Without goals, it’s hard to tell whether you’re making an impact. Setting goals help judge the ROI of the time, energyand money you’re investing. The goals you set will influencehow you allocate your resources, and will give direction toevery post and comment.

Many restaurants approach their digital identity with thesame broad goals: new customer acquisition, strengtheningonline reputation, increasing guest frequency, and makingmore money.

But to quantify your social media impact, these big ideasneed to be refined into specific, measurable goals, such as:

☐ Get 100 new Likes on our Facebook page

☐ Launch our Instagram account by end of month

☐ Have a non-boosted Facebook post shared 15 times

☐ Get 15 new TripAdvisor reviews

☐ Incorporate gift card sales into our website

☐ Upload 20 new photos to our Yelp review page

☐ Ask my kids to show me how to use SnapChat

Whether your goals are @mentions, retweets, coupon redemption, or a full star increase in your TripAdvisor ratingaverage, they will guide your day-to-day social media marketing efforts, determining how you craft your messageand giving your posts purpose.

YOUR WAYSocial media best practicesand strategies may differ from restaurant to restaurant,even within the same market.

There’s no one right way to use social media, but thereis a common goal: engagingwith your customer.

PLAN YOUR

For your social media marketing to have the greatest impact,you need a strategy.

• Who is your current social media audience? • What new audience are you trying to reach?• What is your core brand message, mission or vision?

• How much of your marketing budget will be allocated to social media? On which networks? Why?

• Who will respond to customer questions or complaints?

• Who will take photos? Or write your tweets?Or determine the content of your next e-mail blast?

SET GOALS FOLLOW MEYour customers can’t interact with you online if they don’tknow where to find you. Use your menu, in-store signage,check-stuffers, posters, table tents, e-mail blasts and verbal reminders from your staff to inform customers about which social media networks you use, and ask them to like you, follow you, and continue the conversation online.

KNOW YOUR LIMITSOverreaching will diminish your impact.

Don’t try to maintain more networks than you have adequatestaff to update. It takes time, creativity and dedication to manage your social media sites, and it’s better to do one siteextremely well than five sites half-heartedly.

THE PAST MONTHS...

What was your most liked socialmedia post?

Most shared post?

The one that got themost comments?

What made these so popular?

How can you connectwith your customersmore frequently in a similarly engaging way?

6 OVER

Most networks offer free tools to help track user engagement so you can better understand whatcontent is working. Twitter has the Tweet ActivityDashboard, Facebook has Ad Reporting and PageInsights (with improved video metrics), while Pinterest, Google and YouTube all have detailed Analytics pages. Instagram doesn’t offer a nativeanalytics tool, but Iconosquare is a popular third-party alternative.

Social Media Management dashboard tools such as HootSuite, Sprout Social, Agora Pulse, TweetDeck and Buffer can help you pre-scheduleposts and generate performance reports. Some ofthese tools offer free versions, and some can be accessed via mobile app. One may be right for you!

E-MAIL MATTERS AGAINNotice how all the chain restaurant websites are desperate to collect your e-mail address? That’s because non-paid organicreach of social media is very limited now. Cultivate your customer e-mail list and create branded messaging with Constant Contact, Fishbowl or other e-mail marketers.

To encourage additional customer reviews:Offer a $100 gift card to the first member of your staff whogets 10 positive reviews on Yelp or TripAdvisor in which they are mentioned by name.

To increase organic reach:“Share this post and be entered into a drawing for a free t-shirt.” Ideally, that post should include a share-worthy photoand just a tiny amount of text.

To cross promote new social networks/accounts:One of our Instagram followers will be randomly selected toreceive a free entrée each week for the next month!

SOCIAL PROMOTIONS

CONTENTSCHEDULINGGoogle “Social Media Content Calendar” and you’ll find a variety of free templates designed to help you get an overview of your content. Plan all your posts across one big spreadsheet or create different calendars for each of your networks. You canlog engagement numbers so you have an easily accessible record of what connected with your audience and what didn’t.

