Boost Holiday Online Ordering With Social Media and Deal Sites

The strategy that you have for marketing your restaurant during the holidays can be different than what you do during the rest of the year. There is a lot of competition out there that is working hard to get a piece of the holiday action, so it takes a little something extra to get noticed. Your restaurant can use social media and deal sites, like Groupon, to start driving more holiday online orders.

Types of Offers

There are several offers that you can avail your restaurant of during this time of year that will do exceptionally. One is offering a discount on an order made during online ordering. For instance, you can offer a coupon through a deal website, such as Groupon, where the purchaser will be granted a discount on their order. Another option is to make an offer where the patron can get a discount on a second online order when using a promo code during their first order.

Another offer type that is very popular during the holidays is gift card promotions. Gift cards are huge during the holidays because they make a very convenient gift in that they are quick to purchase, can fit a need for the gift receiver, don’t require wrapping, and can be easily slipped into a holiday card. Plus, buyers love deals that can offer them a gift when buying gifts, such as buy a 50 dollar gift card for your loved one and get a 10 dollar gift card for yourself for free. Who doesn’t like getting a little something for himself or herself while doing their holiday shopping?

Using Social Media

Social media can be a very powerful way to get attention to your business that you’re already using. The holidays are a great time to look into offering great deals through social media advertising and your profile page. You can already have a very active following that will continue to use online ordering, and when interacting with your brand, get their network interested in your brand. Social media was basically tailor-made for marketing.

Pros and Cons of Social Media

Pros

• A pro of social media marketing is that you’ve already established your online presence with this medium, and you’ve already started building an online presence.
• If you’re not using actual advertisement, but just posting about your offers on your existing social media accounts, you won’t have to pay any fees.

Cons

• Social media marketing can be more time consuming because you need to handle all of the advertisements and postings about your offers.
• Social media marketing also requires you to have some knowledge of your target audience to get your message to those who may place an order or visit your establishment.

Using Groupon and Other Deal Sites

Groupon and deal sites offer a very powerful proposition. You have a chance to get in front of patrons that hadn’t thought about placing an online order previously, and now, they have an incentive to give your restaurant a try without you having to put money down upfront. Most deal sites just require you to agree to their promotional conditions, and you go ahead and set up the type of promotion you’d like to offer. Some go with a prefixed menu or a percentage off a meal to be used as a gift card.

Pros and Cons of Groupon and Other Deal Sites

Pros

• Your brand gets noticed by a larger number of individuals that might not have come across your restaurant previously. This includes about 44 percent of Groupon users that frequent restaurants often and 34 percent of users that infrequently dine out.
• A coupon helps to build relationships. If a diner is happy with their dining experience or their online order, there’s a good chance that they will purchase from you again at a later date at full price.

Cons

• This type of deal can attract bargain seekers that may not purchase again at a full price. They may move on to the next coupon deal rather than pay full price at your establishment.
• There is a chance that the promotion may cost you more in the long run as you have to pay 50 percent of the money made on the promotion to the coupon site, so this could eat into any profit margin depending on how your promotion is structured.

Get noticed during the holidays by turning to social media and deal sites. There’s a lot of money flying around during the holiday season, and it’s almost criminal to not put an effort into marketing to earn your share of it. Not matter what type of offers you decide to use for your restaurant or how you go about getting attention for these offers, your business will thrive thanks to your attention.

Still looking for help on improving your online orders? Contact us today, and we’d be happy to talk with you about your options with our company to improve your holiday sales.