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Social Media: Engaging Customers, Boosting Revenue

In the digital age, social media storytelling has become a powerful tool for restaurants to connect with customers and drive revenue. Here are actionable steps to effectively leverage social media platforms:

Define Your Brand Narrative: Craft a compelling brand story that reflects your restaurant’s unique identity, values, and culinary offerings. Showcase the passion, creativity, and expertise that sets your establishment apart.

Engaging Visual Content: Take photos to capture mouthwatering dishes, vibrant ambiance, and behind-the-scenes moments. Share visually appealing content that evokes emotions and entices customers to visit.

Consistent Posting Schedule: Create a content calendar and establish a consistent posting schedule to maintain an active presence. Post regularly, but avoid overwhelming your audience. Quality content with thoughtful captions is key.

User-Generated Content: Encourage customers to share their experiences by incorporating user-generated content. Repost customer photos, testimonials, and reviews, giving credit and showcasing real-life experiences to build trust and authenticity.

Story Highlights and Features: Utilize social media platform features like Instagram Stories or Facebook Highlights to curate engaging content. Showcase special events, promotions, chef spotlights, or behind-the-scenes stories to captivate your audience.

Engage and Respond: Actively engage with your followers by responding to comments, direct messages, and mentions. Foster conversations, offer personalized recommendations and promptly address concerns to build customer loyalty.

Rick Fazio Vice President of Sales, Employco

Influencer Collaborations: Identify local influencers or food bloggers who align with your brand values. Collaborate with them for sponsored content, tastings, or giveaways to expand your reach and tap into their dedicated audience.

Contests and Giveaways: Organize interactive contests and giveaways on social media platforms. Encourage followers to participate, tag friends, share their favorite dishes, or create user-generated content. Offer prizes that incentivize engagement and promote sharing.

Strategic Ad Campaigns: Utilize targeted social media advertising to reach a wider audience. Leverage platforms’ advanced targeting options to tailor campaigns based on demographics, interests, and location to attract potential customers.

Collaborate with Local Influencers: Partner with complementary local businesses, such as farmers’ markets, wineries, or food suppliers. Cross-promote each other’s offerings, host joint events, or offer exclusive promotions to attract customers from different networks. By implementing these actionable steps, your restaurant can effectively harness the power of social media storytelling to engage customers, drive traffic, and boost revenue. Remember, authenticity, creativity, and consistent engagement are the keys to successful social media marketing in the food industry.

– You can find the Employco ad on page 19.

A Chatbot May Be Hiring Your Next Employee

Chatbots are carving out a niche in restaurant HR departments. A number of tech suppliers focused on hiring, training and retention said at the National Restaurant Association Show that they’re using ChatGPT and other forms of conversational AI to help restaurants communicate with staff, both by screening job applicants and keeping them engaged once they’re hired.

The bots, they say, can speed up time-consuming processes and even gauge how employees are feeling better than their human managers. Workstream, a company that helps restaurants hire hourly workers, used ChatGPT to develop its own bot for job seekers. Prospective employees can start an application with the bot, called MIA, by scanning a QR code provided by the restaurant. They’ll get a text from the bot, which will ask about their previous work experience and then suggest open positions based on their background.

– Source: Restaurant Business

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What’s more important, cost or value?