Facebook for Your Restaurant

FACEBOOK

FOR

RESTAURANT

YOUR

FACEBOOK FACTS

FACEBOOK FOR YOUR RESTAURANT

Facebook has over

1.15 BILLION

monthly users

with 699 MILLION
active users every day.

Source: Facebook INC.

FACEBOOK FACTS


10.8%

80%

of total online minutes are
spent on Facebook.

of Facebook’s daily users
are from outside the US
and Canada.

Facebook is the top ranked app with 819 million
mobile monthly active users

and a 76.1% penetration among smartphone users
aged 18 and up.

Source: comScore, Facebook INC.

FACEBOOK FACTS


Given these statistics, it’s easy to see how valuable Facebook is for any business, but what about
restaurants in particular? Facebook isn’t just about posting vacation pictures and complaining
about politics. Restaurants stand to see an increase in trafﬁc and sales with a properly updated
Facebook page, especially with these new features:

• 

• 

In a recent partnership with OpenTable, mobile Facebook users are now able to book a
reservation right from the restaurant’s Facebook Page – giving guests instant access to all
20,000 restaurants in North America currently listed on OpenTable.

Users can order food on Facebook through third party applications. This added usability has
shown growth in check averages, order size, and increased visibility through added social
media impressions.

Do we have your attention now?

With this book we aim to arm you with the most valuable information to get your Facebook
page up, running, and making you money. Let’s get started.

First things ﬁrst. Does your restaurant have a Facebook Page yet? If yes, feel free to skip
to Chapter 2: Admin Panel. If not, here’s how to get your page started.

20

In

minutes your restaurant’s Facebook Page will
be up and running.

You just need:

•  Your company email inbox open and waiting

•  Your cover photo: a picture of your establishment that is 851 pixels wide by 315
pixels tall (less than 1 kilobyte)

•  Your proﬁle picture: A logo image that is 160 pixels by 160 pixels

•  A comfy chair

•  This handy guide

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1

GO TO www.facebook.com

This is the main page for Facebook and the portal
where you will sign in every time you want to update
your information or post a new picture.

Beneath the green “Sign Up” button, click “Create a
Page for a celebrity, band or business.


2

CLICK LOCAL BUSINESS OR PLACE


3

ENTER YOUR RESTAURANT’S INFORMATION


Note: it’s important that you read and agree with the Facebook Pages Terms. Some highlights of
Facebook’s regulations are:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Content posted to a Page is public and can be seen
by everyone.

Data collection (a valuable marketing tool) must be
disclosed to users as originating from your business
and not Facebook.

Ads and commercial content must follow Facebook’s
Advertising Guidelines.

Offers must be available for a limited time only.

The lawful operation of any promotions on Facebook
are the responsibility of the restaurant or business
running it – not Facebook. This includes ofﬁcial rules,
terms and eligibility requirements, and compliance
with any governing regulations

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4

LOG INTO FACEBOOK

Your Facebook Page must be associated with a Facebook account. You can either associate the page
with your personal account (not recommended) or create a business account. This will keep your
personal life separate from your business and avoid any sticky situations like personal comments
accidentally posting to your business page.


5

ENTER YOUR BUSINESS EMAIL ADDRESS

Note: the date of birth is only necessary to ensure you are over the age of 13. (Are you?)

You can hide this information from your page later.

Be sure to read and accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy before clicking “Sign Up Now!”


6

CHECK YOUR EMAIL

You will receive an email from Facebook with a link. Click the link (seen below in blue).


8

OPT IN (OR OUT) OF FACEBOOK ADS

You can start running your ads right away or
hold off until your page is more developed.

To opt in: set your budget and audience then
click “Increase Page Likes”.

To opt out: click “Skip”.


…AND YOU’RE DONE!

Here is your “Admin Panel” where you can
see all your new messages and notiﬁcations
as well as control who sees your content,
manage or add new admins, create ads, and
set up offers for your guests. More on this
in Chapter Two.

Don’t forget to add your cover photo
here. This will greatly improve the
aesthetics of your page and create a more
personal and inviting experience for your
guests.

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THE ADMIN PANEL

The Admin Panel is where you can control everything about your page. Here you can manage messages,
check your notiﬁcations, start an ad campaign, or edit anything and everything about your Page.

