TOP 5 SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES: GROWING THE INFLUENCE OF FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS INTO THE INTERNET COMMUNITY

Starting this topic by knowing that Social media nowadays are known as networking systems connecting people all over the world. Basically, social media are tools which in their essence of the main idea they all have the main focus of connecting people however the difference they have is regarding the function and the usage that the users within the network can create with these tools. Since Social Media connects people then we have to think of a way to connect the restaurant as a business and the client as a visitor.

Some people might use Social media tools only as networking systems to connect with their friends, some others might use these tools as working tools such as advertising and marketing approaches, while some others might use social media as ways to grow the audience regarding their business and attempt a connection between that audience and their business which is also the key point of this post.

Approximately the total social media users in the world are from 3/3.6 billion which creates all of them creates a huge network system giving a chance to each of them to have the opportunity to succeed and create an audience. The uniqueness of this network is that all the 3.6 billion users have the opportunity to share their creativity into the network, which brings a much valuable chance to anyone that is able to create good content and be influenced into this network.

The power of social media influence can be used in a variety of ways however the target of this post will be to share the top five approaches that fast food restaurant owners can do in order to grow their business audience through social media tools.

The business of fast food restaurants is basically a system known as “Quick service “because all the food served there is cooked and served within 5-15 minutes and the price varies from $5-15$. The most known fast foods chains in the world are McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Subway etc. The good thing about quick service restaurants is that the preparation of the products takes a short amount of time and usually the steps needed for a product to complete are very easy, therefore many restaurant owners can take advantage of this way of working in order to grow their clientele using social media tools. Basically, a good approach on how to connect fast food restaurants and social media audiences in order to grow the clientele of the restaurant can be summarized in the approaches as follows.

1. Create good and creative Instagram/ Facebook pages sharing creative content

After already having set the restaurant design and the delicious food serving in the restaurant it is time to be creative on creating good content regarding Instagram and Facebook pages content.

In this social media content, you can share the steps of preparing food, the delicious food pictures, the staff serving the food and probably attempt to gain attention with a unique style of serving or cooking the food and catching that on video.

A good example of how unique serving can bring attention to Instagram content is nusr_et Instagram page showing him selves throwing salt on people’s dishes through his unique style.

A good quality of pictures and videos shared is crucial as well because it shows a more professional way of the restaurant functioning.

2.Use social media advertising and marketing ads

Social media ads can bring much audience to the business social media pages as well. This can be used to target a specific audience, specific location and specific age of people. Regarding the fast food chain restaurants, it is better to target young age people starting from 15-45 because they are the ones who usually live a fast life and the circumstances of their life makes them purchase fast food more often.

3.Use videos explaining food process of cooking/ and friendly staff

Sharing video is one of the most influential steps regarding social media attention because people are much interested and affected by a video showing how a restaurant prepares the food rather than just seeing pictures. Through a video the restaurant owner can show food steps on cooking, friendly staff serving, creative quotes about the food and share the happy clients when visiting the restaurant

4.Share menu and staff working

When sharing the menu, you share the information about the restaurant as well and when sharing the staff working in the restaurant you share the friendly organization as well. Menu is important because you share what the clients will expect from the restaurant and the products that will be served to them. While at the same time sharing the staff working process can create a positive feeling on the clients because they already know who will serve the food.

5.Create a community into social media

This is seen as one of the crucial steps when aiming to reach a social media success. By creating a community within the social media network, the organization will already have the targeted people and their main people that follow their organization.

The first way of creating a social media community can happen through opening Facebook or Instagram groups where you invite different people to join the group and within the group you share company content.

Another way is Using hashtags # when making posts creates a network community where everybody joins to see what kind of hashtags the organization has been using, and you use the similar hashtags in every post.

And the third way is by email connection, this can happen when the Restaurant collects clients emails and uses them as a group information. Informing them on every new menu, coupons, Instagram and Facebook posts.

In order to sum up this post the main strategy in order to grow the audience into social media is to always share what the audience is interested in and what makes them feel curious. Focus more into unique posts and differentiation strategy making the social media content different from what social media users see in their daily basis.

References:

1. https://www.thebalancesmb.com/how-to-use-social-media-for-your-restaurant-2888560#:~:text=How%20Social%20Media%20Helps%20Your,directions%2C%20menus%2C%20and%20events

.&text=This%20shows%20your%20customers%20and,you%20value%20your%20customers’%20opinions.

2. https://www.digitalistmag.com/customer-experience/2020/02/11/how-to-use-social-media-to-grow-your-business-06202671/

3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2014/09/29/25-ways-to-grow-your-social-media-presence/