Facebook: 10 tips to maximize your restaurant's visibility

33 million: that's the number of Facebook users in France, or the equivalent of one French person in two! It's an indispensable tool which, if properly mastered, can attract a large number of customers to a restaurant, and then build up their loyalty.

In this article, we answer the main questions restaurateurs have asked us, if you have any others. Don't hesitate to ask in the comments!

Here are our 10 tips for adding Facebook to your digital communications strategy.

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1. What to show on your restaurant's Facebook page?

Photos of your dishes, of course, but not only, because no matter how appetizing they are, they could bore your subscribers!

Sharing behind-the-scenes stories about the restaurant, photos of team members, anecdotes, information about the restaurant's history, location, inspirational quotes... helps to build a bond with your subscribers and get them to react. Sharing content from other pages, not directly related to the restaurant, can also boost engagement on your page - and save time publishing content you've already created.

The restaurant La Maison Plisson alternates between photos of its dishes, quotes or informative and light-hearted videos:

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Did you know? The technique of using social media as a tool to attract more customers is called "community management". Increasingly popular with restaurants, it's one of the best ways to maximize your establishment's visibility.

2. What tone should you adopt?

To reach your objectives, we advise against an aggressive sales pitch on your Facebook page: it will turn into an advertising screen and your subscribers will leave. We recommend sharing 80% entertaining content (your plate photos, kitchen preparations, team videos...), 15% informative posts (a new menu, new opening hours, special closures...) and 5% commercial content!

Here are just a few examples of entertaining content that has proved its worth:

• The story behind the creation of your restaurant ;
• Portraits of your teams (Proust questionnaire type);
• Votes and calls for comments (favorite dish, future dish to create);
• Screenshots of positive or humorous customer reviews;
• Selfies with your customers (photos with people in them have a much higher engagement rate !);
• The history and origin of your products;
• Portraits of your producers...

Anything goes!

Another good idea is to use the 2024 calendar! Look out for the "chestnut" days (Valentine's Day, Easter, April 1st) as well as themed days that could be of interest to you (Women's Rights Day, Environment Day, Cheese Day...). 

The Big Mamma and Bella Napoli restaurants took advantage of the Neapolitan Pizza's entry on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites to broadcast original content:

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3. How often should I post on Facebook?

Publications shouldn't be too regular: you don't want to flood the user's news feed, who may then unsubscribe. Be careful not to publish too infrequently either: they may think the restaurant has closed! Publishing between 2 and 7 times a week is a good average.

Malou's expert advice: it's better to publish once a week for 1 year than every day for 1 week, then nothing. Facebook rewards regularity !

4. What time of day do you publish?

Between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. your publications are most likely to be seen and generate engagement. It's the perfect time to push a lunch offer!

5. What formats should you choose for your content?

The photos

Facebook posts with images generate 2.3 times more engagement than text.

If a text is accompanied by an image, people are 65% more likely to retain the information 3 days later.Photos therefore play an essential role: their quality and the way they are taken are very important. It's important to make sure there's nothing inappropriate lurking in the background, because every detail counts!

The videos

Sharing videos is a great way to engage users: this type of content is highly appreciated. When a Facebook page publishes a video, audience engagement is on average 10 times higher !

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For example, the short 16-second video Big Mamma posted on their Facebook page was viewed 16,000 times, garnered 406 reactions and received 14 shares: the engagement rate for this video is much higher than the average engagement generated by the page's other publications.

Polls

Don't hesitate to use polls: they're quick and easy! Users appreciate this kind of fun, interactive content. Polls show that the restaurant is interested in its customers. They strengthen the link with them and generate engagement on the page. It's a good idea to mobilize subscribers to choose a future à la carte dish from among several, and invite them to come and try it at the restaurant to give their opinion! Subscribers are also a great way to improve your offer and build customer loyalty. For example, asking them for their opinion on an opening or a new item on the menu maximizes the success of new products. This is what O'Sign Café Restaurant did before launching its brunch formula:

6. How do you convert your subscribers or visitors into customers?

Add a call-to-action button, which can lead to a booking module (to your website or a service provider such as La Fourchette or Resy). Your subscribers can book online without leaving Facebook.

Promotions can be set up via the online reservation system. An example of an effective promotion: 4 meals for the price of 3. To take advantage of the promotion, for example, you need to register your reservation between 7pm and 7:30pm. The idea is to communicate about the promotion several times before it takes place, to create anticipation. Ephemeral promotions help build subscriber loyalty by giving them a sense of privilege!

7. How do you generate engagement on your site page?

Encouraging feedback from Facebook users is essential. The more clicks, "likes", comments, shares and views, the greater the restaurant's visibility!

We advise you not to reveal all the information in a publication: to generate maximum traffic, you need to encourage the user to go to your website. If the information is shared exhaustively, they won't need to visit the website.

In addition to surveys, competitions are also an excellent way of encouraging user engagement. The Get Out restaurant understands this:

We also recommendinteracting regularly with your audience, liking your customers' comments, responding to them and being very responsive to their private messages. Always reply, even if it's just to say thank you.

8. How to maximize your visibility with hashtags?

The hashtag is very useful, and not only on Twitter. It can be used to direct users searching for the same keywords used by your restaurant to your restaurant's page.

9. Why work with influencers?

Influencers are people who have gathered an audience of several thousand people on one or more social media. They share their daily lives, passions and discoveries with their followers. Collaborating with influencers whose audience corresponds to your target clientele not only raises your profile, but also makes people want to discover your establishment, and therefore win you customers!

Anaïs of Parisianvores regularly shares gourmet videos of her favorite restaurants, giving them effective exposure to her readers:

To choose the right influencers, you need to consider 3 criteria:

• the relevance of the content to your restaurant (e.g. don't use an influencer who shares vegan recipes if you want to highlight your cheese or meats).
• reach, i.e. the number of people you can potentially reach thanks to the influencer's community.
• resonance, i.e. the influencer's rate of engagement (number of likes, shares, comments, views, etc.).

10. Why and how to use Facebook Ads?

Mastering Facebook advertising can help you increase your sales considerably: by reaching new customers and retaining those who already like you. We'll soon be sharing a step-by-step guide to successful Facebook campaigns.

Bonus: Watch out for spelling and grammatical errors!

They give a bad image of the restaurant and can make you lose credibility, especially with users who are not used to making them...

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No more lack of inspiration! These 10 tips and examples will help you succeed with your Facebook strategy. Want to improve your Instagram too? Take advantage of our top 20 most inspiring Instagram accounts.

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