The most important thing you can do when you start your page is to create a branded domain name.
This will ensure that your Facebook Page shows up when people search for it. Note: this requires a
mobile phone number to be associated with the Page. This number can be hidden from your audience.

Just go to Edit Page then Update Page Info.

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THE ADMIN PANEL

From there click “Enter a Facebook web address under “Page Address”.

You will be asked to verify your account with a mobile phone.

Once that is completed you can choose the name you’d like for you restaurant (we advise
using your full restaurant name to help guests ﬁnd you) and you’re all set.

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THE ADMIN PANEL

IMPORTANT FEATURES

Below is an explanation of the important features you can edit from your Admin Panel.

Under Page Info

•  CATEGORY: Be sure that you are listed as a Local Business – Restaurant/Café.

•  TOPICS: This will help you come up in specific searches. What cuisine/style of dining is your
restaurant?

•  START INFO: Adjust this to input the date your restaurant was founded and other information
around your history.

•  ADDRESS: Keeping your address accurate will help you come up in searches and keep a map on
your profile to help guests find you.

•  SHORT DESCRIPTION: Use this space for a very short description and be sure to include your
restaurant website’s URL hyperlinked to improve search engine optimization.

•  LONG DESCRIPTION: This is a great place to share your restaurant’s story, but be sure to include
any important keywords early on, as this section will appear as your Page’s meta description on
Google and other search engines.

Under Settings

•  POSTING ABILITY: Change this only if you do not want to let guests post on your Timeline
without your approval.

•  MESSAGES: Turning this off forces users to engage on your restaurant Timeline and prevents your
inbox from being flooded with private messages

•  PROFANITY FILTER: For a family-friendly environment, turn on this feature.

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THE ADMIN PANEL

Beyond that, Facebook’s automatic settings should work for your restaurant.

The Admin Roles tab lets you give others access to your Admin Panel. Only share this role with
trusted people and employees who are speciﬁcally working on your Facebook Page.

The More subcategory is where you can manage all the applications available on your Facebook Page.
If you set up mobile ordering, for example, you could edit the app here.

Now your Page is ﬁnally set up. Let’s get to posting.

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1

TELL YOUR RESTAURANT’S STORY

SO WHAT SHOULD YOU DO
WITH YOUR TIMELINE?

Your guests won’t see your Admin Panel when they visit your
Page. But they will see your Timeline: a compilation of all of
your posts, milestones, and photos brought together into
one chronological webpage. Your Timeline is how guests can
learn more about your business before ever stepping foot in
it.

When did you ﬁrst open? When did you expand to a second
location? When did Cheesy Fries become your signature
dish? Guests want to know all about your restaurant to feel
more engaged with the brand, to feel like their money is
going toward someone – not something.


2

INTERACT WITH GUESTS

Don’t let the conversation be one-sided. Guests want to hear from you (or they wouldn’t have
written to you in the ﬁrst place). Don’t miss an opportunity to create a personalized experience for
your guests through Facebook.


3

DRAW THEM IN WITH GREAT PHOTOS

Photos are your friend on Facebook. Be sure to have a killer cover photo, an appropriate proﬁle picture
(this will show up on all of your comments, so your restaurant’s logo is the best ﬁt here), and be sure to
upload beautiful photos of events and new dishes regularly. This is what makes guests click “like”.


4

KEEP YOUR STATUSES SHORT

Lengthy posts are a turn off for guests. Be pithy with your posts. Guests will appreciate it. If you have a
lot to say, make a post directing them to your website and go into speciﬁcs there.


5

DON’T BE A SALESMAN

Users aren’t on Facebook to be
marketed to. If your Page is just a series
of posts telling guests to come to your
restaurant, they won’t bother with your
brand. Instead, engage them in a
conversation. Ask questions and opinions.
Post a restaurant-related joke if it ﬁts into
your brand personality.

Facebook turns your brand into a friend.
What kind of a friend does your
restaurant want to be?


GETTING POPULAR

Now that your initial profile is all set up and you’re ready to start posting, you have to make sure what
you post actually gets seen.

Those with prior experience on Facebook will have heard of EdgeRank, an algorithm used by
Facebook to determine which posts a user sees in his or her News Feed. Why does Facebook choose
what posts users see? Simply put, Facebook is too popular. Without some sort of a metric, users
would miss the important news (like a friend’s engagement) over a photo of an acquaintance’s lunch.

