3 Tips: Restaurant Industry SMO : Social Media and Search ...

Using your phone at the dinner table has long been considered a social faux pas. This concept recently surpassed the walls of your mother?s dining room and entered public territory: a restaurant in California offers a 5 percent discount if you hand over your phone at the door.

Although the sentiment is coming from the right place ? that it?s easier to connect with people when you?re not constantly texting someone else or checking your email ? the restaurant is ignoring a huge aspect of marketing. The internet has become a mecca for all food-related information. Not only is it the place users turn for recipes and nutritional information, but it?s also where research, reviews and communication surrounding restaurants occur.

Websites like Yelp and UrbanSpoon present the opportunity for users to read about past dining experiences, browse the menu and compare it to similar establishments. Travelers unfamiliar with an area often want to check up on places, and the internet is the perfect resource for that. In fact, 61 percent of consumers planning a vacation search out local dining deals beforehand. Not to mention that all of these sites and reviews factor into SEO for your business.

Social media is a crucial component to marketing within the restaurant industry, in that it allows patrons to share their experiences in unique ways. Although measuring the impact of it has long presented a challenge for businesses, our S2 platform addresses that. It enables you to monitor trends and track traffic in order to fully optimize your?digital marketing strategy.

Image-based sites like Pinterest and Instagram are successful in connecting culinary worlds, and blogs and other social sites have their benefits as well. Below we list social sites you should be utilizing ? and tips in order to do so ? to truly maximize your potential.

1. Blogs: Food blogs on sites such as WordPress have never been bigger. In fact, 89% of internet users interested in food content turned to websites for recipes. This presents a good opportunity to get restaurant staff involved as well ? post pictures of the cooking process in the kitchen, your chef shopping at the farmers market, or even just include basic recipes and cooking tips.
2. Pinterest and Instagram: Nothing sells food better than a picture that gets the user drooling over their keyboard! The best way to market your cuisine, after all, is to make people crave it. Food is by far the most discussed topic on Pinterest, and Instagram is a great way to display the artistry behind food. Plus, they can be shared across multiple platforms.
3. Facebook and Twitter: These classic social media sites should not be discounted in the culinary world. Users often want what their friends have, and ?word-of-mouth? is an important part of the restaurant industry. Linking to the above two resources, or even just checking in at a restaurant, raises awareness. Increased visibility is the first step in engaging and increasing customer base, along with revenue.

Source: http://blog.zogdigital.com/2012/09/14/3-tips-restaurant-industry-smo/

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