What's the Best Social Media Platform for Marketing a Small Restaurant?

Restaurant operators know that social media marketing is crucial in order to stay visible and relevant in today’s world. In the United States, 240 million people engage with social media, so having a dynamic online presence is crucial to boosting visibility to customers. 

With so many social media platforms to choose from, it can feel challenging to pick where to focus your efforts. Need advice on the best social media platform for local restaurant marketing? We lay out details below.

Choosing the Right Digital Marketing for Restaurants

The average time a person spends scrolling social media is roughly 2 hours and 24 minutes a day. That’s plenty of time to reach out and capture potential customers’ attention! However, before launching an online social media marketing campaign, you first need to answer this question: What platform is best for my restaurant?

Facebook (Meta)

Facebook’s platform is one of the most common social media platforms used by restaurants. In fact, 91 percent of restaurants utilize facebook for promotions. What makes Facebook so appealing is that it’s the most prominent social media platform.

Facebook has nearly 2 billion daily users, which offers restaurant owners and operators the potential to reach a vast consumer base. Plus, it comes equipped with a variety of customizable marketing tools to help food establishments target their ideal customer.

Other benefits to Facebook include:

• Statistical analysis that allows restaurant owners to monitor the effectiveness of their marketing.
• Direct contact with customers through posts, comments, and messages.
• The ability to integrate with online food ordering systems, so guests can easily place an order for pick up or delivery. 

Twitter

Are you looking to do a quick promotional blast for your daily lunch special, upcoming wine dinner, or hype up a new menu release? Twitter is the perfect platform for a brief shoutout. 

Since posts are limited to 280 characters, this platform is designed for short, but impactful messages that can entice customers to learn more about your establishment. Twitter’s marketing power comes from hashtags that can direct users to more pointed topics of your choosing. Hashtags are so crucial in marketing that they have been shown to increase consumer participation by 50 percent. 

Instagram

Instagram's superpower is marketing through visuals, which makes it ideal for showing off well-curated pictures of gorgeous plates, restaurant spaces, and more. 78 percent of restaurants choose Instagram to promote their menus and specials. 

Other reasons to love Instagram are:

• You have access to Instagram’s Insights, which allows you to examine who’s interacting with your posts and stories, and what they respond to the most.
• You can interact or partner with influencers in your area and easily talk to customers.
• You have marketing possibilities through nuanced, user-generated content, which allows users to see your restaurant through a customer’s perspective. Other customers could see this and be incentivized to tag your establishment in their posts and show why they love your restaurant. 

YouTube

While only 14 percent of restaurants use YouTube for promotional reasons, this social media platform is not to be discounted. Since its creation in 2005, YouTube has become one of the top search engines online. 

Due to YouTube’s video-based model, advertising a food special might not make sense. However, it is an excellent way to engage guests with virtual cooking classes, give them a tour of your dining area, and even make a video telling the stories of your restaurant.

Which Social Media Platform Outweighs the Rest?

The most effective social media campaign combines available platforms to target your audiences where they are, on multiple platforms. 

Use Instagram to show off your delectable plates, YouTube for online classes, Twitter for promotional blasts, and Facebook for targeted marketing and customer engagement.

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