Working in the restaurant industry is big business.

In the UK alone, the average consumer eats out twice a week and spends more than £280,000 at restaurants and food stores in a lifetime. For businesses like yours, that’s great news, put getting bums on seats can be tough.

One of the best ways to boost your profits and get more customers dining in your restaurant is through social media, and having an active presence on sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, you can encourage more people to stop by for a bite to eat.

Below, we’ve put together some social media post ideas for restaurants, cafes and other eateries. Read on to find out more.

 

Photographs of your food

You make delicious food, so start taking photographs that you can show off to potential diners.

If you want to stand out from the crowd and get people talking about your food, then you need to plaster it everywhere (metaphorically, of course) – and there’s no better place to start than on Instagram.

If you don’t already have an account, sign up, and use popular hashtags like #foodie, #foodporn and #foodgasm to get people to find your content.

You’ll quickly build up an audience, and when locals spot your mouthwatering posts, they’ll be racing to book a table for dinner.

Oh, and don’t think that you have to be a world-class photographer to take great snaps of your meals.

Nowadays, we all have great smartphones in our pockets – just focus on presentation, find a spot with great natural lighting, turn off your flash and take pictures in landscape mode.

 

Special offers and seasonal promotions

The chances are that you run regular special offers, like a lunchtime menu or a special set menu for Valentine’s Day or Christmas.

Make sure you’re shouting about these offers from the rooftops – or, at least on social media – as consumers love to grab a bargain and get good value for money.

Use sites like Canva to create some custom graphics featuring your branding, and schedule posts during peak times (lunchtime, dinner time and evenings) to maximise your reach.

Post about your special offers

You may even decide to sponsor your posts on Facebook for maximum impact.

 

News from your local area

As a local restaurant, you play an important role in bringing the local community together and offering a place for families, couples, friends and business contacts to come together and have a good time – and you’ll no doubt have regulars who stop by your restaurant every time they eat out.

Another great way to keep your accounts ticking over with information and content is to share local news.

Things as simple as new parking restrictions, students who do well in their exams or companies – including your own – taking on new staff tend to go down well on social media, and being the first to post will make your content more likely to attract attention.

 

Recipes, how-tos, and tutorials

Show off your expertise and show your followers how you make your food.

If you run a carvery on a Sunday, then record a quick video showing your followers how you make your famous gravy, or give people tips on dicing their carrots and broccoli.

Of course, you don’t want to give away all of your secrets or encourage people not to visit your restaurant, but by sharing some tips, you’ll not only show people you’re an expert at what you do, but you’ll be creating some valuable content that you can share time and time again, and generate likes and followers from.

 

Reviews from satisfied customers

If your food is any good, then you’ll have a boatload of satisfied customers who have left reviews.

Share some of these on social media, either by making your own custom graphics, asking your patrons to record a quick video sharing their experiences or by taking photos of thank you cards and recommendations from your loyal customers.

Add testimonials to social media

There are a few reasons why this works so well – not only does it act as social proof and show your followers that you’re good at what you do, but it encourages people to book a table and try your food out for themselves.

 

Reminders of upcoming events

Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, New Year’s Eve, Valentine’s Day and Sundays are just some of the events and occasions people like to celebrate, and reminding them that you’re taking bookings will encourage them to pick up the phone.

Indeed, some of the world’s most popular restaurants take bookings for next Christmas, so drip feeding ideas and reminding people every couple of weeks will no doubt help you secure additional bookings.

One of the best ways to do this is to download a social media events calendar that’s jam-packed with events and special occasions (plus some silly national days) that you can create content around.

For example, did you know that there’s a National Pie Day and a National Pizza Day?

 

Behind the scenes content

People love behind the scenes content, so whether you want to show off your chefs working hard in the kitchen or your waiting staff preparing for a special event or dressing up for Halloween, there are lots of ways that you can pull back the curtain and offer something unique.

Indeed, people like people – rather than becoming a faceless corporation, showing off your staff adds some personality to your brand, and that content performs well on social media.

 

Wrapping up

Too busy in the kitchen to manage your own social media?

We’ve got you covered. We offer a delicious range of affordable social media management packages, designed to help you get more bums on seats without the stress of tweeting, Facebooking and Instagram.

Get in touch with the team to find out more, or drop us an email if you’re ready to get started on a campaign.

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