With the re-opening of hospitality settings for outdoor food and drink only just around the corner; it’s important that your marketing hits the right spot to draw in those post-lockdown customers. The team here at VerriBerri, a food and drink marketing agency in Essex, wanted to look at some of the ways you can endear yourself to customers old and new in this post-lockdown world.
Cater To The Confident, Aid The Anxious
Some people are licking their lips at the thought of getting out and about again. For others, however, it’s a much more anxious prospect. You can’t assume just because people have made the decision to come out and dine at your restaurant that they’ve moved past the anxiety and worry that’s grown in all of us over the past year or so. You don’t want to alienate this demographic – and it’s important to note this may well be a larger demographic than you think.
Make Use Of Social Media Platforms (If You’re Not Already)
You might have found you’ve had a bit more spare time over the past few months or so – funny, that – and if so, you might well have been spending it glued to social media, scrolling away for hours on end. Well, if you have, then the chances are potential customers have been too.
As a food and marketing agency, we know that when it comes to platforms like Instagram and Facebook (which also offer the opportunity for paid advertising) the marketing opportunities they provide are too good not to take advantage of. In order to secure interest over the coming months – from both previous customers and new diners, then make use of the following tips:
Prizes/Giveaways
In terms of boosting engagement and interaction, few things are more effective than social media giveaways. Who doesn’t love the chance to win a prize, after all? Whether it’s an entirely free meal or simply a discount coupon, these competitions are an easy way to boost followers and spread your restaurant’s image much further afield.
Linked to this is the trend of ‘gifting’ – if you know any local influencers, then ask them to promote your restaurant or review one of your meals. Some will do it simply for the reward of free chow (I know that would be me) whilst others might charge a small nominal fee for your restaurant’s promotion. Regardless, this is a great way to unlock a whole new audience who might not have otherwise known about your eatery.
Encourage The Saving Of Posts
Social media algorithms are highly changeable things – even we struggle to keep up with all the changes, sometimes! One of the biggest changes recently in deeming how successful and how widely seen content is the hierarchy of importance in terms of post engagement. If those words meant nothing to you, then don’t worry, let us explain. Whereas traditionally you might have thought a post’s performance would have been judged simply by the number of likes it gets, this is no longer the case. Whilst obviously gaining likes is still preferable to not, this actually falls bottom to the priority tree in terms of types of helpful engagement. The most useful thing users can do in helping content perform well is saving posts to view later.
Fortunately , the food and drink industry are naturally well-placed to make the most of this algorithm update. By making content such as recipe videos or multi-step image carousel posts, people are more likely going to want to come back to it later on when they have time to ‘digest’ (pun intended…) what they’re seeing in more detail. If you’re on a train and you see a fancy steak dinner recipe whilst you’re on the tube on your commute, then you’re naturally going to want to save it so that you can come back to it later!
If this still sounds a bit overwhelming, then not to fear, because the social media team at our food and drink marketing agency can manage your social media platforms in their entirety for you, content creation and all!
Be Personable!
Over the past twelve months or so, we’ve not exactly had a lot of social interaction. The result of this is that more people are going to want to frequent those businesses that have a bit of spark and personality than simply the big faceless franchises. You might not be able to compete with the scale of big chain restaurants, but where you can best them is through the personality your restaurant offers.
Social media is a great place to showcase this; ‘meet the team’ content, behind the scenes clips and even footage where things don’t go according to plan all show off the human, friendly and inviting side of your eatery. People want great food, of course, but increasingly they’re going to want a great overall experience, as well. In other words, going the extra mile is going to be more important than ever before in securing (and retaining) customers. People are going to want a seriously nice time after the year that’s been, and if you don’t give them it, they’ll simply go elsewhere.
Contact Us
Not being able to catch up with friends and family over delicious food and drink has definitely been one of the most difficult parts of the past year. Restaurant culture has really taken off in the UK over the past few years; for a country so often derided for its lack of culinary taste, this had started to change. Then, of course, a global pandemic came along! So, let us help you get that trend back on track!If you’d like to find out more about our food and drink marketing agency, then get in touch! Contact VerriBerri today on 01376 386 850 or by emailing us at sarah@verriberri.co.uk. Alternatively, you can send us a message on one of our social media platforms, and we’ll get back to you as quickly as we can. We look forward to hearing from you!