Tips for restaurant branding for social media (with examples)

The restaurant industry is more competitive than ever, so having a strong restaurant brand on your social media is a critical way to stand out. Regardless of what kind of business you run or your customer base, you’ll need to get your restaurant branding for social media down to somewhere between a science and an artform.

Restaurant branding in general not only plays a crucial role in helping differentiate you from your competitors. It also plays a significant role in shaping the overall perception and experience of both regulars and potential customers. Consider iconic restaurant brands like McDonald’s, Olive Garden, or Ruth’s Chris steakhouse. No matter your opinion on their menu items or the restaurants themselves, you likely have a clear opinion and understanding of what they’re all about. Your marketing strategy should demonstrate to customers what your deal is from the moment they find you to the moment they leave your door. After all, the dining experience is only one part of the journey. Over 35% of customers find restaurants online, so having a strong and consistent online presence is a solid way to do that.

So, let’s look at restaurant branding for social media including strategies for social media platforms, ways to build brand awareness, how to develop your brand voice, and more.

Develop a unique brand personality

Your restaurant’s brand personality is the set of characteristics, traits, and values that make you you. Many restaurants will go so far as to create a restaurant brand book, which tells employees (especially new hires) exactly that so every staff member is on the same page.

Your personality should be reflected in everything you post online, from the tone and language used in your content to the visual elements and interactions with your audience.

Consider the overall vibe and atmosphere of your restaurant. Are you aiming for a fun, casual atmosphere or do you want to convey a more sophisticated and elegant persona? Depending on your target demographic and brand identity, you can be playful and humorous, sophisticated and refined, or down-to-earth and relatable.

Wendy’s has had a uniquely unserious and witty brand voice for years on its social media platforms, which has garnered it quite a bit of attention.

Your personality depends on you and what you want to represent. It also depends on where you are. If you’re a one-location restaurant, lean into your locale and make the most of it.

For example, check out Moonshine Patio Bar and Grill in Austin. Moonshine is on-point in its branding in that it’s true to its own town, occupying one of the oldest buildings in town and feeling very much like an organic outgrowth of the place. That goes all the way from its location to its menu, décor and, really, the whole thing.

Create a consistent visual identity

Your visual identity includes elements in addition to your color scheme like your logo, typography, imagery, and overall aesthetic.

Consistency in your visual identity helps to reinforce your brand and makes it easily recognizable to your audience. When customers see consistent branding across different social media platforms, it builds trust, familiarity, and a sense of connection.

Developing brand guidelines, like in your brand book, to your visual identity ensures that you’ll have a cohesive visual identity across your social media channels no matter who is in charge of your social media management. Nail down specifics like the visual elements mentioned above and do not deviate from them (unless you think it’s time for an update).

Create engaging content

“Engaging content” is a bit of a nebulous term, we know. That’s because you don’t really know what’s going to be engaging before it hits the metaphorical streets. But to put it simply, engaging content is this: Whatever resonates with your customers and your broader online audience. Your content should showcase your brand’s personality, sure, but it should also provide content that’s informative, entertaining, or otherwise charming.

Think about the types of content your audience is most likely to engage with. If you’re an established business, you probably know your customers already. If not, you probably know who you think they’re going to be. So, put yourself in their shoes. What value can you provide them?

Solid types of content for restaurants include recipes, behind-the-scenes glimpses into your restaurant operations, staff spotlights, or even highlighting user-generated content. Providing a wide range of content that speaks to the interests and needs of your audience helps build a loyal following and fosters a sense of community around your brand.

Check out this recent review from Biang Biang Noodles in Seattle for the perfect type of content to highlight.

You can optimize your content for search engine visibility by using relevant keywords and hashtags to get algorithms on your side. Doing so can help improve your restaurant’s discoverability as well as increase your brand’s messaging. But don’t stray too far into the hashtag world or people will smell a phony, which is decidedly a turn-off.

Use social media platforms effectively

Once your brand identity is all sorted, you’ll need to get busy on multiple social media platforms. The most valuable platforms for restaurants are Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. They all have their own value and demographic, so your social media posts on each social media profile should reflect that.

Both Instagram and TikTok are visual-forward platforms that move fast and have young demographics, especially millennials and Gen Z. Short videos like Instagram stories, Reels, and shorter TikToks are immensely popular these days with younger demographics, and we recommend posting at least a few to several a week, if not more.

