If you're unsure about what Social Media can offer your restaurant, think in terms of a long term commitment to change and experimentation. It requires a willingness to listen to customer feedback, and remain open to analyzing, considering, and implementing.
Social Media isn't a marketing strategy, but a Twitter campaign or a Facebook page that announces menu points and special events can help to attract enthusiastic support. Will you know it's direct impact in the first year? Probably not. Like PR campaigns, social media marketing often produces its best results in the second and third year. And forget that this may be an answer to a failing economy, the greatest success is achieved by those that already have a loyal audience and consistent branding.
It's not enough to have great content and a superior product, without knowing how to drive traffic to your site, your efforts will go unnoticed. So what can you do?
Create a content strategy. What is the purpose and the focus for the blog? What will hold the interest of your readers, and how are you different? Make sure your first three blog posts tell your readers who you are and sets the tone for posts to come. Be about the community, and sharing information. Consider ads carefully, many readers will be turned off when they feel they are being sold. And make sure your RSS feed is in plain sight, you want to make it easy for your readers to navigate and follow.
Use your Twitter to reach contacts and initiate news sharing, mention your blog on your niche social media sites, guest post on other blogs and drive traffic back. Comment on message boards and forums, be helpful and add news worthy commentary. No one wants to read an ongoing advertisement about the greatness of your business--inform, educate and entertain. It is, indeed, amazing how much your loyal fans really want to be in the know, at the very least, you'll gain valuable insight into what is working and what your customers are really saying!
