To get the word out (or simply remind people) about your restaurant, social media channels offer a cost-effective solution. But using them can be tricky. We’ve given you some handy social media marketing strategies and tips for upping your social game. So, we thought it was a good time to check in and see how you’re doing – and what else you can try. Here is our quick guide to monitoring your social media.
What’s your reach?
The tastiest content in the world doesn’t mean much if no one is seeing it, right? Reach is a key component to getting your message out there to as many potential customers as possible.
WHAT IT IS: Reach simply means the number of different people who are seeing your content. So, how many people have seen your Facebook post, for example. (Not to be confused with impressions, but more on that in a moment.)
HOW YOU CAN MONITOR IT: With some social posts like Instagram stories, for example, you can easily see how people have viewed your post right within the platform. Other channels aren’t so simple. You can subscribe to an affordable social monitoring tool to measure social reach.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Your reach can give you an indication of how many people are sharing your content (a sure sign that people like it!) Look at your reach’s percentage of followers versus non-followers. Plenty of non-followers means lots of shares or an algorithm has picked up your content – both very good for you!
HOW YOU CAN IMPROVE IT: So, if you want to reach more potential customers, here are a few things you can try. Test out different posting times to find your audience, try out video content if you haven’t yet, and use Instagram ads.
Are you making an impression?
Because we are often inundated with so much social content, it can be easy to forget something you saw, even if you liked it. This is where impressions come in.
WHAT IT IS: Impressions are the number of times your content is displayed on a screen, without factoring in whether or not they are seen or engaged with. (So, this number will always be higher than your reach)
HOW YOU CAN MONITOR IT: The same social media listening tools that can measure your reach can also measure your impressions.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Impressions can work as a quality check for your content. If you have high impressions, without a lot of likes, sharing, or boost in business, it may mean that audiences simply aren’t into your content.
HOW YOU CAN IMPROVE IT: It may be time to shake things up with your content.
Are they engaged?
You already know that running a restaurant is all about relationships with customers. As many as they come for the food, they’re also coming for the friendliness and warmth. This is where social media engagement comes in.
WHAT IT IS: Engagement rate is a metric often used to track how actively involved your audience is with your content, and how effective your brand campaigns are.
HOW YOU CAN MONITOR IT: This one you can easily do on your own. Simply look at how many comments are being generated by each of your posts.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: High engagement rates indicate audience health, interesting content types, and brand awareness.
HOW YOU CAN IMPROVE IT: Ask questions of your audience to get them involved. What’s their favourite dish? What would they love to see on your menu?
But what are they saying?
Lots of conversation isn’t always a good thing if audiences are only saying negative things.
WHAT IT IS: Social sentiment is more than just whether or not people are talking about you. It’s all about what they’re saying and how they’re feeling about your business.
HOW YOU CAN MONITOR IT: Simply watch the conversations people are having on your posts. Are they complaining about the food? The service? Hours?
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: It can help you look for ways to make your business better and make customers happy.
HOW YOU CAN IMPROVE IT: Respond, respond, respond! Ignoring customer complaints will not make them go away (but it may ensure your customers never come back!) Acknowledge their concerns, promise to make improvements, and deliver on those promises.
Are you breaking through with click-through?
One of the strategies we suggested in a previous blog story was doing Instagram and Facebook ads. It’s a good idea to look at the numbers and see how you did.
WHAT IT IS: Click-through rate (or CTR) will tell you how many people saw your ad and clicked on it to find out more about your business or take advantage of an offer.
HOW YOU CAN MONITOR IT: Both Facebook and Instagram have built-in analytics tools that can tell you how your ads did.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: This gives you a sense of how many people saw your social content and wanted to know more. It’s a good indicator of how well your social content promotes your offering (Divide # clicks for a post / # of impressions * 100).
HOW YOU CAN IMPROVE IT: Maybe your offer simply wasn’t enticing enough, so you can try something even more mouth-watering. You can also try adjusting your target audience or upping your spend on your ads.
Are you getting your piece of the pie?
Your social media doesn’t exist in a bubble. How do you stack up to your competitors?
WHAT IT IS: Social Share of Voice (or SSoV) tells you how many people are talking about your brand or business on social media – in comparison to your competitors.
HOW YOU CAN MONITOR IT: Use a social listening tool that can track social media mentions in your industry. Then, do a little math, adding up mentions of your brand, then divide that figure by industry mentions in total (that will include your mentions and your competitors’ mentions as well). This will give you your percentage of the conversation.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT: Success is all relative. If you’re losing social media ground to your competition, chances are you’re also losing sales.
HOW YOU CAN IMPROVE IT: It’s all about standing out from the crowd. Think of what makes your business unique and how you can share that with your social media audience. You can also work to create more shareable content and collaborate with influencers.
We hope this helps you make the most of your social media presence. Remember, social is not a set-it-and-forget-it deal. Like a great recipe, it takes some fine-tuning and constant attention.