When EdgeRank began, it used three categories to determine a post’s validity to a user: Affinity,
Weight, and Time Decay.

Affinity determines which Pages and users are most important to a user based on interaction. If a
guest is “liking” or sharing your photos and statuses, your posts are more likely to show up in his or
her News Feed.

Weight determines how applicable a specific post is to users. Photos and videos usually hold the most
weight, but a text comment with more likes trumps a photo with no engagement.

How old your post is factors into its Time Decay. Facebook wants to keep a user’s feed fresh and
relevant, so older posts lose value in favor of the new and exciting.

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FACEBOOK FOR

YOUR RESTAURANT

www.aaronallen.com

29

GETTING POPULAR

THE NEW EDGERANK

Fortunately, or unfortunately for those not in favor of change, Facebook has amended its metrics and
now has as many as 100,000 factors playing into a Page’s EdgeRank. (It should be noted here that
EdgeRank is no longer the proper vernacular. The new algorithm, including these many weights, has
yet to be named.) Afﬁnity, Weight, and Time Decay all play a part in this new formula, but many more
factors have now entered the game. Ads clicked, relationship settings, and spam reporting are just
some of the new ways Facebook takes user interactivity into account.

CHECKING EDGERANK

While Facebook does not disclose an individual Page’s EdgeRank, there are third party programs that
can calculate this for you. Be aware, they generally cost money to use. For the best gauge of your
Facebook reach, talk to your fans. Engagement is the best way to see who’s listening and improve
your reach.

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FACEBOOK FOR

YOUR RESTAURANT

www.aaronallen.com

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GETTING POPULAR

As we’ve discussed getting your Page seen and the important factors for a post, we should remember
that anything put on the internet can be seen by everyone – and will be interpreted in millions of
different ways. A light-hearted post could have extreme consequences, as seen by numerous examples
of viral content.

WHAT IS VIRAL CONTENT?

Viral content on Facebook is any status, photo, or video a user posts that is shared across the internet,
beyond the initial reach of said user.

For example, say you post an amazing picture to your Page. John Smith sees it and shares it, then ﬁve
of his friends share it, then ﬁve of their friends share it (and so on and so on). Soon, the whole world
is seeing your photo. On a slow news day, media outlets might pick up the story and then your photo
is not only popular on Facebook, but to local, national, or even international markets.

Sounds like a dream right? What marketer doesn’t want to get free media attention?

Unfortunately, posts that go viral are not always posts about your restaurant that you yourself put out
there – and they might not be the most positive messages you’d want spread about your restaurant.

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FACEBOOK FOR

YOUR RESTAURANT

www.aaronallen.com

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GETTING POPULAR: THE GOOD

One associate went above and beyond for a guest’s last request. The family, moved by the associate’s
kindness, posted their story to the Panera Bread page, garnering 812,348 “likes” for the restaurant chain,
with the story getting picked up by AdWeek as well as other blogs.

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FACEBOOK FOR

YOUR RESTAURANT

www.aaronallen.com

32

GETTING POPULAR: THE BAD

When the owner of Rainy Days Caffe posted “Like
to take a moment right now to thank our
customers whose kids don’t make a mess,”
accompanied by a picture of the messy ﬂoor left
behind, she never expected to become an
international news story.

But guest outrage transformed this post into a viral
freight train. Picked up by the NY Daily News, the
Hufﬁngton Post, and the Daily Mail, this status – that
was meant to be snarky and funny – caused the
owner to receive death threats.

Judging from this example, it’s probably best to leave
guest criticism off your Facebook Page.

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FACEBOOK FOR

YOUR RESTAURANT

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GETTING POPULAR

THE “OH MY GOD, DID THEY JUST SAY THAT?”

Controversy abounds for Sava!, an Italian restaurant from Amarillo Texas. A photo of a sign posted in
the, now closed, restaurant’s window has garnered a bit of negative attention.

