Social media marketing tips for restaurants for this holiday season

With the holiday season right around the corner, restaurants everywhere are gearing up for the busiest time of the year. If you're looking to get a head start on your holiday marketing, social media is a great place to start.

With its ability to reach a wide audience and its popularity as a communication tool, social media is an excellent platform for promoting your restaurant during the holiday season. But how can you make sure that your social media marketing stands out from the rest?

Here are some tips to help you make the most of your restaurant's social media marketing this holiday season.

1. Get Festive with Your Cover Photo

Your cover photo is one of the first things people will see when they encounter your social media profile on platforms such as Facebook. Therefore, an excellent idea is to ensure that your cover photo is festive and catches people's attention.

Ideally, you'll change the cover photo in line with each holiday. For instance, your first image may be thanksgiving-themed before switching to Christmas-themed and New Year-themed editions. Doing so will show potential customers that you're engaging with the holiday season, potentially prompting them to visit your restaurant.

Since social media is critical to your online restaurant branding, ensure that your cover photo is high-quality and on-brand.

2. Promote Your Special Menus or Offers

The holidays are an excellent period to introduce special menus or offers at your restaurant. But it's no good going to the effort of creating these special menus or offers if nobody knows about them.

Make sure to promote your holiday menu or offer on social media, using attractive visuals and persuasive copy. If you have a specific offer such as "2 for 1" or "30% off", make sure to mention this in your more generic social media posts as well. The more often you let people know about your special menus or offers, the more likely they will take advantage of them.

And don't be afraid to pay for adverts on social media platforms to ensure that as many people see your posts as possible.

Remember, you can secure website clicks for much less than a dollar. Those clicks may turn into table reservations for dining parties of two, four, or large groups, providing a significant return on investment for your ad spend.

3. Research and Use Relevant Holiday Season Hashtags

Hashtags are an excellent way of increasing the reach of your posts and ensuring that they're seen by people who might not already be following you – particularly on platforms such as Twitter and Instagram.

When it comes to using hashtags, it's important to do your research. First, you should consider which hashtags are most popular and relevant to your restaurant. For instance, some popular

holiday season food hashtags include "#christmasfood", "#festivefood", and "#holidayfood".

You should also consider using location-specific hashtags, such as "#LAeats." This is a great way of reaching people in your local area who might be looking for somewhere to eat during the holiday season.

Once you've identified relevant hashtags, use them regularly in your posts. The more often you use them, the more likely people are to see your posts and visit your restaurant.

4. Incorporate QR Codes Into Your Posts

One of the best call-to-actions you can include in your social media posts is QR codes. A QR code is a type of barcode that can be scanned by smartphones. When scanned, the QR code will take the user to a specific website URL or digital asset, such as your online menu.

In fact, by including a QR code for your restaurant menu, you can convert that interest in your social media into action – such as looking at your menu, ordering food online (via mobile ordering), and making dine-in reservations.

And that's precisely what you want during the holiday season, a time when people are looking to book tables for parties, celebrations, and family get-togethers.

5. Showcase User-Generated Content

One of the great things about social media is that it provides an opportunity for your customers to market your restaurant for you. This is known as user-generated content (UGC), and it can be a powerful way of promoting your business, particularly during the holiday season.

Research has found that UGC is 9.8x more powerful than social media influencer content, and 79% of people say UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions.

So, how can you encourage your customers to generate UGC? A great way is to run a social media competition with a holiday-themed prize. For example, you could ask people to post photos of themselves enjoying a meal at your restaurant, and the best photo could win a prize.

Make sure to promote your competition across all your social media channels, and you're sure to generate some great UGC that you can use to promote your restaurant during the holiday season.

6. Promote Your Restaurant's Proximity to Anything Holiday-Related

If your restaurant is located close to any holiday-related attractions, make sure to mention it in your posts. For example, suppose your restaurant is situated close to Christmas Tree Lane in LA. In that case, you could mention it in your posts, include a photo of the attraction, and really push a special offer you're running leading up to the night of the lighting ceremony.

Similarly, if you're located close to a shopping mall popular with Christmas shoppers or any other holiday-related attraction, make sure to mention it in your posts and include a photo. That way, you can alert people to your restaurant's proximity to the attraction and encourage them to visit you before or after they've been to the attraction.

7. Incentivize Your Customers by Promoting Your Loyalty Program on Your Social Channels

Another great way to encourage people to visit your restaurant during the holiday season is by promoting your loyalty program. If you don't have a loyalty program, leading POS providers such as POSTRON makes it easy to set one up in a few simple steps.

With a restaurant loyalty program in place, you can offer incentives to customers for dining with you during the holiday season and offer boosts to their loyalty program status. For example, you could offer double points for all meals purchased between Thanksgiving and Christmas or a free appetizer to anyone who dines with you on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve.

Make sure to run a promotion campaign for your loyalty program on your social media channels so that people are aware of the incentives on offer and are more likely to visit your restaurant during the holiday season.

Get Ready for Holiday Season by Honing Your Social Media Strategy

By following the tips above, you can ensure that your restaurant is well prepared for the holiday season and can take advantage of all the opportunities that social media presents.

With solutions provided by POSTRON that include QR codes for contactless dining, loyalty programs, and mobile ordering, you can make sure that your restaurant is ready for anything the holiday season throws at you.