The restaurant business can be extremely competitive so leveraging social media is imperative to stay one step ahead. When it comes down to it, restaurants using social media are receiving much more than monetary gain. As a restaurant, your business revolves around an extended interaction with customers. You’re providing a service as well as a product and fine-tuning this experience takes more than a dose of “practice makes perfect”. It’s important to remember that although social media takes time to turn non-revenue producing activities into revenue producing activities, it can and does happen!

Consider the following ways in which social media can help you effectively maximize your time, effort and resources:
1. Gain insight and gather feedback on menu items, events and service
2. Promote specials and events
3. Encourage new customers to try your restaurant by offering exclusive discounts or specials
4. Monitor your online reputation and provide complaint resolutions in real time
5. Using employees as brand ambassadors to create awareness
6. Keeping the community and customers informed about new projects (remodels, new locations etc)
7. Finding new employees
8. Having a direct conversation with your current customers and potentially reaching new customers
9. Sharing information such as contests or giveaways to increase foot traffic and generate excitement
10. Using social media to connect with your franchises (if applicable) to create an online support community

People go out to eat and drink at restaurants to interact and be social. Those who enjoy this concept are bound to enjoy the interactivity that social media offers as well. There are many different ways to leverage social media but there is no doubt that overlooking its potential for the restaurant industry is a mistake. It will take time and effort, like most marketing initiatives, but it’s possible and it can be done successfully if the proper steps are taken to strategize.