GROWING YOUR RESTAURANT BUSINESS WITH DIGITAL MARKETING AND SOCIAL MEDIAKaren McWattie

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

900 Million Users on Facebook

400 Million Tweets Sent Each Day

72+ Hours of Video Uploaded Each Minute

150 Million Users

18 Million Users

40 Million Users

LINKEDINWHAT ACTIVITIES CAN I DO FOR MY BUSINESS ON LINKEDIN?

Your Activities will be determined by Business Goals

• You may be updating your profile• Expanding Your Business Network• Searching for Information• Sharing information • Communicating with your network• Looking Business Applications  • Responding to Enquiries• Networking and discussing topics of interest • Defining yourself as in influencer in your market • Events - Organising your own or attending others • Posting Jobs • Creating new updates to inspire existing and potential clients and customers

LINKEDIN• Join Or Create LinkedIn Groups – Why?

• LinkedIn Groups are like mini networking businesses• The individuals have the same interests as you • You can learn targeted & helpful information and information from individuals in your sector • You can share information on your products and services specific to your target market • You can increase your brand profile and company awareness• You can generate more customers• You can have a wider network of business contacts • One of the largest LinkedIn groups has over 200,000 members so you can reach out to

more people, than relying on connections alone • You can create and manage up to • 10 LinkedIn Groups • You Can join up to 50

GENERATING LEADS WITH SOCIAL MEDIAHOW DO I FIND CUSTOMERS?

Inbound marketing is a marketing strategy which focuses upon attracting new customers by offering useful information and sharing across your network

THE MOST EFFECTIVE INBOUND MARKETING MATERIAL

Be an influencer, educator and innovator

• Multichannel Product and Service Information • White Papers• E-Books• Podcasts• Blogs/Vlogs• Demographics

HOW DO I FIND CUSTOMERS INTERESTED IN MY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES?COMPETITOR & COMPLEMETARY BUINESSES A competitor business will offer the same products and services as you within your location, and will have the same, or a similar, customer base. They will be highly successful within your field, and you will want to attract their customer following.

A complementary business will offer different products and services within the same sector, and you will have the same, or a similar, customer base

• Look at their customers and client connections on LinkedIn, list and connect • Look at their Facebook members/friends, list and connect• Look at their Twitter Followers, list and follow• Google Plus – Look at their follows and audience – follow & connect on other social media

sites • Look at Instagram & Pinterest Follows – Follow and Share Inspiring Images• Food and drink is very visual, and so restaurant businesses should be capitalising upon

visual social media platforms.

WHO DO YOU NETWORK WITH AND WHY?Your Target Audience (most likely to buy)

Complementary Business – Why?

• A Complementary Business may operate in the same sector, or share a similar customer group.

• They can refer customers without affecting their own business, they will be networking with the same clients and customers, and can provide you with inside information for the sector. They may be food and drink manufacturers, suppliers, leisure companies, entertainment businesses, events businesses, corporate networking businesses.

• They can give you inspiration for ideas, business development strategies, events to attend, networking strategies, industry challenges and opportunities

• You can work on referral strategies - offering Start-Ups, SME’s, complementary businesses a small percentage share for referral business, discounts. You can allocate links or codes to ensure you allocate business profit accordingly. (Please inform HMRC about additional income)

• Agree to Provide a page on your website which promotes complementary businesses This could be provided by creating company profiles, contact information and website links.

• All complementary businesses can see a boost and increase to their website traffic as a result

DEDICATED THANK YOU WEBSITE PAGE • The best way to collaborate with complementary businesses is to have a dedicated

“Thank You” page on your website• By offering to promote complementary businesses via your website you can

increase website traffic for their websites, and increase reciprocal recommendations • This will be a small business directory featuring an image, business website Link,

Office Locations, Contact Details,• This may read:• Thank You for visiting our website for your convenience we would like provide

helpful information about other businesses who provide products and services in the same sector.

• This may include food and drink retailers who distribute outside of the restaurant industry

• Sport and Leisure businesses which, customers can experience before or after visiting your restaurant. This may include cinemas, theatres, art-galleries, concert venues, health clubs, hotels, sports venues, shopping places

YOUR GOAL

DRIVE INBOUND ENQUIRIES

• Increase brand profile

• Increase visitor enquiries

• Convert leads to sales

• Offer a unique product and service from competitors

MARKET RESEARCH – WHAT ARE YOUR CUSTOMERS LOOKING FOR?

• If you do not currently offer the product or service can you begin offering it?

• What can you offer which is different to their existing supplier?

WHY USE INBOUND MARKETING TACTICS?• GET NOTICED

• Action, connect, follow, publish, engage, converse, share, provide information, blog

• IT WORKS!

