Five Success Tips for Restaurants on Facebook
No matter what type of business you run, one this is almost always a given: A successfully-run Facebook page will boost business. Not every type of business will follow the same social media strategies all the time, however. For restaurants, there are some unique things that can be done to improve their use of Facebook. Here are five success tips for restaurants in particular.

Post Your Specials
As a restaurant owner, you want to convince your Facebook fans to come in and eat as often as possible. Don’t neglect to post your specials; let fans know about everything from special dishes to happy hours to unique offerings to special events. Let them know in advance when possible, but also post about the specials as they’re happening. Someone may be browsing Facebook before going out, see your happening-now special in their newsfeed, and decide to head on over.

Show Your Stuff
You know how important presentation is, and you try hard to make sure all of your dishes are plated in an appealing manner. Make sure you frequently post photographs of your food. While this might be annoying when people post a picture of their breakfast that morning, it’s entirely cool for restaurants to post pictures of their food all the time. Seeing a photo of an awesome dish pop up in their newsfeeds will get your fans’ mouths watering.

Use Facebook Ads
Facebook ads allow you to publish ads that are targeted to your specific audience, and they’re successful enough to be worth the investment. You can specify exactly who you want to see your ad. Of course you’ll choose people in your geographic location, but you can also choose to market to the groups of people who will care the most. For example, run an ad about your Ladies’ Night Happy Hour to women in the area, or your Monday Night Football specials to the men.

Share Your Secrets
Okay, so you’re not going to post your secret recipes to your Facebook page, but you can let your fans in on some insider tips that they’ll appreciate. Suggest techniques, ingredients, recipes, or anything else that will help you show off your knowledge and help your fans create fabulous food at home, too. Don’t worry; if you don’t reveal too much, they won’t decide to stay at home and cook instead. More likely they’ll value your expertise even more and come in to support you.

Involve Your Staff
There are many ways you can get your staff involved in your restaurant’s Facebook efforts. One of the most important things, however, is to make sure that everyone on your staff is on the same page. The staff in your restaurant needs to have the same information that you post on Facebook. There needs to be consistency. Your staff should be aware of your Facebook page, and they should also hear about valuable feedback you’ve received online. Employee of the month? Post their picture. Special achievement or event? Share it. You’ll help your fans feel more personally connected to your place.

This article on succesfully marketing your restaurant on Facebook was prepared by Travis Lee in tandem with SEOMap – the keyword strategy experts.