Are you still connected to your customers?
Right now, you may have had to close your restaurant and takeaways are not an option. It’s almost as if everything has been taken away from you. But, if you really love your company, you don’t have to completely step away from it. You have the power of social media and in these unprecedented times, we are still very fortunate to be in an era where we can access almost everything and anything wherever you are within the UK. Having an internet connection has made it possible for you to do exactly what you need right now. To CONNECT. We cannot stress how vital this is in order for you to survive.
How can you connect with your customers?
If you have been collecting email addresses, when taking a booking, send an email with an update and tell your customers that you are still here and you can’t wait to see them again. Remember to include CTA’s to all your social media platforms, not only in a newsletter but your email signatures. If they aren’t following you, this can prompt them to do so.
Using whichever social media platform you choose, make regular updates and jump on the trending hashtags, for example, #nationalcoffeeweek with posts about coffee from your establishment, or ways of making different coffees at home and while you are there, use a coffee related quote, get people involved with polls and questions.
A lot of well-known establishments are giving away their popular recipes for free on social media. If you have that best selling dish and the ingredients are easily available in any home kitchen, do a quick video from your phone and show your customers that they can also make their favourite dish. If you have everything ready, do a live cook along. It has been a huge success for many chefs, home cooks and celebrities, and you will be surprised at the interactions. A great example of a live cook along and Instastories since the lockdown is from our Graphic Kitchen Brand Ambassador, Nisha Parmar who had 27k followers, which has now increased by over 10k.
Ask your customers what they want to see. Being completely honest and open will actually help you to create your content. Right now we see a lot of people trying to create menus for the week using minimum ingredients but are nutritious. Share ideas in forms of plans.
If you have any products such as a bottled sauce that you usually sell at your restaurant, send a few to some chefs and cooks and ask them to use your product and create a short video to show your customers different ways of using it. This way you are not only connecting with your customers but also the influencer’s followers which in the long run will likely increase your followers which potentially can increase your bookings once you reopen your restaurant. Another client of ours, Tailors Kitchen, launched a Hot Sauce and this was gifted to influencers which had ultimately increased sales as this showed an audience how this sauce is versatile and can be used in many ways.
There are a lot of people using social media to communicate and connect, so for some, your content may actually be helping some people overcome loneliness they may be experiencing so see this as a tool to also help others as well as your business.
If you are in need of social content planning, then get in touch with us at Graphic Kitchen and we can help you with your social media.
