Local social media - need help

First of all, i think it's wrong that you don't have a website that connects there social accounts together ( if that's the case ) . Also, four social media accounts, kind of hard to raise them all. I would focus on 2 or 3 maximum. Only those that works best.
Talking about local, what kind of social media the people in your area use? Find that out .

And as a restaurant you can make some cool contest on facebook or something like that, where you offer a romantic dinner for two . Give them something in exchange of shares !

It is hard to get targeted real, active fans.

First they need to be within your city.
And you really, really will need to invest a LOT of time creating/publishing engaging content for all 4 platforms.

And stiell it does not guarantee you grow your fan base.

Then you need to convince them to follow your accounts. Maybe using funny/entertaining topics. Also engaging them with topics related to you city, its history, events, etc.
Analyse what time it's the best to post, and reply to all comments/messages your users send through you social pages.

Other that that, it will be faster/cheaper to run a very well personalised campaign.

1. First you need to create a website for your restaurant. Purchase the domain with the same name(hopefully it's not taken) For example if your restaurant name is Donny's Bar and Grill, try to get donnybargrill.com or a variation of that same domain. You can get a domain for 99 cents at Godaddy or go to Namecheap.

Then purchase hosting with Hostgator and then get your website up in just a few minutes by installing Wordpress and installing a good looking theme.

2. Once you have your website up and running now you should add some content. Add an about page, contact, page, a menu page, and some articles that could maybe focus on some great features of your restaurant. Like the location, the atomosphere, and even some pillar articles on the most popular dishes you serve. Whatever you write about make sure its high quality and things that can build some interest from your potential customers. Try to have at least 10 great articles with incredible pictures and most importantly some videos.

3. Once your website has a good amount of content, now you can go ahead and create your social media accounts. Here are the big 5 that your should definitely have setup, but in the beginning try to just focus on the first 3:

• Facebook (Since you have a local business make sure you create a local business Facebook page)
• Twitter
• Youtube
• Google+ (Make sure to verify your Google+ account)
• Pinterest

4. Since you are a local business you definitely should create a Google Places page. Have it optimized for the name of your restaurant so that you show up in the local listings when people search for you in Google. Try to create as many citations as you possibly can with the exact information you setup on your Google Places page. That way you increase your rank in the local listings.


5. Once you have all these setup add them to your website. Some themes in Wordpress allow you to add social accounts to the page or your can just create a widget of your own and add them that way.


6. To increase your organic reach in Facebook your going to have to target your market. You can't just expect your post to reach all your fans anymore, so you have to be proactive. Join as many local groups as you can and focus on people that love either food in general or your specific type of food. Then instead of just going on there and spamming your content, you're going to build a relationship with these people. Like, comment, and share their content first. Really try to engage with these people and ask them questions that can lead to you providing answers from telling them about your restaurant.


7. When you've connected with these people you are now in a more trusting position, so you can now let them know about your restaurant.



First your going to make a post on your page with a link back to your website. Choose any of the articles or videos you posted on your site and use that link to post on your page. Add one of the pictures on the post so that it stands out and the link right below it.



Now, you're going to share this post you made on your page to all of those groups. Give each share a different and enticing description. Do not just post the same description on all posts.



If you do this consistently what's going to happen, depending on how well you developed those relationships in those groups is that a percentage of the people who see the post will engage with it. Some will click on it, some won't. Some will share it. Some won't. Some will like it. Some won't even care. Doesn't matter you just keep doing it over and over but the key is to treat everyone in the groups how you would like them to treat you. You want them sharing and clicking on your content, then you better be doing the same for them. It's as simple as that.


8. Twitter is the same thing only you have to do everything you did on Facebook to translate into the Twitter world. With Twitter you're going to follow as many people interested in your niche, people who love food. Better if its exactly the food you serve at your restaurant and even better if its within your area. So follow them and start retweeting, replying back, and favoriting their tweets just like you would like them to do for you. When you're ready create a tweet with a great picture and a short enticing description maybe hashtagging a popular food item.


9. Create a great video of your restaurant and upload it to youtube. Give it a title optimizing your keyword and a long description with the link to your website in the very beginning. Share this video on your Facebook page and Twitter.


10. Google+ is great because it's connected to your Youtube account so if you uploaded your video and left the default settings you should already have your video showing on your page. Now it's finding people in your niche and adding them to your circles. Create circles for potential customers and connect with them. Look through their feed and find something related to your restaurant and make a comment. +1 anything you like and then share that on your social network and let them know you have. They will love you for it and will start to care about what you post.

11. With Pinterest go on there and create a board for all of your restarurants pics. Create a board with the exact name you want people to find it on Google, so it should be the same as your Google Places Page. Uplaod all your best pictures in that board and start finding other boards related to yours. Remember, you're in the food niche so start looking for people interested in food and better yet the food you serve and in your local area. Like the boards you find and leave comments that will get the owners attention. People love to be complimented on their pics, so write something that does that. You will get responses back and they will then start following your board and actually care about what pictures you upload.

If you do this you will definitely increase your fans and engagement. If this sounds like a lot of work...it is, but it's also not as difficult as most people make it out to be. If you're not willing to do it yourself find someone who knows about social media and hire them to do it for you. Its a great investment especially if you are a serious business owner.

I hope this helps.

Wow, that is a really detailed post! And, yeah, you'll need to put in a lot of effort if you want to do this all by yourself.
Also, print flyers with your restaurant and mention your social media accounts. it's a form of offline marketing, it should help you out.

That is a great primer for any local business


I would add - build a brand - get a good logo, theme and use it on everything.


If appropriate you can make fuss of taking pics of regular customers (with permission of course) or pic with the chef and put them on social media


Facebook is great for specials - the new call to action feature is nice


Loyalty programs are good for pizza, sub shops etc - there are several out there that are very affordable and they supply the tablet for people to sign up -
you should be getting emails any way you can


It pays to give - hook up a local charity and allow them to host a fundraiser at your place - great for pr
Of course pick one you like, support but - would be best if they have an active social network,


Again it depends on type of restaurant you have but one idea is to get busy on Linked in and with biz networking groups in your city and invite them to hold a business breakfast or ? happy hour at your place


The more you get other people "engaged" and "involved" with your restaurant the better you are
be sure to have your accurate menu on your website - I think people are very turned off when they go out to eat and find out the food prices went up and the menu on the website was not accurate. I know a popular local food critic where I live has called out various establishments for that