If you don’t think that social media is important, consider this: More than 200 million monthly active users are on Twitter, more than 300 million monthly active users are on Instagram, and more than one billion – yes, billion – monthly active users are on Facebook.

With stats like that, not using social media to reach out to your customers means that you’re missing out on the best way to interact with your audience directly – and a great way to bring new customers through your door.

Want to do it right? Keep these tips in mind:

 

Do it daily

. To get the most out of social media, you have to be posting every day – and you have to respond to comments, questions, and mentions quickly. The average tweet has a shelf-life of just 24 minutes, and Facebook’s new algorithms penalize brands that don’t post very often.

 

Different platforms need different content. 

What works on Facebook doesn’t always work on other platforms - and don’t even think about linking your Instagram page to your Twitter feed and calling it a day. The differences are subtle, but you need to pay attention to them, and change your posts accordingly.

Use the right tools. 

Social media marketing is a visual medium – and you want those visuals to be good. That doesn’t mean that you need to have professional photographs for every dish on the menu. But, there are some easy ways to make your back-of-the-house phone snaps even better. Two tools that we love are PicMonkey and Word Swag. Using these, you can easily crop, color, and add text to photos, making really beautiful, share-able content.

 

Metrics don’t matter as much as content. 

Having a huge number of fans and followers is great – if they’re actual customers. Don’t chase numbers. Instead, pay attention to  what your audience is sharing, and create more content like that.

 

Hire help, if you need it.

Running and maintaining social media pages can feel like a full-time job – and for some people, it is. If you’re too busy to make it a priority, look into hiring someone who can manage your accounts for you, and stay on top of the daily interaction with your followers.

 

Create your own buzz. 

Bloggers and writers find content for their sites through social media feeds. Don’t forget that there is something new happening at your restaurant every single day. Share your specials, share your happy hour deals, share upcoming events. Remember, if you don’t put it out there, people can’t see it.