Twitter is a premier tool to engage with your audiences, and with good reason. With instant responses that can spread through the Twittersphere, your name can be broadcast loud and clear through the internet. It goes without saying that you need to be short and to the point, but being clever and current doesn't hurt, either. To get people to follow you, you need to follow them first; if they don't follow back within a few days, unfollow them and try somebody else. A good goal is to have slightly more followers than people you follow, but it takes some work to get there.
The key here is contests and engagement. If you offer a free appetizer coupon for a limited time to people who "like" your page, you're going to be in for a treat yourself. Ruby Tuesday offered 100,000 free burgers by liking their Facebook page and, as of today, they have over 500,000 followers. That's a lot of exposure, and even if every single free burger was given away, there's still money to be made - people tend to bring their friends and will certainly buy some appetizers, sides, and drinks. Make sure you are visiting those who "like" your page and thank them personally. Do this until the volume of likes far exceeds your capacity to personally thank each Facebook friend, and you're well on your way to creating a viral effect.
This is probably the most rewarding outlet in social media; since videos generally have a higher production value compared to the snippets of conversation within other media outlets, they tend to get more attention. Add some behind-the-scenes videos, recipes, or footage from special events. You don't even need to invest in much; just a Flip camera or similar will do fine, and free editing software such as Windows Movie Maker will do for most operations. If you have the budget, the better your videos are, the more attention they seem to accumulate. Keep adding videos every once in a while to keep your channel fresh and leverage your other social media outlets to drive views and interest.
The new kid on the block is quickly becoming the gorilla in the room. Since, as of right now, Google+ is an invite-only platform, and they don't have any tools for business, you're best hope is to use your operation's Google account to engage users as an unbranded "friend," and hope that they add you to some well-populated circles. The flip-side of the Google+ coin is the user-generated promotion of your site through what Google calls their "+1 Button." Similar to Facebook's "like" button, it generates interest and puts your restaurant's site nearer to the top of the list when people search for places to eat on Google.
Often viewed as a site to boost your resume, LinkedIn actually has useful tools to keep you connected with colleagues and other business owners. If you're in the foodservice industry, you know there is plenty of healthy competition, but plenty of friendships as well. As you foster these relationships, you may find strength in numbers.
Groupon offers daily deals to a rich database of consumers; they might offer a coupon for $30 worth of product at your establishment for as little as $10. That $10 profit is then split between your business and Groupon. It's much pricier than many of the other social media tools, but the turnout is hard to beat. Just make sure you're ready for the rush, and you can financially support such a loss-leader. The Groupon folks will push you to drive your prices down to nearly nothing, so go into negotiations with a set percentage off that you are willing to settle for. Also, be honest about your chances that this will result in repeat business - will folks come back for more after the initial coupons are used?
We decided to lump these all together. This includes City Search and Merchant Circle, among others. Usually, these sites will allow users to add business themselves, so chances are, you're already on there. Job well done, right? Not quite. Often, you will want to provide additional information that reviewers have not added yet - your menu, average price of food, business hours, additional pictures. The best part about these sites are that people on them are generally genuinely looking for a place to eat; it's free advertising! The downside is that even a few negative reviews can affect your restaurant's business. Often, you are able to respond to customer complaints on these sites, so it is good form to professionally apologize for any inconveniences caused by your establishment and offer for them to try you again (and you may entice them with a free drink or similar). For every customer that puts the effort into adding a review, there are often hundreds who are just looking - it's important to keep up appearances for those potential customers.
Though we nearly ironically made a blog post about this in the past, it's important enough of a point to be made again. If you feel as though you have the time and the content to update a blog on daily basis, you need to start one. If you have your own website (and you should), Wordpress offers an easy way to start blogging once it's installed. In all reality, it's the only way to go as far as blogging is concerned. It's free, updated constantly to keep pace with current technology, it's simple to use, and versatile.
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