If multiple members of your team share posting responsibilities, calendars help keep everyone organized and working together.

(clockwise from top left) Analytics from YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Google

TRACK YOUR IMPACT

• signage• carry out

packaging

MAXIMIZE YOUR

There are several ways you can make a first impression on a prospective customer. Your restaurant’s curb appeal is still vitally important, but today, most new customers willdiscover and research you online before they walk throughyour door. In many cases, your digital identity becomes theircrucial FIRST IMPRESSION of your restaurant.

Maybe they’ll see your website first, probably on theirsmartphone. Or possibly your Facebook or Instagram page. Their first contact may even be your Yelp review page! You need to manage all these potential First Impressionpoints every way you possibly can to brand your businessand persuade new customers to give you a try.

THE EXPERIENCEOffering a consistent, excellent customer experience is always top priority, far more important than any social media marketing. But Millennials consider taking photos part of the restaurant experience, so pay attention to appearances:

Anything can be photographed and posted online, so be photogenic every day!

• curb appeal• decor• lighting• food plating

• cleanliness- dishware- restroom- windows

• menu design• uniforms• staff grooming• logoed items

The first impression your digital identity makes, whether it’s on your websiteor any social media network, should create a feeling of welcome. This is often achieved with large, appetizing food photos, enticing visitors to lingerand browse.

On your website, clear organization and ease of use contribute to that senseof hospitality. Are you making it easy for customers to find the informationthey need, such as your hours, address and phone number? How manyclicks does it take to get to your menu listings? Is your site mobile optimized,with streamlined navigation for smartphones?

On social media, the tone you post in plays a huge role in communicatingyour personality and making customers feel welcome. Especially in an election year, when our personal feeds have a higher ratio of controversyand negativity, keep your posts professional, positive, friendly and fun.

DIGITAL HOSPITALITY

PureBread Deli’s website feels friendly right away (see above). Clear navigation, bright colors, appetizing food photos, and their optimistic mission statement, along with proud, smiling staff and their dog theme efficiently conveys a warm, welcoming brand.

NOWEAKLINKS

If your Instagram is beautiful, but your Yelpscores are rotten, it makes a bad first impressionon any customer who discovers you via yourYelp page. If you have decent reviews, but thereare no food photos on your website and youhaven’t posted to your Facebook page inmonths, those are missed opportunities tomake a great first impression, and may cost you new customers.

USPThe first impression you make online should be tied to your Unique Selling Proposition – the quality thatmakes your restaurant special and differentiates you from your competition in the minds of your customer.

What do you do that nobody else does? Or what do you do BETTER than anyone else? Why should a customer choose you instead of the many other restaurants they could patronize?

If you could tell a potential new customer ONE thing about your restaurant to try and convince them to dine with you, what would it be? Do you have the best ribs in town? Or the best view? A Chipotle-like mission that will win their hearts?

Whatever it is that makes you YOU, communicate it quickly and persuasively anywhere you have a presence online.

YOUR

Cross-promote all the networks you use online. Drive trafficfrom your website to Twitter, from Facebook to Instagram,from your blog to your YouTube page back to your website.This keeps fans and regulars engaged within your brandedecosystem and lets you make repeated first impressions. All that linking and traffic also organically increases yourGoogle search rankings! But you’ll need to create uniquecontent for each network or you’ll bore your audience.

One of the great thing about social media is that you can see exactlywhat the competition is doing, totally free. You can learn best practicesby watching what kind of cover photos they use, how often they postvideos, how long their tweets are, how many hashtags they use, whichkind of content their audiences engage with on which network, etc.

Notice how they always maximize the first impression they make,whether it’s on Facebook or in an e-mail, and how well their mobilesites balance visual simplicity and branding.