“Good luck with your pre-packed frozen [expletive] in this town…We are off to make
money in a town whose average IQ is above room temperature! “

The restaurant’s owners, who have moved their establishment to Lubbock, Texas, maintain that the
sign is not real and people shouldn’t “believe all [they] hear and see...” Of course, that hasn’t stopped
The Hufﬁngton Post, Gawker, Grubstreet, and the Inquistr from picking up the story, garnering some
bad press for the newly re-established restaurant.

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FACEBOOK FOR

YOUR RESTAURANT

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GRAPH SEARCH

The Graph Search feature on Facebook is an integrated search engine that draws answers to user
queries from social media information provided on Facebook. Results can be ﬁltered by location, photos,
videos – even the habits of online friends.

Graph Search is a new way to “get found” online and, as the information database grows, so too will
Graph Search’s importance.

For example, guests can search for “Restaurants my friends like” in Graph Search.

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FACEBOOK FOR

YOUR RESTAURANT

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GRAPH SEARCH

This brings up a list of
restaurants a guest’s friends have
“liked” on Facebook – meaning
the “likes” you get are even
more important now than they
were before.

37

FACEBOOK FOR

YOUR RESTAURANT

www.aaronallen.com

37

GRAPH SEARCH

While the technology is still new and Facebook’s database is ever-evolving, there are some important
steps you can take to make your Facebook Page more visible.

1

Fill Our Your Profile to Completion

Leave no box unfilled. Make sure that your location, restaurant description, website, hours of
operation, photos, and videos are all up. The more information you put out there, the more likely it is
you will be found.

2

Ensure Your Information is Correct

A simple typo can put your restaurant in the wrong state or drive traffic away with the wrong phone
number listed. Be accurate in all your information.

3

Get Those “Likes”

More likes means more visibility. In our example of “Restaurants my friends like” 1 like means you can
show up in 510 searches (the average number of friends Facebook users aged 18-24 have1.)

1Source: Arbitron

and Edison Research

FACEBOOK FOR

YOUR RESTAURANT

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GRAPH SEARCH

4

Have Guests “Check-in” With Your Brand

Check-ins are another way guests can search for your business. Incentivize check-ins with promotions
like a free appetizer with check-in and get more people talking about your restaurant.

5

Upload Those Photos and Videos

Photos and videos are a great way to interact with your guests – and another way they might search
for you restaurant. Did you hold a special promotion night? Guests want to see. Be sure to tag your
business in the pictures as well.

Now that guests (and their friends) can ﬁnd your Page, let’s talk about reaching the audience who has
yet to enjoy your restaurant.

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FACEBOOK FOR

YOUR RESTAURANT

www.aaronallen.com

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ADVERTISING

In a recent study of 1,200 advertisers:

43%

56%

of those surveyed said their ROI increased “somewhat” to
“dramatically” from Facebook ads.

of respondents will be increasing their Facebook ad
budgets.

And when those surveyed listed the top six advertising
sites in order of importance, Facebook came in second
only to Google.

Source: Ad Age

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41

ADVERTISING

Beyond the opportunity to engage with guests for free, Facebook offers a number of options for those
interested in buying advertisements. Studies show that increased ad frequency on Facebook brings
higher conversion rates for advertisers.

FACEBOOK ADS CAPABILITIES

•  Target audience by gender, age, and location

•  Gear campaigns toward a company goal: increased Facebook likes,
increase attendance, get new users, etc.

•  Run test campaigns to find the most successful option

•  Set advertising budgets

•  Monitor advertising success

Facebook offers two ways to advertise: through their marketplace and with Facebook Exchange.

Marketplace ads are great to increase traffic to your Facebook page, while improving brand awareness. These
ads are easy to set up and take about 15 minutes with the instructions following later in this chapter.

Facebook Exchange is more sophisticated, allowing advertisers to post ads in users’ News Feeds and
featuring a real-time bidding for advertising real estate. This method is more suitable for advertisers looking
to direct traffic away from Facebook and must be set up through a third party.

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42

ADS

ADVERTISING

With two real estates available – the right-hand column and News Feed – Facebook advertisers are
seeing a steady ROI.

As shown above, the News Feed option features a large image with options for users to “like”, “share”,
and “comment” on the story.

