Restaurants and Facebook – essential reading
I’ve just been reading an article at Mashable.com which should be essential reading for all restaurateurs. “13 best practices for restaurants on Facebook” is full of tips, gems and good practice, such as:
Restaurants have a unique opportunity — they can showcase the food, provide recipes, explain the origin of a dish and shoot videos of the chefs in action. That kind of content never gets old, and it doesn’t even have to be original — there’s so much stuff on YouTube, and all you need to do is unearth it.
And
The NBC Facebook and Chipotle promotion for a buy one, get one free burrito was a huge success that got a lot of people buzzing and in the shops, but the business didn’t have to lose too much money on it, because for every free burrito, there was a paid burrito. Just giving away product or offering steep discounts a la Groupon can have detrimental effect on the perceived value of your product, thereby making customers less likely to want to pay full price once the deal is over. A once-in-a-while promotion that isn’t too generous — like the Mermaid Inn’s Social Media Monday word of the day for 20% off — keeps people coming back week after week without giving too much away. Plus, you’ll get a sense of your social media influence if you offer a code or buzzword on Facebook for in-store redemption.
Go and read the rest – and you’ll learn how to improve your use of Facebook immeasurably. http://mashable.com/2011/08/29/facebook-marketing-restaurants/ And, of course, if you want to speak to Blue Gekko – we can create and implement a Facebook strategy for you, leaving you to create great meals and great service.