WATCH THE CHAINS

Cheesecake Factory on TwitterJoe’s Crab Shack on YouTube California Tortilla’s web siteChick-fil-A’s mobile web siteOutback Steakhouse’s e-mail coupon

A good first impression can work wonders. - J.K. Rowling

TRY, TRY AGAINTest different ad content to see what resonates with your customers. When you notice something not working, changethe headline, photo, call to action, or the target audience parameters and track engagement to find what works best.Some networks allow you to create ad sets, so you can do A/B testing of your promoted content. E-mail marketing platforms allow you to easily switch out subject lines if yourcustomers aren’t opening your e-mails.

Keep an open mind and tweak as necessary.

SPREAD THE LOVE

(L-R)

KNOW YOUR

This very basic advice is actually the key to maximizing yoursocial media impact. You think of Facebook, Twitter, etc. asmarketing tools, but your customers see them as ways tostay in touch with their friends. They see ads as a necessaryevil, and don’t want to feel like they’re being sold somethingevery time they check their feed.

Be social! Become part of their daily conversation. Be one of the friends they’re excited to interact with every day.

Your social media marketing will have a greater impact if you’re talking with your customers, instead of advertisingat them.

NETWORK ETIQUETTEOne of the quickest ways to irritate your customers and demonstrate that you’re out of touch is by using social media wrong.Each network has its own unofficial rules for what and how to post, and if you disregard them, it’s a red flag that you’re only there to advertise, and not a genuine participant.

FACEBOOK 1.59 Billion Monthly Users

What to Post: Almost anything. Personal photos, memes,trending news of the day – Facebook is a catch-all of sharedsocial media content.

When to Post: 3-5 times per week. Engagement is highestfrom 1pm - 4 pm, but depends on your specific audience.

What’s New: Reactions, the emoji-based update to the LIKEbutton, debuts in the U.S. soon. Improved video metrics.Updated organic optimization settings when you post.

What Not to Post: Adult content. Hashtags. Political rants.Natively uploaded videos perform better than links.

TWITTER 325 Million Active Users

What to post: 140 characters or less, plus photos/video.Twitter is a micro-blog, appropriate for sharing random,passing thoughts. If something is going on right now, Twitter is the place to talk about it.

When to post: All day, every day. Engagement is highestfrom 1pm - 3 pm, but users expect updates very frequently.

What’s New: Their user base is not growing in the U.S.,leading to four key executives resigning. May expand 140character limit to 10,000 and continue tweaking display algorithm. New first view video ads appear in top spot of user timelines. Stay tuned for more changes this year.

What Not to Post: Anything auto-posted from another social media network. Twitter users are very proud of theirindividuality, so don’t cross-post links to your Facebook or Instagram content. Create original content, instead, andpost it natively on Twitter.

INSTAGRAM 430 Million Users

What to Post: Beautiful photos that you took, yourself, withseveral hashtags. It’s meant to be the world as seen throughyour eyes.

When to Post: Once a day. Engagement spikes near 5 pm.

What’s New: Brands can post 60-second videos. Video tallycounts. Boomerang, a video app that creates a looping one-second video (comparable to Apple’s Live Photos.) A newcontroversial algorithm that determines what users see.

What Not to Post: Text. Stories. Anything that looks likeads. Any of the trending content you find on Facebook.

PINTEREST 110 Million Users

What to Pin: It’s all about visuals. Start with 10 themedboards and pin photos, especially food photos, linking to your website and other your social media pages. Repin photos from other users linking to relevant content(recipes, reviews, food blogs, community, etc.) Optimizeyour pin descriptions to be more discoverable.

Note: 70% of Pinterest users are female. Pinterest bills itselfas “The visual bookmarking tool that helps you discoverand save creative ideas.” So there’s a great emphasis on creatively planning for future projects and events.

When to post: Pinterest pins have a much longer shelf lifethan a Facebook post or a tweet. The search algorithm returns high quality pins and related pins, rather than favoring recent pinning, so time of day isn’t as important.

