How can local restaurant improve their Digital Presence?

It is time to step out of the kitchen and create an effective digital marketing plan to attract, engage and communicate with your customers. Because the internet has become the primary source of information for people when it comes to deciding on what restaurants they will choose to go to, it’s critical that you are use a combination of marketing tactics to present your brand online. Furthermore, to ensure your restaurant continues to grow, it’s important to define your target audience, learn what is relevant to them and learn how they communicate to effectively create an online experience that will convert them from visitors to customers.     

Here are some ways to increase your online presence and promote your brand. 

Serve up a great website

Your website has the potential to be your greatest marketing asset and a professional-looking website that run quickly on a variety of mobile devices is the first step in converting visitors to customers.  Your website should be easy to update, they should integrate with popular restaurant locator and review sites like GrubHub Seamless and Urbanspoon, and at the very least show your menus, offer online ordering options, location information, and hours.  Also, remember that eating out isn’t just about eating, it’s about socializing, being seen and talking about food so your website should make these simple activities look amazing.  Include galleries to showcase your food, guests, and events. Post a virtual tour of your restaurant to give your online visitors an idea of what the ambience and tone will be like when they visit your location.  

Create a mobile experience   

People are more connected to the web as ever, for this reason it is essential that you include a mobile component in you digital marketing strategy. It is expected that by the end of 2014 1.76 billion people with will own or use smartphones on monthly basis, so as a restaurateur you should be asking yourself how you can reach this audience.  While creating a separate mobile site or mobile app may be expensive there are still ways to get in front of these mobile phone users.  The most obvious way is to optimize your website responsive design to make it mobile friendly. 

Another effective way to create a mobile presence is to partner with one of the established online directories, like Google Places. This kinds of sites are free and offer built in mobile-optimized shortcuts, including mobile apps which put your restaurant in front of thousands of mobile of users every day, including those in your local area.  Deal sites like Groupon or LivingSocial are another way to increase your online presence when used in combination with your other marketing efforts. A big advantage of these promotional sites is that it's free to feature your business.  

Pair the Right Social Platform with the Right Customer Type
Each social media platform effectively reaches a different type of customer and serves a different role (see our post on how to use each social platform), so that means you should take a few minutes to figure out which of these platforms your customers are most likely to use and how to use it.  If your restaurant already covers the broad spectrum of customer types (e.g., families, professionals, foodies, lunch crowd, etc.), then you may want to have a slightly different strategy for each platform so you can best target EACH of your choice customer types.  More importantly, there are some great tools, such as Hootsuite and IFTTT , to help you manage and automate your social media accounts and save time. 
 
Additionally, each social platform has a unique sets of capabilities.  For example, Facebook allows you to provide updates, photos, videos in a “personal-oriented” environment, whereas Twitter might be ideal for shooting out coupons, new menu items, specials and other timely updates to your audience.  The great thing is, you don’t have to use all social platforms, but you should be aware of what other restaurants like yours are doing and do your best to provide a competitive experience to your customers.  You can turn to firms like ours for help (affordably) as well as use automation tools to make it more efficient for you or someone on your staff to do personally.

Final Thoughts
An effective digital marketing plan is one that will help you build and nurture relationships with your customers.  Therefore, with a well-developed strategy your restaurant will appear at the top of search results and stay on the top of the mind of you customers as they decide where to dine.  By understanding how to best use the marketing tools available, your business will see a return on investment in the long run.     

ChangeU: for your independent study ...

Cell Phone and Smartphone Ownership Demographics http://pewrsr.ch/1vZBrS7

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research.

Mobile Apps in the Age of the Consumer   http://bit.ly/1qgv4pI
Build a mobile app that engages. This paper answers today’s pressing mobile app questions, including: Should your brand develop an app? What operating systems are the most significant? What do millennials think about mobile apps? Restaurant executives will learn the answers to these questions and which trends to watch.

The Mobile Path to Purchase study by xAd and Telmetrics  http://bit.ly/1D5xPCm  

The results of these studies provide valuable insights into the mobile tools utilized in the process of research and decision, and strong mobile user intent to purchase.