I have been writing a great deal lately about how Facebook can be a crucial part of your restaurant marketing plan. I released my ebooks last month explaining how to use Facebook to market your restaurant and take advantage of the new Facebook timeline. As I was telling a friend about this project, he told me something in a tone that could only be described as brutally honest. He said, “Dave, I hate to break it to you, but all anyone does on Facebook is watch funny videos and play games.” I don’t think he was expecting me to smile in response. What he didn’t know is that I knew how to market a restaurant by letting people watch funny videos and play games.
The key to utilizing Facebook for restaurant marketing is to have your fans interact. If your fans do not interact with your fan page or posts, Facebook will decide they are not interested in your updates and filter your updates out of their newsfeeds. All of the fans on the internet are irrelevant if no one sees your marketing messages. The key to getting your marketing messages in front of them is to have them interact with your updates and your fan page. My book, Building Your Brand With Facebook, discusses at length how to get interactions (comments, shares, and likes) with your updates, but what about your fan page? If a fan actually visits your fan page (as opposed to reading your updates in their newsfeed), Facebook gives tremendous weight to this interaction in deciding that the fan is interested in what you have to say in your future updates.
So the question becomes: How do I get my fans to visit my page if all they do on Facebook is watch videos and play games? The answer is simple: give them videos and games on your fan page.
What if your restaurant’s fan page had this:
And this:
And this:
And this:
Do you think your fans would visit your fan page if you provided them with this sort of quality content?
What if you could pick the videos and games you wanted to show?
What If you were able to frequently update them and give your fans reason to return and send their friends?
What if this meant that they would see all of your marketing messages and be reminded who was providing them with this entertainment?
What if your fans eagerly awaited your next update instead of ignoring them until Facebook stopped displaying your updates to them all together?
This would clearly make Facebook a more effective part of your restaurant marketing plan. The good news is that you know someone who can do this. The better news is that it will not cost you hundreds of dollars. I know it can be done, because I have already done it. All of the content in this post is also available on The Hospitality Formula Network‘s Facebook fan page. I have invested in the software and the training so you don’t have to. Best of all, I can offer this service for less than you would have to invest to gain the knowledge and resources to do it yourself.
I want to help great independent restaurants succeed. So many restaurants offer a great meal at a great price, but face difficulty when it comes to reaching potential customers. I want to change that by working with them to create a restaurant marketing plan that will produce results at a price they can afford. If you are one of these restaurants, help is on the way. Next week, a new site will be added to The Hospitality Formula Network that will give advice on marketing your restaurant. If you are ready to take the next step in marketing your restaurant now, you can email me at [email protected] to find out how we can work together on a restaurant marketing plan you can afford.