What Not to Pin: Low-resolution images. Links to poorly designed websites or sites with content that could reflectbadly on your business.

72% of customers who complain on Twitter expect a response within 60 minutes.

Your digital identity is a 24/7 responsibility. You need to be aware of what’sbeing said about your business across all the various social networks so youcan address problems immediately. Setting Google Alerts can help, as canmany of the dashboard-based monitoring tools (see page 3). But the morenetworks you’re on, the more alert you need to be.

AWARENESS

YELP & TRIPADVISORYou have to claim your Yelp and TripAdvisor pages as anowner/manager before you can reply to customer reviewsand questions, which you should do publicly on the site. This is free and takes just a minute or two - do it now.

When replying to reviews online, even negative ones, be sincere. Don’t copy and paste the same canned response.Treat each customer as an individual, and be respectful oftheir comments, even if you disagree. This demonstrates toanyone researching reviews of your restaurant that you care.

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen. - Ernest Hemingway

NEVER GO QUIETEven if you’re a seasonal business, never stop posting on yoursocial media accounts. You may be closed, but your fans arestill out there, and they’d like to hear what you’re doing!

If you stop posting for weeks or months at a time, you losemomentum and any connection you’ve forged. Your organicreach will drop. When prospective customers visit your Facebook or Twitter page, they’ll wonder if you’ve gone outof business. Months of silence make a bad first impression.It’s better to have no page at all than a deserted ghost town.

THE ART OF LISTENINGIf you’re not paying attention, you may miss a rare chance to become part of the conversation and capitalize on socialmedia attention. Just ask Red Lobster, who have beenroundly criticized for how they responded to a mention in Beyonce’s new single, Formation. They waited in silenceuntil the next day before responding on Twitter. In the worldof social media, eight hours may as well be an eternity.

Turn on the Direct Messaging option in Facebook, so yourcustomers can contact you directly via a personal message.This makes your restaurant feel more down to earth, morehuman and approachable, than if you only let them contactyou by filling out an impersonal form on your website.

KEEP UPToday’s hottest social media trends are yesterday’s old news.When you’re relying on these tools as a primary way of staying in touch with your customers, how do you keep upwith where your customers are and what they’re doing?

Social Media TodaySocialmediatoday.com and its corresponding pages atYouTube, Facebook, etc. offer breaking news and practicaladvice for social media marketers at every skill level.

Lynda.comRecently purchased by LinkedIn, Lynda.com remains thebest-in-class tutorial website for learning new technologyand business skills. They offer thousands of classes, updatedregularly, many dealing with social media marketing.

Nation’s Restaurant Newsnrn.com has a page devoted to social media news, and youcan follow columnist Bret Thorn on Twitter @foodwriterdiary

Barry Chandler on Twitter @barry_chandlerFollow the former Bar Blogger, who spun his success in thehospitality industry into a full brand consultancy agency.

Restaurant-Hospitality.comFeaturing frequent articles on marketing and social media.

YOU TALKIN’ TO ME?

DEALING WITH TROLLSIn online terms, a troll is a person who intentionally tries to cause trouble, start arguments and generally upset others. It’s best to ignore them. (Don’t fight with them on any publicwebsite – that’s what they want, and it only makes you lookbad.) If necessary, you can ban someone on Facebook orblock them from following your Twitter account.

AIM FOR

This kind of engagement is the ultimate social media goal,indicating that your content is so compelling, so interesting,newsworthy or entertaining that others want to share it withtheir own networks. Within your audience, the curators,tastemakers and influencers sharing your content couldhave a direct effect on your online reputation and business.

Shares, retweets and reposts are more valuable than LIKESbecause they’re earning you increased organic reach, putting your content in front of new prospective customerswithout incurring any advertising cost. Every time you getready to post something on social media, you should askyourself if it’s share-worthy. If not, make it better, then post!