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ADS

ADVERTISING

When compared to the right-hand column
advertisements, News Feed ads saw:

48.4%

197.3%

lower cost-per-click

higher ROI

17x

higher click-thru rate

Source: Ad Week

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44

ADS

ADVERTISING

If you didn’t create an ad when you started your restaurant’s Page, setting up your Facebook ad is still
just as easy – and many businesses do it themselves.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED

•  A 600 x 225 Pixel Photo (or Choose an Existing Photo on Your Page)

•  A Headline (25 Character Maximum)

•  A Tagline (50 Character Maximum)

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1

CLICK “INCREASE PAGE LIKES” ON YOUR ADMIN PANEL


2

CLICK THE GEAR BUTTON

This screen should look familiar. If you are
only interested in increasing your likes, you
can Click the blue “Increase Page Likes”
button and be done.

If you’re looking for more advanced
options with more speciﬁc audience
selections, continue on.


3

CLICK “ADVANCED OPTIONS”

This will take you to your main Ad Hub.


SELECT “GET MORE PAGE LIKES” OR “PROMOTE
PAGE POSTS”

4

“Get More Page Likes” will show ads featuring your chosen image, headline, and tagline on users’ News
Feeds and right-hand columns. If you’ve chosen this option, proceed to Step 5.

“Promote Page Posts” will make a selected post – perhaps one advertising a contest or promotion at
your restaurant– appear prominently in your audience’s News Feed. Many posts are ﬁltered out of
users’ News Feeds as so much information is posted all at once. In any given day a user could
potentially see 1,500 posts. Promoting Page Posts ensures that your audience hasn’t missed your
message. Proceed to Step 7


5

UPLOAD OR SELECT YOUR AD PHOTO

You can have up to six campaigns going at the same time, but only one photo per ad.


6

INPUT YOUR HEADLINE AND TAGLINE

You’ll also need to specify your ad’s “Landing View”. This is the page where guests will be directed to
when they click on your ad. If you have a speciﬁc event you’re publicizing, direct them to the event’s
page. If you are advertising a photo contest, send them to the photo album. To simply drive guests to
your Page, choose Timeline.


7

OPT IN (OR OUT) OF SPONSORED STORIES

Sponsored Stories is a way to get your brand in the News Feed with a personal recommendation from
a user’s friend. When someone likes your page, their friends will see it prominently displayed. This will
cut into your ad budget, but shows up as a personal recommendation from a friend to other users,
rather than an ad run by your restaurant.


8

SPECIFY YOUR AUDIENCE

Does your business cater to the over 21 crowd? Are you trying to drive more women into your
restaurant? Having a Singles event? Specifying your audience can be extremely important to the success
of your ad campaign. Remember though, the more speciﬁc you make the audience, the more expensive
the cost per click (or impression) will be.


9

SET YOUR BUDGET

If you click “Switch to Advanced Pricing” you have the option to optimize for “likes”, clicks, or
impressions. Selecting impressions will ensure that the people most likely to “like” your page will see it.
Optimizing for clicks is less effective for gaining “likes”.


10

REVIEW YOUR AD

Check over your ad to make sure you not only like the
aesthetics of it, but that you haven’t missed some key
typo or forgot to add an audience constraint.

You can edit your ad later if you like, but it’s best not to
waste your money having an error go out.

Read the Facebook Statement of Rights and
Responsibilities and the Advertising Guidelines then
click “Place Order.”

You’re done. Congratulations on your ad.


FACEBOOK COMMERCE

Facebook offers two interesting revenue sources for restaurants in particular:

Gifts and Online Ordering.

GIFTS

Facebook monitors proﬁles and statuses,
so that on birthdays, anniversaries,
weddings, and other important life
events, the website knows to offer users
the option to buy their friend “Gifts”, a
gift card to popular places of interest. The
restaurants currently enrolled in the
“Gifts” program are: Starbucks, Domino’s,
Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden,
Jamba Juice, and Burger King.

This program is still in its infancy,
premiering to select audiences in
September 2012. It remains to be seen
whether this application will take off or
fall ﬂat.

www.aaronallen.com

57

FACEBOOK COMMERCE

In 2012,

$30 billion

was spent on gift cards

with guests spending

15 percent

more on digital gift cards than
traditional plastic ones.

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FACEBOOK COMMERCE

ONLINE ORDERING

In a recent study, 69 percent of those surveyed said they have ordered food through a mobile
device. Guests are looking for the easiest way to get their meals – and making it so they don’t even
have to leave their current webpage makes it even easier.

