User-Generated Content For Restaurants
If you’re a restaurant that’s not taking advantage of user-generated content, then you’re missing out on a huge opportunity not only to get fresh content for your social media platforms at no extra cost but also to engage with your customers who really believe in your brand.
We’re talking about user-generated content for restaurants as part of our series on how businesses can tap into content provided by their customers, why it’s so important, and why it might be one of the better advertising moves you can make.
And yes, this applies to small businesses. User-generated content isn’t something that just major corporations should be putting out there. If you’re a small business, you probably have an advantage over those big businesses because you have a personal relationship with your customers.
Why Restaurants Should Share User-Generated Content
If you own a restaurant, here are three reasons user-generated content is so crucial for you.
1) Free and already created
It’s free and it’s already created for you. When you’re trying to plan out an extensive schedule of social media content, you know just how tough it can be to have something to share every day, sometimes even multiple times a day. In some cases, you can get content curated by others, but you might have to pay for that content creation.
In the case of user-generated content, that content is created by your customers and they’ll usually be more than happy to let you share it. Just be sure to ask first as an important courtesy.
2) Strengthen the relationship
User-generated content will strengthen the relationship between you and your followers. And by followers, we mean customers—we’re just going to assume the followers who are posting about you have already patronized you in some way. And most of them are posting about you on social media because they appreciate what your business does. They want to shout you out! And they’ll be excited if you ask to share their content. After all, the message you’re sending them is that their content is so good that you want to put it out there as part of your brand. It reminds them that they have influence and their opinion matters. They will be more likely to share content in the future.
3) Trustworthy
Compared with other forms of advertising, user-generated content is perceived by others to be much more trustworthy. That’s because it’s content that’s not coming from you as a business—it’s coming from another customer. So when those customers say your business has something good to offer, your other followers are more likely to pay attention.
What Types of User-Generated Content Should Restaurants Share
When you get on social media, take a look at what kind of content you’re being tagged in or what shows up when you search your restaurant’s name. You can be diligent about this by paying close attention to tag notifications or by doing weekly searches.
Don’t be afraid to get creative and think of easy ways to share the posts that people make. Two simple ways to do this include:
Share a review
If you find words of praise, whether with a third-party reviewer like Yelp or on a Facebook post, take a few of the best sentences and turn them into a post for your page. You can even use an app like Canva to place those words into a graphic for some visual appeal.
Repost those pics
If somebody went to your restaurant, they might have taken a few pics of their meal or a cocktail—you know, what some people online describe as “food porn,” a way of bragging that says, “Look at the delicious meal I just enjoyed.” Repost those pics and tell your followers what the user said about their experience at your restaurant.
How Restaurants Can Get User-Generated Content
If you don’t have a very active social media presence (or even if your patrons are a little bit on the passive side) the amount of content people share about your restaurant online could be few and far between. But you, as the restaurant owner, can take an active role in encouraging people to make more posts.
Some ways you can get people excited about making user-generated content include:
Encourage people to share
Put a short announcement in your menu or printed on your receipt telling people that you’d love to see pics of their meal. Sometimes all people need is a little nudge. Also, if there are special occasions, such as New Year’s Eve or even an annual Restaurant Week in your area, be sure to make a call to action on social media telling your followers you want to see pics of them celebrating with you.
Encourage hashtags
An easy way to streamline all the content related to your restaurant is to encourage your guests to use a hashtag. Hashtags are fun and people feel as if they’re part of an inner circle when they use them. Come up with something unique enough that there won’t be many other restaurants using it, but make it simple enough that people won’t easily forget it.
Be consistent
Finally, remember to be consistent about sharing content. Some users will feel slighted if they see a business that isn’t sharing any of the content it’s tagged in. Sure, there will be busy periods where you won’t be able to keep up with all the content. But when a business doesn’t share any, it sends a message to your followers that you don’t care about their content. And that can be discouraging!