Dish it Out! Talking About Your Food on Facebook
Using Facebook to share updates about your restaurant is easy. But talking about your food on Facebook in a manner that provokes customer interest, gains your posts some traffic, and effectively promotes your restaurant? That can be a lot harder. Your business is based on food, and your food should be a key component of your social media and online strategies. But how exactly should you be talking about your food on Facebook? Here are our tips for how to dish about your food on Facebook.
Let Pictures Speak!
No matter how talented of a writer you are, uploading a picture of your food to Facebook will probably be more effective in conveying how great your dishes are than a written description ever could. When talking about your food on Facebook, let the food speak for itself by posting clearly lit and professional looking photographs. Of course, it’s a good idea to accompany every picture with a good description that will catch people’s attention, and we’ll share lots of tips on how to talk about your food with words, too. But before we do, it needs to be said that good pictures of your food speak for themselves, and should be included in your posts as often as possible.
Turn to Your Menu
When you first wrote up the menu for your eatery, you probably put a lot of effort and thought into the process of describing your dishes in a concise and appealing manner. And in a big way, those are the main goals you should keep in mind when posting about your food on Facebook. When describing a dish to your Facebook followers, start with your menu description. Facebook updates allow for a lot more words and verbiage than your menu probably does, but looking at your menu descriptions and expanding on them is a good way to talk about your food in a manner that will get potential customers interested.
Talk Like a Waiter
Stumped on how to expand on what’s written on your in a way that conveys just how great your food is? Think about how an expert waiter would describe whatever dish you are talking about if that dish was a special they were trying to sell to a customer sitting in your restaurant. Make sure to talk about the premium ingredients that make up the dish, how those ingredients are prepared, and what makes your food special. And, just like an expert waiter, don’t talk about your dishes for TOO long. Just share the highlights as best you can, focusing on what makes your food great and incorporating descriptive words like an experienced server would.
Rely on Testimonials
Do you have some regular customers that are such loyal fans, they can’t stop ranting about your food? Post those testimonials on Facebook! Ask your fans for their permission first of course, to make sure you maintain those good relationships. But once you get their go ahead, post as many testimonials about your food as you can. Hearing other customers describe how great your food is will help potential fans get pushed towards your doors, and by recognizing your core fan base that give you rave reviews, you help build community around your restaurant as well.
Don’t be Shy!
If you aren’t comfortable singing your foods’ praises, then push yourself outside of your comfort zone. It’s important that when you’re describing your food, you brag a little, and keep your posts very positive. You want Facebook users to see your pictures, with nice descriptions attached that have utilized all of the tips in this article. And you want the message of all of your posts to be positivity, and to catch the attention of your potential diners and long time fans alike. Don’t worry too much about sounding too gung-ho about your food. You SHOULD be your biggest fan!
Things to Avoid When Talking About Your Food on Facebook
While all of the tips in this article so far will definitely set you on the right path where talking about your food on social media is concerned, there are some big pitfalls you should keep in mind and avoid on Facebook and other social media sites. First, make sure your food descriptions and posts aren’t too long. Attention spans are notoriously short on social media, and you want your text to be pithy and to the point. Second, don’t assume that your Facebook fans know very much about your food. Be deliberate in your descriptions, being sure to describe everything as if it were a Facebook user’s first contact with what you’re serving. Finally, don’t ignore any of the other tips about Facebook we have shared so far. Talking about your food can be hard, but if you follow the tips above, you’ll be dishing about your food on Facebook in no time.