We all know that social media is one of the most popular and used online activities. According to the Statista report, the global number of social media users was about 3.6 billion. Moreover, it’s estimated that in the next five years this number will exceed 4.41 billion. It’s a huge number that also explains the potential that you can harness to promote your business. In this article, we will discuss how you can use social media marketing to promote your UK restaurant signature dish.

Let’s have a look at some innovative social media marketing ideas for restaurants.

Share Your Restaurant’s Story

The first and one of the most important things (if not the most) is to inform social media users about the story of your restaurant. The story must explain your passion and the food it’s best known for. You can explain the meaning of your restaurant and where it came from. You can even share the photos of the environment that your restaurant offers and how your special dish is passed down through your family. It’s one of the best food promotion ideas and one of the first social media marketing ideas for restaurants that will allow your social media followers to connect to your restaurant in order to build a long and loyal relationship. 
A young man raising his glass of wine with friends at a restaurant. Young people enjoying dinner at a cafe.

Highlight the Meal Preparation

One of the best ways to promote your special dish is to provide your followers with an inside look at how it’s prepared. When people search for restaurants near me, they select only the option that provides them with the most information regarding food and the environment. We recommend you use a high-quality camera to record videos and capture photos. It will allow the viewers to understand that your restaurant takes care of hygiene and has skilled cooking staff.  Use all of the social media platforms such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc to reach as many people as possible. You don’t even need premium and specialized devices for this purpose as well. Only a smartphone along with a social media account and internet connectivity is enough.

Offer Giveaways

Keep in mind that many people have a competitive nature, and everyone loves to have something for free. When you share giveaways on social media not only does it increase the probability of engagement, but it can also improve your actual customer base. If you want to take it to another level, then you can ask your followers to tag their family or friends in the comment section to earn even more discounts. You can also ask your regular customers to share their experiences on your social media platforms to win a free meal. It’s one of the best plate sale ideas that increase your restaurant’s brand awareness. 

Post Photos

Your restaurant’s social media pages, especially Instagram, must have a lot of professional and gorgeous photos of your best food. Keep in mind that each and every photo must harness the sight’s sense. It will allow the viewers to smell your best dish with the photos. Here are some tips that you can use to improve your photos. 
delicious food
  • Try to capture the photos of your best dishes from above. It will offer users a better representation that they need.
  • You can add more character to your photos by improving the ambience with tablecloths, dishes, napkins, flowers, and more. It will encourage people on social media to visit your restaurant. 
  • Lighting is the most important factor while capturing photos. Make sure that you add sufficient lighting to highlight your special food. 

Holidays

It’s always better to focus on the upcoming holidays. Moreover, you can create your own as well, with discounts and special deals. For example, you can name your own holiday as “take your mother out to eat” or anything similar that incorporates emotions. It will provide your customers with the reason to visit your restaurant on holidays. 

Ask Influencers for Shout Outs

It’s one of the latest and most popular trends that more and more people are acquiring for food promotion. If your restaurant is comparatively new, then you won’t have a very big following on social media. You can search for the social media influencers from your area for shout outs. Keep in mind that you might have to pay for that as well but the result that it brings is really worth it. You can also contact restaurant review sites to review your food. The best way to achieve this is to offer free meals to the influencers and review site managers. It will allow people who search “food near me” to find good reviews about your restaurant that increases the probability of new customers. 
Three young people sitting by served table, having dinner and communicating with friends

Drive Email Sign Ups

If you’re not already creating an email list of your restaurant that you’re missing out a great deal. It’s undoubtedly a great tool that you can utilize to grab more customers. Use social media to obtain more sign-ups. Consider offering a little discount to the people once they have signed up. It will allow you to have more emails in your list that you can use in the future.  An email list also allows you to stay in touch with your customers where you can send them all the details regarding updates or new dishes.

Update Your Restaurant’s Menu on Social Media Constantly

If you haven’t uploaded your restaurant’s menu on social media, then consider doing it right away. People who are not even planning to go out for dining might encourage them to plan their meal. In simple words, it's better to upload your menu on social media than not. Moreover, uploading the menu is not enough. You also need to update it regularly if you add a new dish or change the theme of your restaurant. Consider liking the menu to your landing page as well so that people can reach your restaurant’s website seamlessly. 

Always Respond to Feedback

Responding to every feedback shows the care that customers need. Always respond even to criticism as it only allows you to improve your services and food. Not responding to feedback and reviews means that you’re shutting out your customer complaints and encouragement. It’s important to bear in mind that you must always stay active on social media. It will allow you not to miss a single comment, feedback, and review in order to respond quickly. 

Reply to Questions and Queries

People who follow you on social media have the access to send messages with their questions. You need to reply to those questions as quickly as possible with all the necessary and important detail. That’s because the way you reply to the people will reflect on how to deal with your customers in your restaurant. Consider every message as a lead and even after providing the required information, never forget follow-ups. It will show professionalism and responsibility that will increase the chances of getting more customers. 

Create Long-term Relationships

Do you have any plans to foster a loyal and long-term relationship with both the casual visitors and dedicated followers? If they are liking your posts, commenting on, and sharing them, it’s great but you seriously have to build a strategy that will allow you to stay connected with them beyond that. Social media is far more than just responding and posting. Consider offering food promotions and lucky draws to keep your audience engaged. It will allow the users to revisit your social media pages again and again because they’ll know that it always pays off.

Ask People What to Add to Your Menu!

It’s a unique food promotion idea because not many restaurants do it. Asking your customers and followers what to add to your menu allows you to have more customers with a guarantee. That’s because when people see their recommendation has actually turned real, they want to try it out right away. You can also offer a big discount or free signature dish add-on, on the day of launching a new special dish. It will allow more and more people to taste your speciality.

Share Your Milestones with Your Social Media Family

First of all, you have to consider your social media following as a family. Give all the credit for each of your milestones to your customers. Not only will it increase brand loyalty, but it will also allow other people to become a part of that family as well. For example, you can nominate a customer who visited you the most in the last year as “customer of the year” with a free meal offering. It will create a sense of competition among other customers and encourage them to visit you more.  Final Verdict These are some of the best social media marketing ideas for restaurants to utilize to promote your restaurant and your signature dish. In its essence, social media marketing is all about connecting with your customers in the most effective and efficient matter. Make sure to create your personal social media marketing campaign by using these ideas. We hope that it will allow you to increase your customer base and social media presence within the least possible time.