The qualities that make content share-worthy differ for each network (see page 6), but there are some reliable guidelines:

Use great photos.Use videos, but keep them short.No long paragraphs of text.Be newsworthy.Be friendly.Be funny.Be persuasive.Don’t be boring.Don’t look or sound like an advertisement.Don’t repost the same content repeatedly.

WHAT MAKES A POST SHAREABLE?

YOUR VISUAL TOOLKITThere are many easy-to-use tools to make your posts lookprofessional, appetizing and visually interesting.

GRAPHIC DESIGNCanva.com is an amazing, template-based design site thatwill have you cranking out beautiful social media posts inminutes. Also try Pablo by Buffer at buffer.com/pablo andAdobe’s new mobile app for iOS, Adobe Post.

PHOTO EDITINGPicmonkey.com, Pixlr.com, Befunky.com, Apple Photos and the classic Adobe Photoshop Elements. Mobile Apps: Adobe Lightroom Mobile, Snapseed, Enlight,Instagram Layout, LiveCollage

ANIMATED GIF and SLIDESHOW CREATIONGiphy.com, Animoto.com, Stupeflix.com, Photodex.com

VIDEO EDITINGApple iMovie, Adobe Premiere Elements

VIDEO HOSTINGYouTube.com, Vimeo.com, Wistia.com

BETTER CAMERA APPSVSCO Cam, Open Camera, Camera+, Camera360Ultimate

SnapChat users share 760 million photos each day. WhatsApp users share 700 million photos each day. Facebook users share 350 million photos each day.

Even back in 2014, we uploaded 657 Billion photos to social media, a number projected to double each year.

PEOPLE LOVE PHOTOS

Facebook users watch 100 Million Hours of video each day.YouTube users watch 4 Billion videos each day, equating to 6 billion hours of video each month.

PEOPLE LOVE VIDEOS

There are over 178 million photos on Instagram tagged #Food and over 56 million tagged #foodporn.

PEOPLE LOVE FOOD PHOTOS

UTILIZE YOUR EMPLOYEESYour staff are in the best position to photograph the cool stuffhappening in your restaurant. If they’re not permitted to usetheir phones on the clock, provide a shared camera!

New product announcements or limitedtime offerings are newsworthy and veryshareable! This Butterscotch Latte postearned Starbucks 2,600 retweets!

Volunteer work or involvement with charities, especially at the local level, is share-worthy. This post about OG’shunger-relief efforts got 161 shares.

Your signature dishes and unique items are great for building your brand. These Buffalitos got 189 retweets!

This post about a light-hearted ‘holiday’paired with a mouth-watering photoearned 2,324 shares! Wow!

A short, entertaining clip about guacamole preparation got over 20,000 views and over 4,000 shares.

Applebee’s knows everyone loves bacon.And 1,292 of their fans love it enough to share this appetizing post.

Shareability works both ways!

To introduce their re-developed ‘Clean’ Broccoli Cheddar Soup recipe, Panera Breadis running a promotion that shares direct quotations from customers’ social media reviews about the soup into a 35-minute long (and counting) video on their website.

Each reviewer is recognized by their social media handle, and Panera even includes reviews from people who preferred their previous Broccoli Cheddar Soup recipe.

When it’s appropriate, consider sharing or retweeting posts from your customers.

Looking for more ideas about how to use social media to market your restaurant?

Ask your Sysco Marketing Associate for this great reference booklet: Stuff to Post on Social Media –101 Things Besides Today’s Specials. It’s filled with real-world examples of what restaurants largeand small are posting on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

MORE CREATIVE IDEAS!

ALWAYS

Millennials are very skeptical of anything that looks orsounds like traditional advertising. Instead, they crave authentic interactions with authentic brands. For restaurants,this means being more open and communicative about yourmission and vision, more transparent about your values andhistory, and more down to earth, in general.

Starbucks, Chick-Fil-A and Chipotle are leading the way byfocusing not only on the quality of the customer experience,but on their employees, their culture and the communitiesthey serve. Customers want great food from a company withintegrity. Shake Shack’s blog is called ‘Stand for SomethingGood,’ and that’s a lesson we can all take to heart.

