Restaurant Connections: Tips for Engaging with Customers

In this era of digital connections, social media has become the heartbeat of the restaurant industry, creating unique opportunities for restaurants to connect easily with their customers.

Thus, mastering the art of engaging with customers on every social media channel is essential to take your restaurant’s customer service to a new height.

It’s time to bring a dash of personality and a pinch of creativity to your customer interactions—because, in the world of restaurant social media, every day is a special occasion. Let’s dive in!

Why is Building Valuable Customer Relations Important on Social Media?

A survey found that 71% of patrons are likelier to recommend a restaurant with a convenient ordering system and respond quickly on social media.

Good customer relations on social media increase brand loyalty, retains loyal customers, enhance customer satisfaction, provide feedback for improvement, boost brand visibility and reach, and give a competitive advantage.

On the flip hand, bad customer relations on social media can negatively impact your business, including:

• Reputation damage
• Loss of trust and loyalty
• Decreased customer satisfaction
• Negative word-of-mouth publicity
• Missed business opportunities
• Loss revenue

You wouldn’t want your restaurant to have these negative effects, right? Thus, fostering valuable customer relations with your existing customers and new customers on social media is vital.

Tips for Engaging with Customers on Restaurant Social Media

There are several customer engagement strategies while avoiding being over the top. Check out these best practices!

Share Brand Stories

Storytelling plays a vital role in reaping customer engagement. Statistics show that 68% of consumers’ purchasing decisions are influenced by brand stories.

By telling compelling narratives about the brand’s history, values, and unique offerings, restaurants can capture the attention of their customers.

For instance, tell a story about how your restaurant was founded by a passionate chef who inherited culinary skills from generations of family members.

Highlight the traditions, recipes, and techniques passed down through the generations, creating a sense of authenticity and heritage.

This will entice your customers to appreciate the personal touch.

Be Responsive

In exchange for rapid customer interactions, you’re responsible for replying to their reviews promptly and professionally.

For instance, when customers send private messages to restaurants on platforms like Facebook Messenger or Instagram Direct, be attentive and provide helpful information or assistance.

Here are other ways to be responsive to customers’ messages, whether public or private:

• Reply to comments: Respond promptly and thoughtfully to customer comments on social media posts.
• Address issues publicly: Respond publicly to customer complaints or concerns, showing that you take them seriously and are committed to resolving them.
• Engage in conversations: Interact with customers by liking, sharing, and commenting on their posts about your restaurant.
• Monitor mentions: Stay updated on what customers are saying about your restaurant on social media and take the opportunity to engage with them.

Ask for Regular Customer Feedback

Actively seeking customer feedback demonstrates that you care about your customers’ experiences and opinions.

In the meantime, you can reap double rewards—it helps you identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions about menu changes, service enhancements, or other necessary adjustments.

To ask for their feedback, you can do these customer engagement examples:

• Be specific: Ask targeted questions for specific feedback.
• Use visuals: Grab attention with appealing images or videos.
• Provide multiple channels: Offer various ways to give feedback.
• Respond promptly: Acknowledge and respond to all feedback.
• Show appreciation: Thank customers and consider incentives.

Make Content Easy to Repost and Share

Nowadays, viral marketing is among the popular customer engagement strategies, especially in the era where everyone has equal opportunities to go viral on social media.

If you want to increase the chance for your business to go viral, it is a must to create shareable content.

The result? You can generate buzz for your restaurant and attract a large number of new followers and customers.

To make your content easy to repost and share, here are a few tips:

• Use clear call-to-actions
• Add social sharing buttons
• Create shareable visuals
• Write engaging captions and hashtags

Pay Attention to the Headline

The headline is the first thing that catches a reader’s attention and determines whether they will click on your content or keep scrolling.

Therefore, your headline must grab attention, generate interest, convey value, and encourage clicks and shares.

Instead of writing, “Visit us for great food and service!” you can switch to “Foodie Paradise Found: Your New Favorite Spot is Here!” to sound more enticing for customers to engage.

Conduct Contests

Spice up your social media game by conducting social media contests.

This customer engagement strategy can help you reap some benefits, such as increased customer engagement, brand awareness, user-generated content, social media growth, and word-of-mouth marketing.

To do this, you need to streamline how it works beforehand. Start by choosing the right platform. Then, continue to set goals, select a prize, create engaging content, promote, and monitor before announcing the winner.

Some social media contest ideas include:

• Favorite dish Instagram photo contest
• Like, follow, and tag to win
• Restaurant Memories Facebook contest
• Leave a review to win
• Caption this photo contest
• A naming contest
• TikTok dish tutorial video contest

Post Photos and Videos

Instead of only posting text-based content, try incorporating high-quality photos or videos.

Visual content lets you tell a story about your restaurant and what makes it unique.

On the other hand, photos and videos can evoke emotions in viewers. For example, a restaurant video marketing showcasing happy customers enjoying a meal together can create a positive emotional response and inspire others to have a similar customer experience.

Also, engaging visuals are more likely to be shared by your followers, which increases your restaurant’s visibility.

Remember these tips when posting photos and videos on restaurant social media as a customer engagement marketing strategy:

• Ensure high-quality visuals that accurately represent your brand and offerings.
• Experiment with different angles, lighting, and compositions.
• Keep captions concise, informative, and engaging.
• Engage customers by responding to comments, questions, and compliments on your posts.
• Utilize relevant hashtags to increase discoverability and engagement.

Offer Personalized Experience

A personalized experience for restaurant customers comes in various ways. You can do it by giving customized recommendations, interactive polls and surveys, special occasion celebrations, and exclusive offers and rewards.

For instance, when you conduct surveys to gather feedback and preferences about your customers’ favorite dishes, you can reply to the answers by addressing them using their names.

This way, you’ll create a sense of connection and makes customers feel valued.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion

In conclusion, mastering the art of engaging with customers on restaurant social media is crucial for success in today’s digital age.

By implementing these strategies of customer relationships and staying committed to delivering exceptional customer experiences, restaurants can truly master the art of engaging with customers on social media, ultimately driving business growth and success.

Remember, the social media realm constantly evolves, so it’s important to adapt and refine your approach over time. Contact us at SEO for Restaurants now to learn more about other digital marketing strategies for restaurants!