• Increase awareness, and drive enquiries

• Reach more prospects and customers

• Sell more products, generate more bookings

HOW IS SOCIAL MEDIA USED BY SUCCESSFUL BRANDS?• Unique

• Funny

• Customer Focused (they are involved in choosing products & servives)

• Imaginative

• Unexpected

• Humanised

• Give them reason to like you and shout about your business!

YOUR CUSTOMERS JOURNEYMARKET RESEARCH

• Find out what products & services they are using each day? • Do they have contacts/friends within these businesses? • Would they be happy to share information upon Your product and service?• Could you reach personally reach out to these business owners via social

media, personal networking?• Could you mutually recommend each other? • Could you share marketing costs?• Could you share event costs?

USING MUSIC TO ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCEMARKET RESEARCH• What music do they listen to? • What music would customers be open to listening to? • Can you create playlists upon music sharing sites such as Spotify, iTunes

store, Microsoft Store, Google Play? (use online guides for music sharing)• Inspire your audience by sharing music playlists on social media which

showcase your brand• Ask them to like and share your music playlists within their social media

network • Use inspiring music to advertise your products & services with permission

COLLABORATIVE MARKETING STRATEGIESPEOPLE BUY FROM PEOPLE

• Share case studies about happy customers • What did you do for them?• How did you achieve this?• What was the outcome?• Have online discussions about developing your products and services• Launch competitions with your employees/customers• Have employee/customer referral programmes offering incentives and rewards • Create Meetup, networking groups with clients, customers, prospective

businesses • Attend exhibitions and networking events within your sector

FIND AND ENGAGE WITH INFLUENCERS • Share their articles/success stories • Capitalise upon the success of your chefs, encourage joint articles and book releases

• Guest Blog on respected food websites • Demonstrate your passion for food and drink to a global audience • Share their news stories

• Respond to their social media posts• Reach out to offer guest blogs on their high traffic websites

• Inspire, educate, inform, entertain, convince, support

• Share other blog posts from specialists within your sector

LINKEDIN CREATE A LINKEDIN SLIDESHARE PRESENTATION FOR YOUR COMPANY • Tell the story of the launch of your restaurant business, the challenges you

have overcome, and the successes you have enjoyed. Customers like businesses who are open and honest, they will respect you more for talking about successes and failures.

• Share inspiring images of your food and customer recommendations • Demonstrate the products and services which are unique to your business • e.g. palette cleansers (EatPops, Matcha Lattes, Theatrical Desserts)

LinkedIn Slideshare will provide some helpful information upon growing your restaurant business. • How to create the perfect company page on LinkedIn – March Media

• Create a company – Jan Willem Alphenaar

RESTAURANT BUSINESS EXPANSION • Your restaurant will do better when it has a large number of repeat customers

• Listen to customers needs such as ease of booking, asking cooking preferences, entertaining children, polite and friendly staff, fast service, enjoyable music, enough space to move, unique celebrations for birthdays, anniversaries, other special occasions.

• Research online, and on LinkedIn SlideShare about restaurant franchising • Reach out to investors, restaurant owners who may wish to partnership with you

• Ensure that you have a distinct brand, product and service offering, distinct restaurant décor, target market.

• A successful restaurant has a clear concept which drives customer activity

• Ensure your restaurant has a strong digital marketing strategy online via your website, social media channels, appropriate directories, advertising, review and feedback sites. Restaurant apps are a very useful method for ensuring that customers consider booking your restaurant, and sampling your menus first, over your competitors.

MARKET RESEARCH The best way to grow and expand your restaurant is to ensure that you are providing customers with food and drink they want to buy. Ask for feedback.

Offer good customers an incentive to participate in a survey monkey

What would make it easy for them to book a table at your restaurant?

Would they like to book via an app, online booking, telephone call?

What food and drink would they like to see on your menu?

What kind of service do they like in a restaurant?

What food and drink do they particularly enjoy from other restaurants they visit?

Would they be happy to recommend your restaurant to friends, clients, customers?

Could your restaurant service their business needs through corporate dining, fast business lunches, healthy snack boxes (like the graze box)?

Create online waitlists for restaurants (if required) – encourage advance bookings

RELATIONSHIP MARKETING • Restaurant business attract a large proportion of local customers, as well as

visitors from other locations. Therefore, it is very important that you try to network within community members, as well as reaching out to visitors.

• Recommendations are very important within the restaurant business. If a customer has a good experience share this on social media. If a customer is not happy with their customer show genuine concern, and do something which lets them know that their custom is special.

• Let customers getting involved in creating your menu. Launch competitions asking them to generate unique ideas for great starters, mains, desserts. Feature their recipes on your menu and feature their name.

• Great staff are your biggest asset from the chefs, waiters, waitresses, office staff, ensure they have a good work ethic, professionalism, and a friendly personality. Offer training to ensure that you maximise their success and your success.

• Ensure employees understand the importance of time management, food hygiene, team working, portion size and profitability, food quality, offer buyers an easy method for ensuring they are managing your restaurants budget accordingly.

