With the onset of faster internet speeds and everything going digital, advertising agencies had to adapt quickly in order to meet the demands of clients. One of the most effective ways in getting the word out is by investing significantly in your product’s social media image. It has been proven that having a decent enough visibility through the multiple platforms in social media, directly affects the performance of your product, and companies now are trying to maximize the full potential of venturing into social media advertising.

Why Social Media?

There are a lot of reasons why it is worthwhile to look into maximizing your social media reach. One of the things to consider is that there are multiple platforms where you can start sharing your product. With websites like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, etc., it is fairly certain that you will be able to find a platform that will best suit your needs. Another thing to consider is the reach of social media. Due to the interconnectivity of everyone through these various platforms, a rightly placed ad for your product can surely generate more brand recognition. These are just some of the multiple other reasons on why social media campaigning can be considered as a valid avenue for promoting your brand.

Planning a social media campaign for your restaurant

There are certainly multiple factors that you should consider when starting a social media campaign for your restaurant. These are just some of the steps you may follow to start you off on the right foot:

1) As with everything set goals with what you want to achieve when utilizing your social media advertising.

· Try and identify SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Bound) goals for what you want to attain.

· The Business objectives of your restaurant should align with the goals that you have set. Example, if you want to grow your brand reputation, then you will most probably want to just let your restaurant be known in social media. This could directly mean that you want to get the name out there through hashtags, likes, or followers for your social media account.

· It is important to take note that each business objective normally equates to an activity through your social media campaign.

2) Identify your audience

· There are different demographics, and each demographic somewhat uses a different platform.

· Knowing the target customers of your restaurant would be helpful in identifying where you want to push out your campaign first.

· Once identified, you will need to know ways on how to engage your customers through that platform. These can be done through contests, or coupons which can be used at your restaurant.

3) Be creative in generating “buzz” for your restaurant.

· As with everything, people are enamored with things that tend to make some noise, especially in social media.

· By being able to consistently generate “buzz” or discussion items relating to your restaurant, people will most likely start flocking to your restaurant.

· Having different social gatherings, or just being able to “show off” the food, ambiance, and people in your restaurant are enough to generate buzz.

4) Always be willing to reassess and adjust strategies as needed

· Some social media campaigns fall into the trap of falling off after a successful first few months.

· Restaurants in particular, need to be always flexible when trying to advertise themselves through social media, especially since it can be taxing trying to keep your followers involved.

· After a while, reassess some of the strategies that you implemented and identify key metrics to see if these are actually effective. Being able to identify and then come up with an alternative, if needed, is one of the sure fire ways to ensure that the hype for your restaurant does not die down.

These are just some of the tips that we have for planning and starting up your own restaurant’s social media campaign. Of course there are a lot more steps that you can follow, but the ones we’ve mentioned can be considered as your basic guidelines and by following these steps, you can be assured that your restaurant will be up and running in no time.