You have hundreds of post ideas right in front of you already! It just takes attention to detail and precise evaluation to break your restaurant into bite-sized (pun not intended) content for your social media calendar. Creating visually appealing and engaging social media posts for restaurants can help attract new customers and keep existing ones coming back.

I wish I could have listed the hundreds of post ideas you can add to your content calendar, but that doesn’t make it personalized. These six simple guidelines are starting points for your content strategy — everyone can and will follow them. Implementing these guidelines with the correct approach, however, is what will make your restaurant a local favorite.

Suggested: How to Determine the Right KPI (for Beginners)

How do I generate endless content ideas?

The trick to keeping the creative juices flowing and having your social pages appear to be an endless flow of creativity is attention to detail! We can easily use umbrella categories like “restaurant” or “diner” when brainstorming ideas for your business, but that doesn’t set you apart from competitors. It’s the amalgamation of the finer details that makes your restaurant unique.

Use this attention to detail when thinking of your social media posts. Yes, you are a restaurant, but now break that term down deeper into your services, menu, specific dishes, specific ingredients, and suppliers. You can break down the larger umbrella term of restaurant and find hundreds, if not thousands, of fine details that make you you.

We already know you serve food; that’s a given. So let's take a look at the categories of posts you can implement in your calendar:

Social Media Posts for Restaurants

#1. Show off your menu

Use Instagram and Facebook to showcase your restaurant’s menu items. High-quality photos of your dishes will make your menu look more appealing and make your followers crave your food.

To break this down even further, you can discuss each dish's different aspects. Make posts about the origin, ingredients used, history, and inspiration to add some background to your posts.

That’s already four different posts about one of your dishes, do this to your entire menu, and you have hundreds of things to post about!

#2. Promote specials and deals

Use social media to promote any specials or deals you have going on. This can be anything from a happy hour special to a discounted menu item or a loyalty program.

This is one of the best restaurant social media campaigns. You can post about your specials and deals frequently to remind followers they exist or in case they missed it the first time you posted. In fact, you only reach about 12–32% of your followers with every new post — so you can guarantee a larger reach by posting about it again later on in your schedule.

#3. Share customer reviews

Share positive customer reviews on your social media profiles. This will help to build trust with potential customers and show that your restaurant is a great place to dine.

It doesn’t have to be a screenshot of your most recent Yelp or Google review. To be quite honest, that looks lazy and effortless. If you really want to stand out from the crowd, have some of your guests record video testimonials!

Video testimonials are much, much better than written ones. They cater more toward our emotional decision-making and build empathy with fellow customers. It should only take a few minutes of your time to record or repost a customer’s review. (Make sure you vet it first)

Suggested: 1 Word That Links Every Successful Brand

#4. Host a social media contest

Host a social media contest to give followers a chance to win prizes, such as a free meal or a gift card. This will help to build engagement and attract new followers.

Similar to specials and deals, this creates a sense of urgency for visiting. As an added bonus, these posts will likely get much more traction and reach bigger and better audiences. I’d recommend using entry criteria that encourage tagging friends or sharing, as this can exponentially increase your reach.

#5. Share behind-the-scenes content

Share behind-the-scenes content, such as videos of your kitchen or photos of your staff, to give followers a glimpse into the inner workings of your restaurant. This will help to build a sense of transparency and trust with your customers.

#6. Collaborate with other businesses

Collaborate with other businesses, such as food bloggers or local food influencers, to reach a wider audience and promote your restaurant.

This is another great way to see new leads and build trust. Collaborations help integrate your business into the community and industry and build your presence.

I recommend looking into influencer and affiliate marketing to see if either suits your business.

Suggested: Popular Hashtags are Holding Back Your Social Media Marketing Success - The Key to Effective Hashtag Use

Conclusion

If you want to create an engaging social media presence for your restaurant, follow these restaurants' social media post examples. It may be difficult at first, but referring back to a list like this can help keep you organized and productive.

I always encourage making a social media content calendar for restaurants, as that helps you focus on other things most of the time. It can be difficult to keep returning to the marketing mindset daily when you need to post. Allocating some more time, but less frequently, lets you be in that flow state and check off your entire week’s (or month’s) content calendar.

Suggested: The Reason You’re Not Getting Followers on Social Media Isn’t Your Content Quality

If you found this article helpful, please consider buying me a coffee as a token of your appreciation. It helps keep me fueled and inspired to continue creating content for you!