INSPIRING ONLINE ARTICLESHow to Grow A Restaurant Business Offline and Online Helpful Articles

• Restaurantgrowthuk.com

• 14 Restaurant Marketing Tips Online & Offline • Visionadvertising.com

• How to increase your restaurant's business gourmet marketing• Gourmetmarketing.net

• How to start a restaurant • Entrepreneur.com

• Top 25 Entrepreneur/restaurant Owner profiles | LinkedIn• https://www.linkedin.com › title › restaur...

RESTAURANT LOYALTY PROGRAMMES • Strengthen your relationships with existing customers • Deliver more convenient and personalised experiences• Develop your brands profile through loyalty cards • Encourage multiple purchasing behaviour• Differentiate your brand• Increase customer value and repeat visits • Be flexible in your loyalty offering to include earned rewards, special offers,

enhanced customer experiences, members only invitations, exclusive menus, member microsites

• Early access to new menu items and seasonal items • Online check-ins, photo-sharing services on social media• Utilise digital channels to tell your brands story and company mission• Exclusive table reservations

RESTAURANT THEMES INSPIRE YOUR AUDIENCE BY CREATING RESTAURANT THEMES TO CATER TO DIFFERENT GROUPS OF CUSTOMERS. YOU MAY CONSIDER INCLUDING:

• Healthy Dishes • Vegetarian/Vegan Dishes• Meaty Meals • Family menus which appeal to special dietary requirements and children • Mansize or mini portions • Snackers (enjoy lots of little portions) • The Adventurer (unique and quirky menu options) • The Entertainer, cocktails, champagne, prosecco, canapes

TOP ONLINE DIRECTORIES BENEFITS OF LISTING YOUR BUSINESS

• Website traffic• Sales• SERP rankings• Brand recognition, R• Reciprocal links• Greater interactions with customers

TOP ONLINE DIRECTORIES • Google My Business (Google Maps)• Bing Places• Yelp• Yell.com• Local.com• Trip Advisor • Restaurant booking sites (vary in accordance with location)• Things to do websites • Foursquare.com• LinkedIn

SOCIAL MEDIA DASHBOARDS Social Media Dashboards (Examples: Sprout Social, Hootsuite, Buffer)SOCIAL MEDIA is a great way to engage with your audience. Make your life easier by scheduling all Social Media Posts to be Uploaded to many Social media sites at the same time• Facebook• Twitter• LinkedIn • Google Plus• Instagram

INSTAGRAM• With 300 million monthly active users posting approximately 70 million photos per day. Instagram is

an amazing menu sharing platform for your restaurant• It is the ideal way to showcase your food and drink, and get customers mouths watering• It is the ideal way to feature your loyal customers, and those celebrating an occasion as you can

feature their name, menu selection, and feedback.• Photos of food (#foodporn) are extremely appealing and engaging• Post images with special hashtags to highlight key recipes, ingredients for driving engagement

amongst specific customer groups • Customers love to see what goes on behind the scenes, so show them• Showcase new dishes and drinks• Showcase recipes and cocktails designed by your customer • List key ingredients from new menus and allow customers to guess the recipe before it is featured on

Instagram• Offer a prize for the most engaging social media post by a customer• Create your own unique hashtag to help customers find and follow your image posts • Post non related food posts which include customers, staff, décor, gifts. This makes your brand more

human• Don’t forget an option which says – click here to contact us! (calls to action are vital in social media)

PINTEREST • Pinterest has 70 million users and 80% are female• Pinterest has 30 billion pins to date and over 750 million boards have been created • Pinterest activity peaks at night time, and so has synergy with the restaurant business• Create business account• Pinning profiles • Pinning Profiles – Verify Site • Pinning Profiles – Analytics• Pinning Profiles• Board Ideas – Your Food, Your Customer Creations, Your Venue, Party Ideas,• Your most popular dishes, cocktails, non-alcohol drinks• Your corporate business • Local, Regional, National Interest• Restaurant visitors from around the globe• If you have frequent visitors from specific nationalities then have dishes to say thank you!

DEDICATED THANK YOU WEBSITE PAGE • The best way to collaborate with complementary businesses is to have a dedicated

“Thank You” page on your website• By offering to promote complementary businesses via your website you can

increase website traffic for their websites, and increase recipricol recommendations • This will be a small business directory featuring an image, business website Link,

Office Locations, Contact Details,• This may read:• Thank You for visiting our website for your convenience we would like provide

helpful information about other businesses who provide products and services in the same sector.

• This may include food and drink retailers who distribute outside of the restaurant industry

• Sport and Leisure businesses which, customers can experience before or after visiting your restaurant. This may include cinemas, theatres, art-galleries, concert venues, health clubs, hotels, sports venues, shopping places

GOOD LUCK &THANK YOUKaren McWattie