“62% of Millennials say that if a brand engages with them on social networks, they are more likely to become a loyal customer. They expect brands to not only be on social networks, but to engage them.”

- Forbes, January 2015

YOUR STORY YOUR BRAND YOUR STAFFYour business doesn’t need a longhistory to have a compelling story.

Your current customers support youbecause of the experience you’re providing, but if you open up andshare your motivation and the reasons you love working (and work-ing hard) in the hospitality industry,that message could establish a morepersonal connection and persuade anew customer to try your restaurantfor the first time.

Social media and your website areperfect for communicating your restaurant’s Mission and Vision (as seen on the following page.)These things are all unique to yourbusiness, and can help differentiateyou from the competition.

Your brand should be uniquely yourown and an authentic representationof your personality.

Craft all your social media posts (and all your marketing in general)in a consistent tone of voice that’s authentic to your company and thatwill ring true to your customers.

Use graphic tools like Canva.com toincorporate your logo, your companycolors, any custom photography, yourbrand personality and everythingthat makes your restaurant special.

A great food photo can make a greatpost, but a great food photo that’salso well-branded with your logoand/or colors will work much harderto promote your restaurant and keep you at the forefront of yourcustomer’s minds.

Your staff are your most underutilized marketing resource. They are a big partof what makes your restaurant unique,and featuring them on your web siteand social media demonstrates thatyou’re proud of them, and makes yourbusiness feel more human and relatable.

Encourage your staff to be brand ambassadors online and IRL (in real life).Use the photos and videos they take behind the scenes to give your fans insight into how your restaurant works.

Host team-building events for your staffand take lots of photos to share later.

Choose a different member of your staffeach week to write a 5-word review oftheir favorite dish on your menu andpost the ‘review’ on Facebook or Twitter,along with their photo, and/or a photoof the menu item!

We Stand For Something Good in everything we do, which also means thoughtful and sustainable design of every Shack, community support through donations and programming, and hand-picked music played in each Shack (because a burger tastes a little better with good tunes).

- from the Stand for Something Good blog at ShakeShack.com

Day after day, we’re committed...- To sourcing the very best ingredients we can find and preparing them by hand.

- To vegetables grown in healthy soil, and pork from pigs allowed to freely root and roam outdoors or in deeply bedded barns.

We’re committed because we understand the connection between how food is raised and prepared, and how it tastes.

We do it for farmers, animals, the environment, dentists, crane operators, ribbon dancers, magicians, cartographers, and you.

- From the Food With Integrity page at Chipotle.com

Our HeritageEvery day, we go to work hoping to do two things: share great coffeewith our friends and help make the world a little better. It was truewhen the first Starbucks opened in 1971, and it’s just as true today.

- From the About Us page at Starbucks.com

Now, with over 1,900 bakery-cafes in the U.S. and Canada, we still pay attention to the important things. Like serving food that’s free of the artificial stuff (see our No No List) and making sure you have a great experience (have you tried online ordering?). All of this, what it all comesdown to, is wanting for our guests exactly what we want for our own families. Simply: good food.

- From the Our Beliefs page at PaneraBread.com

LOYALTY TO PEOPLE, COMMUNITY AND BUILDING AMERICASince 1983, Jimmy has created 45,000 jobs across America.

We add 210 new jobs per week.We have 1,500+ small business locations across America being supplied by and supported by thousands of small businesses:Local plumbers, electricians, contractors and repair companies are employed in store upkeep and maintenance.Locally purchased produce is brought into our stores, and fresh sliced daily.Local construction, electrician, plumbers and carpenters are used to build our JJ stores.We use local signage manufacturers and tile installers supporting small business across America.

- From the Sustainability page at JimmyJohns.com

Ask your Sysco Marketing Associate for more information on building your digital identity.