Propelling Brand Engagement And Sales
Restaurant Advertising
& Marketing
Social media strategies and creative that go way beyond food photos and holiday hopping
Most people think social media is an easy task, and therefore not as important as some of the heavier lifts in restaurant marketing. However, simply posting content to channels isn’t what moves the needle.
Successful restaurant social media strategies meld storytelling, brand development, and public relations to create intriguing content that gets noticed.
We’re way beyond the days where food porn and holiday hopping get traction. Audiences are looking to follow and engage with authentic experiences that are real and tangible.
By employing a Patron-first approach to channel strategies, we create profound ongoing narratives for restaurant brands. The results are a growing list of engaged followers across multiple channels that build awareness and word of mouth.
Social Media Services
Social Media Strategy & Management
Developing a successful strategy to social media communications and narrative building creative direction.
Strategic Positioning
Narrative Development
Communications Guide
Analysis and Reporting
Optimization
Hashtag Research
Tag Strategy
Followship Growth
Social Media Creative Development
Creative and content are the driving forces behind engagement and building a following. At Vigor, extraordinary creative is what drives us.
Art/Creative Direction
Photography
Video Production
Animation
Campaign Strategies
Profile Optimization
Influencer Marketing/Relations
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions in restaurant Social Media Marketing
Social media is so accessible that anyone can do it; meaning anyone can post to the channels. It’s not the act of doing, but the data-driven strategy, and creative that goes into what’s done. We get a lot of questions about this on a day-to-day basis so we’ve compiled them here with our answers to help you understand how to successfully market restaurant brands on social media.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Successful social media marketing involves strategy, data analysis, and top tier creative. It’s an ever-evolving media that requires a keen understanding of behaviors and what drives them.
At Vigor, we approach social media with a multi-pronged strategy: build the brand’s story, showcase the brand’s lifestyle, and give people a behind the scenes look at the kitchen and food. This creates a 360° view of the restaurant which creates a sense of connection from the consumer.
Additionally, we use data to optimize posting times on each channel. We develop robust hashtag and account research to increase our reach with every post, and we measure everything to adjust the strategy cyclically.
In the early days of social media food shots, or food “porn” would get you all the traction you needed. With time comes saturation, and with saturation comes fatigue. Now, food imagery isn’t nearly enough to get traction on restaurant social media channels.
In today’s social media reality, it takes much more than still images of your food. Brands need to tell stories across the multiple medias each channel affords. Oh, and you better be channel-specific with your content.
Yes and no. We’re quite familiar with the desire for restaurants of all sizes to see measurable returns on marketing investments. Social Media is less for direct sales and more for long term perception shifting initiatives. Of course, you can sell on Instagram, but not unless you have a lot of story-driven content surrounding the hard sell. Think of it as being at a party, if you try to sell every person you meet every time, all the time, you’ll have no friends at all. Social media is very much the same.
Where social isn’t strong for direct sales and traffic, it does have other benefits and opportunities that can be made into KPIs for marketing efforts.
- The more followers you have, the bigger your reach becomes.
- Brands can shift and guide perceptions of their personality, purpose, and product over the course of time.
- Recruiting talent that aligns with company values and vision can become easier.
- Paid media on social channels gets more measurable traction than traditional.
These are only a few ways social media can boost metrics. That’s not to say social will not drive traffic. Traffic and sales can be built, but it’s a long tail process than say direct mail or email marketing.
This very well may be the case. For smaller brands with 1-5 units, an in-house marketing coordinator who can handle social media can be a great asset. However, there are some nuances to that arrangement.
- No man/woman is an island and these staff members can easily get overwhelmed and overworked resulting in poor content and afterthought approaches to marketing. In short, it’s not optimal.
- Agencies should help with heavier lifts, support services (e.g copywriters, designers, strategists, etc.), and more complex strategy implementation.
It would be folly to think that one person can be a great photographer, designer, copywriter, marketing strategist, email marketer, etcetera. So, while having someone on staff is usually a great idea, expecting them to perform multiple job functions at a high level is a mistake.