“Quality content” on these platforms doesn’t necessarily mean well-curated, highly edited videos. Quite the opposite, in fact: Authentic, real-talk videos can make for a no-nonsense restaurant marketing strategy that can appeal to a somewhat jaded audience who’ve seen marketing tricks their whole lives. So, showcase social media content demonstrating your atmosphere, your staff, your food, behind-the-scenes short-form videos from inside the kitchen, staff, or restaurant owner goofing around, or more. Think of TikTok and Instagram Reels as an avenue for rapid-fire, candid views of what your restaurant is really like.

For a solid TikTok example, check out popular fast food chain Whataburger’s profile. This is the same company that got their own ketchup to have a fan page on social media years ago and is now sold independently in stores, so their social media strategy is one to pay attention to.

Both Instagram posts and Facebook are big on pictures, of course. High-quality photos of new menu items, your restaurant’s aesthetics and ambiance, staff members at work, and the dining experience pushes your personality forward and conveys your restaurant’s brand.

Facebook is good for conversational and informative content like customer testimonials and other user-generated content that’s worth sharing. Your Facebook page is also valuable for not-quite-evergreen but still-relevant updates like menu changes and special events. It’s also a good home base for your location, hours, and contact info.

Build community via social media

Beyond simply posting content, effective restaurant branding for social media also involves building and nurturing a community of engaged followers. This can include responding to customer comments and questions, reposts of user-generated content, and providing an opportunity for your audience to speak directly with you.

Check out the simple yet effective way Aba in Chicago approaches customer questions:

You can conduct polls, Q&As, or social media challenges like prizes for the best photo of your restaurant’s menu items or more. Creating a two-way dialogue with your customers demonstrates that you value their input and, moreover, that you’re a real person that customers can talk to. Responding to online reviews in your comments or on sites like Yelp can make a real difference in how you’re perceived.

Additionally, consider hosting exclusive events or behind-the-scenes events for your social media followers. This can include inviting your most loyal customers or influencers via partnerships for a special menu item teasing, offering exclusive discounts, promotions, or gift cards for followers, or organizing social media-focused events like an Instagrammable brunch or a foodie photo walk. Anything you can do to get more closely in touch with both regular customers and new guests is a win.

LinkedIn can also help demonstrate thought leadership in the industry. As a more business-oriented platform, this is a good place to share success stories, anecdotes from running a business, or community discussions with other restaurateurs.

Measure the success of your restaurant’s social media strategy

Naturally, you’ll want to know just how well your marketing plan is going. Keep an eye on metrics like user engagement and shares to identify what’s working, what needs improvement, and how best to allocate your time and resources to build your customer base.

Some key metrics to consider when measuring your digital marketing plan include:

• Follower growth: Monitor the growth of your social media followers across different platforms to measure the effectiveness of your content and engagement.
• Engagement rates: Measure the level of engagement, including likes, comments, and shares, that your posts are getting to understand what resonates with your audience. What you find might surprise you. If something works better than you expected, aim to repeat it, and it’s worse than expected, drop it.
• Reach and impressions: Track the number of people who are seeing your content to gauge the overall visibility and impact of your brand. This is especially important in paid advertising like Facebook ads.
• Website traffic and conversions: Analyze the amount of website traffic and conversions like reservations or online orders that are driven by your social media presence.

Regularly monitoring metrics is an essential way to figure out what parts of your social media strategy are working and what aren’t. Personally, it was one well-received ad that put my pub on the map, and it wasn’t the one I expected. Expect the unexpected and be prepared to be flexible when handling customer feedback.

From social media branding to regular customers

The goal of any restaurant should be to convert new guests into regular diners. Regular diners are what makes the restaurant world go round. So, from the first moment your restaurant pops into a potential diner’s head to the end of their dining experience, you’ll want to ensure they have a clear picture of who you are and what you’re about—and then remember it and tell their friends.

A great way to get started well is to make interactions with your establishment as seamless and enjoyable as possible.

Engage your customers from the moment they find you online by using top-of-the-line software that handles the entire customer experience from start to finish: Yelp Guest Manager.

Guest Manager syncs with third-party apps, helps restaurants get tons of views—Yelp reaches 9x more consumers online than OpenTable, for example*—and gives your staff the best tools possible to handle guest interactions. It also allows for easy reservations, lets customers hop on waitlists on busy nights, and provides two-way communication for restaurant owners and their customers.

Reach out to us for a free demo and we’ll show you how it works.