4 Tips For Improving Your Restaurant's Facebook Page
By Matt Krautstrunk

If you don't already have a Facebook Page for your restaurant, get one. A Facebook Page gives you endless opportunities to market your services to your customers and target market. Whether you are looking to promote local deals, or simply increase exposure for your business you should understand how to optimize your Facebook Page to drive engagement. Here is a step by step instruction to setting up your Facebook Page.

1. Content

One of the most important features of a great Facebook Page is consistently updating it with content. If your restaurant's website has a blog, linking your Facebook to your blog gives your followers a bit more to chew on. Blog about daily specials, trends in the industry and local company news. Set up your blog with your home domain and keep the branding consistent. Blogging for Facebook is a great idea to drive traffic to your website.

Vacant Facebook Pages are inefficient and could actually hurt your brand. Make sure to consistently update your content weekly, if not daily. Add a human element to your updates and keep them short and sweet.

2. Pictures

The first place most users will go to when visiting your page is your pictures. This is a place to give a virtual tour of your restaurant as well as convey emotion. Make sure your pictures are clean, and convey the emotion of your restaurant. If your run a rustic pizza place, you are not going to want hip, fisheye lens pictures with photoshop effects. Keep your images consistent with your branding. I think that a restaurant should always look to put images of employees and customers on their Facebook page. Adding a personal level to your social communications is what social media is all about.

3. Facebook Ads

Looking to promote your business locally? Facebook is a great way to get people to recognize your brand. It may not be the most effective method for getting foot traffic, (search engine marketing is much better) but increasing brand awareness is important. If your restaurant is a highly branded business you have a bit more flexibility with your ads.

Include an actionable picture and a testimonial in your call to action. Be sure to market the page to local residents, there is no specific geo-targeting however you can get people who claim they live in a certain area. Facebook is unique because if you are crafty you can create your own target market. If you think that people who like the band, "Aerosmith" will like your restaurant, you can show an ad to Aerosmith Fans. The possibilities are endless

4. HTML Plugins

Setting up a custom HTML page for your Facebook can be extremely engaging. There are a few ways you can go about adding an HTML page to your site. Facebook currently only allows you to add photos, video and info, but plugins make virtually anything possible on the platform.

We all know the powers of social media for business. Twitter can be quite an engaging tool for restaurant marketers; however Facebook is potentially the most robust platform for restaurants because it allows photos, info and HTML plugins within a custom page. Optimizing your Facebook Page takes a little time, but doing it right is worth the extra effort.