. Foursquare provides deals in house and via social network channels.

Recently, the network surpassed 1,000,000 registered users and had its biggest day ever on March 11, with more than 275,000 “check-ins”.

Foursquare Gets Respect

The website is being taken very seriously by businesses. Starbucks announced its plans to sign a deal giving users an opportunity to earn a Barista badge for checking in at five different locations.  Expect many businesses to follow suit.

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