Marketing Restaurant Online

Facebook is one of the most popular social site in the world with 200 million users so far as confirmed by Facebook recently. Started on college campus and popularized by high school kids it is a digital home to many around the world. It has been a trend where the mums and dads of those high school kids have out numbered them. These mums and dads and baby boomers are one of the population segment that has the most purchasing power. So starting to build relationship with this segment of population and Y Generation customers should be of great interest to your restaurant for your business.

There are so many restaurants that have already made it to Facebook Profile Pages popularly known as Fan Page. Some of the biggest brand on Facebook that I have seen so far are PizzaHut, Dominos, and PapaJohn. You can check them out for your self to see how many loyal fans they have in Facebook.

Now that we know Facebook should be an integral part of our restaurant marketing strategy, the question arises how do we start? What are the best practices on Facebook to be successful.

To answer all these questions, I recommend you to watch the video and learn the secrets to effective brand building tips and techniques on Facebook from the experts around the world.

Four Tips on Facebook Marketing for Restaurants

1. Be Yourself
2. How much is too much personal information
3. Don’t be too Salesy
4. Talk business the right way

Be Your Self- When you create a profile you have to create your personal profile and then on top of that you can create a fan page for your restaurant. But when you start building relationship create your unique style and voice to your restaurant. If you like being funny and bring some smiles to your customers then make your updates with some fresh, unique updates  with a twist of  humour. It might bring a smile on your customers face and brighten the whole day. Share some of the relevant information with your customers and occasional personal thing like what you are doing for  to improve your business or express simply some opinions about some popular chef’s interview that you might have seen on some foodnetwork tv.

How much is too much personal information- Since your personal profile page and business public profile page is lumped up on the same page, you have to draw the line how much personal information to share. It is totally up to you to create that boundary line and make sure that there is a line between personal and business life and therefore it essential to maintain that balance. Just make sure that what ever updates you make on your facebook that should not hurt you in your business. So before you make any updates just make a careful decision on what words you are using.

Don’t be too Salesy - Facebook is a platform to make connection with new people and building a relationship. It is not a place where you pitch your sales for your business. If even some one has already connected with you and if you start off with a salesy pitch  it will turn off that relationship and might be over even before it get started. So BIG WARNING ! Don’t come across as Salesy.

Talk the business right way- Well you might think then when should you do business on Facebook. At certain point of the relationship you do have to propose right. Other wise there is no date and no marriage. You are right but you just don’t ask for a date and straight marriage just the night you meet a girl. You take time to understand each other well before you make any move. You tell right thing at right time while both are on the same mood. Same thing applies at Facebook while you are proposing your business deal. If you are passionate about restaurant, talk about the different foods you like or the popular chef’s interview that you listened to provided both you and your fans like food. Demonstrate your self very knowledgeable in the eyes of your fans by sharing great information or articles on Facebook updates and making a subtle sales which I like to call Presell. When you sniff a sale, take to them to an appropriate place like email or phone to talk the business on private. So this way you balance the Facebook presence with out being salesy and yet doing the business and making the deal as intended well before getting into Facebook.

Please feel free to share your own opinions on how to balance your personal and business profile at Facebook. I would appreciate if your thoughts and experience can benefit other fellow restaurant owners, operators, managers or any interested individual.