There’s no doubt about it: social media is now one of the predominant modes of marketing and advertising. One of the most exciting aspects of social media marketing is that it significantly levels the playing field. Before social media and the internet, restaurants had to spend large amounts of money for TV ads, or, even worse, newspaper ads with little ROI.

By contrast, restaurants of all sizes can now build large followings on social media platforms to reach large audiences at a fraction of the cost. The only downside is that you have to cut through a lot of noise to make your voice heard.

Boosting your brand through social media isn’t easy, but we’ve drafted this list to get you started on the right foot.

• Take pictures of your food — GOOD ones! There’s no easier way to build your brand than by posting pictures of completely irresistible food. However, it’s important that you present your food in the best possible light. Hire a professional photographer if you don’t have one on staff. If your restaurant doesn’t place much emphasis on food presentation, read some of these articles (here,here ). You might not get it perfect the first time around, but with practice, you’ll get there!
• Promote check-ins and tweets with your restaurant name. Several platforms allow users to check-in at certain locations and brands (even tagging yours if you have a page on that platform). Alternatively, you can encourage users to tweet with a hashtag related to your restaurant. It’s a great way to build brand awareness and visibility. You can reward your guests for doing so with special deals or sharing their selfies on your own page (with their consent, obviously)!
• List your restaurant on Yelp or claim the page. Yelp is a popular review site for restaurants, making it another easy way to gain some publicity and garner solid reviews for your food.
• Use ad spending wisely. Ad spending is another powerful way to leverage social media to build your restaurant’s brand, but it’s important to make your ad money count. For starters, build ads for smartphones. More and more people are using social media solely on their smartphones, making it vital that you create ads fit for smaller screens. Additionally, you can use geofencing, which is a method of delivering ads to users that are within certain zip codes — meaning ads will be focused on viewers who could stop by for dinner that night!

PGN Agency has an extensive track record of bringing our clients returns on their marketing and advertising campaigns. If you would like to learn how PGN can come up with creative marketing solutions to drive YOUR business’s growth, feel free to contact us directly at 248-414-6860. One of our friendly team members will help assess your needs and put together a game plan for success!