With third party applications like ChowNow, NetWaiter, and Exit41, guests can place online orders
directly through the restaurant’s Facebook Page. The orders are delivered to the restaurant as if it was
made in-store and can be processed immediately by the kitchens.

According to NetWaiter, restaurants offering online ordering have seen a 42.5 percent increase in order
frequency for takeout orders as well as a 28.5 percent increase in delivery orders.

Source: Interactive Advertising Bureau/Viggle

www.aaronallen.com

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APPS

Applications, or apps, are a great way to customize your Facebook user’s experience. These appear on
your “app bar” next to the About section on your Facebook Page. Online ordering is one such app
speciﬁcally for restaurants, but what else can you use to drive trafﬁc and brand awareness?

•  EMAIL ADDRESS COLLECTION: Build your email base with a subscription app on Facebook.
Offering up a free appetizer usually inspires guests to sign up.

•  JOBS: Your associates can be your greatest brand ambassadors. Be sure to make it easy for them
to apply on your Facebook Page.

•  MENU: If you’re not offering online ordering, having your food listed in its own app only seems
natural for a restaurant.

•  HAVE YOUR OWN APP?: Making your own content easily accessible for guests is the best
practice. Did you have someone design a mini game – like Domino’s “Pizza Hero” – for your
restaurant? Let guests download it from Facebook.

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EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL POSTS

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SUCCESSFUL POSTS

CAUSE MARKETING

In 2012, Taco Bell produced 18 of the top 100 most-engaging posts from restaurants on Facebook.
Their number one post?

Promoting their “Graduate to Go” program, Taco Bell received the most user engagement on their
post offering a $5 donation for every “like” to their page (up to $1 million). This resulted in 87,317
“likes” and 895 shares to date.

Source: Expion

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SUCCESSFUL POSTS

THE POWER OF PHOTOS

Starbucks is the only restaurant rated in the top ﬁve brands on Facebook in terms of number of likes.
They’re known for their visually striking photos, as seen below, with their top engaged post from 2012
garnering 60,714 likes and 1,724 shares to date.

Source: Mashable.

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SUCCESSFUL POSTS

PHOTO CONTESTS

Red Lobster won the 2013 Gold Ogilvy for its “Sea
Food Differently” campaign in 2012. Part of their
efforts included a weekly photo contest (The
LobSTAR of the Week). Guests submitted photos of
themselves celebrating at Red Lobster, with the
winning entries featured on the company Facebook
Page. This effort saw a 445 percent rise in Facebook
“likes” (330,000 to 1,800,000) and a monthly trafﬁc
increase of 42 percent to the Red Lobster website.

Source: Ogilvy Awards Case Study

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SUCCESSFUL POSTS

TRIVIA CONTESTS

Corner Bakery Cafe offers a trivia contest
promoting their seasonal BBLT sandwich. With
gift cards and sandwiches as the prizes, Corner
Bakery engages with hundreds of fans every
week, driving these fans into their restaurants.

www.aaronallen.com

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SUCCESSFUL POSTS

GIVEAWAYS

When Einsten Brothers offered a free bagel and shmear to anyone who “liked” their page on
Facebook, they saw a 1000% increase in fans in the ﬁrst week, gained 296,000 fans in one month and
became the 54th most popular business on Facebook.

www.aaronallen.com

67

SUCCESSFUL POSTS

CHECK-INS

When guests check-in, they share that
event with an average 130 friends.
That’s why driving check-ins is so
valuable for a restaurant.

When McDonald’s launched it’s “Make
it Better For Singapore” to promote
their new Chicken McGrill sandwich,
the fast food giant saw tens of
thousands of Facebook check-ins in
just one week.

Source: Mashable

www.aaronallen.com

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SUCCESSFUL POSTS

MAKE ORDERS SIMPLE

Combining a guest favorite – like beer – with the direction to “like” the post, racked up 11 million
“likes” for Buffalo Wild Wings. One of the biggest tips any social media consultant can convey is that,
every once in a while, you need to tell your guests what to do. “Like this”, “Share this”, simple
directions can get surprisingly big results.

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MAKE ORDERS SIMPLE

Now that you know the ins and outs of Facebook, here’s a brief lesson on Facebook etiquette and
how to deal with guests.

