Social media is fast becoming a powerful promotional tool; however it is important business owners use it to communicate with their customers in an engaging way.
Speaking at Foodservice Australia, Ed Charles of Tomato Media said posts need to be “more conversational than promotional.”
Rather than write a generic comment or image, post things that are likely to interest your customers, such as:
- Recipes so they can recreate a popular food offering at home
- Images of a new product or store
- Links to informative and relevant stories
Viewing a menu online or reading a story about a company is one thing, but to see what a dish, store or person actually looks like is another, which is why images perform particularly well.
“The posts that spread most have a really good photo,” Charles said.
He explains posts of this nature also tend to encourage people to visit a business’s website as they are eager to find out more. “By posting interesting things on social you will drive more traffic to your website.”
Charles also advises business owners focus not on the number of “likes” a post receives, but its reach as this is a true reflection of how many people have seen, or are interested in, that particular post. “Likes are part of the factor but the real measure is engagement or reach,” he added.
Facebook has recently updated its company pages so business owners can see what posts have the greatest reach and subsequently generate the most interest, and they can tailor other posts accordingly.
Go mobile
Wes Garth of Red Pants Mobile Websites advises businesses look at going mobile, because a large portion of Australians tend to access both social media platforms and other website via their smartphone.
“Over two thirds of Facebook and Twitter transactions take place on a mobile and more searches are done on a smartphone than a desktop computer,” he said.
People are more time poor than ever, so when they want to find out about a particular franchise, they want to find it out immediately.
Smartphones fulfil this need as they allow people to both search for and compare different franchises in a matter of minutes.
Mobile friendly websites tend to load much quicker, too as they contain only the most important information about a business – such as its opening hours, locations and product range or menu.
Garth said this is vital, because a slow loading website can equate with lost sales. “If a website takes more than five seconds to load four out of five users will abandon it immediately,” he said.
How do I manage my social media presence?
Charles has worked with a number of businesses to help them improve their social media presence, and he said Melbourne restaurant Chin Chin’s is a particularly noteworthy example.
The business reinvigorated its social media strategy by delegating the task to employee Jess Ho rather than outsourcing it to a public relations company.
“People who work in the business are good for this because they know what is happening day in, day out,” he explained.
By assigning a particular staff member to the task your social media presence will not fall by the wayside, and in many cases it can be more affordable than a public relations company.