WHAT TO DO

  Keep Statuses Brief

  Ask for Guest Opinions

  Post Daily

  Thank Guests for Sharing Their Stories or Pictures

  Update Your Page With New Events, Pictures, and Menu Items Regularly

  Post Information on Specials and Promotions

  Reply to Guest Complaints Cordially

WHAT NOT TO DO

✗  Overshare By Posting Multiple Times a Day, Everyday

✗  Ignore Guest Complaints or Questions

✗  Miss a Day of Posting

✗  Post About Events at the Last Minute – or Not at All

✗  Publish Incorrect Information (About Menu Items, Events, etc.)

✗  Yell at Guests

✗  Post Irrelevant Information of Photos

Our biggest recommendation, though, is to focus on photos as these posts are the most associated
with high user engagement.

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FACEBOOK CHECKLIST

To run a successful Facebook Page, be sure that you have the following elements:

PHOTOS INCLUDE

 Inviting/Tempting/Eye-catching Shots of Restaurant’s Interior and Exterior

 Tantalizing Food Photography

 Smiling Associates

 Guest Submissions

 Photos of Restaurant Events (Fundraisers, Promotional Nights, etc.)

ABOUT SECTION

 Restaurant Address

 Hours of Operation

 Link to Website, Twitter Feed, YouTube, Pinterest, All Other Restaurant-Related Sites

 Company History

TIMELINE INCLUDES

 Date Restaurant Was Founded

 Dates Signature Dishes Were Adopted

 Dates of First (Second, Third…) Expansions

 Regular Status Updates

APP BAR INCLUDES

 Map to Restaurant

 Events Page

 Online Ordering

 Promotional Vouchers

 Email Address Collection Form

 Careers

www.aaronallen.com

73


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Third generation restaurateur Aaron Allen has held every industry
position from line-level employee to unit manager. By age 19, he
was running a $10 million food and beverage operation at a 625room resort. By 20, he was overseeing a $4 million gulf-front
Caribbean-themed restaurant that served more than 1,800 covers
per day.

Having cut his teeth in operations, Allen eventually transitioned to
restaurant-focused marketing. In 2001, he founded his own
consultancy. By 2008, he’d skyrocketed the company to become
the world’s largest restaurant consulting ﬁrm. Major clients
included esteemed brands such as Starwood Resorts and Hotels
Worldwide, The Cheesecake Factory, TGI Fridays, FEMSA (Dos
Equis), BJ’s Restaurants, Hofbrau, Land O’ Lakes, Marriott, SSP and
dozens of other global restaurant chains, regional powerhouse
brands, high-volume independents, food and beverage
manufacturers, distributors, resorts, entertainment districts, hotel
chains and more.

Allen has become one of the most sought-after speakers and
sources for restaurant industry media. He has been a go-to source
for esteemed media outlets such as the Wall Street
Journal, Entrepreneur, Smart Money, MSNBC, TIME, Forbes, USA
Today, Nation’s Restaurant News, Chain Leader, Restaurants
Institutions, European Food Service News, Food Service Middle
East, QSR Magazine, and hundreds more.

Aaron Allen

74


ABOUT AARON ALLEN ASSOCIATES

Aaron Allen Associates provides strategic marketing, concept development, and
executive-level advisory services to leading foodservice and hospitality companies
worldwide. We identify and distill the latest restaurant and hospitality marketing trends.
We prepare tailored presentations for executive management of growth-minded
companies, and then support the development and implementation of innovative
restaurant marketing initiatives within their system.

Collectively our clients post more than $100 billion in global sales and span more than
100 countries across all six inhabited continents. We have worked with a wide range of
clients including high-volume independent operators, multi-billion dollar restaurant chains,
hotels, contract foodservice providers, manufacturers, distributors, and trade associations.
We have direct consulting experience in nearly all cuisine types and operating models.

75

www.aaronallen.com

contact@aaronallen.com

United States

390 North Orange Ave

Suite 2300

Orlando, Florida 32801

407-936-1010 (US)

(866) 436-4002 (US fax)

© 2013, Aaron Allen

Central Europe

1051 Budapest

Október 6. utca 17,

Budapest, Hungary

+36-1-798-3578 (Europe)

www.aaronallen.com

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