Search engine optimisation (SEO) plays a major role in all online marketing. The aim here is to ensure that Google and other search engines find your local website, but also your profiles in social networks, as quickly and easily as possible. Typical features of search engine optimised pages are short loading times, the use of certain keywords, but also links between social media profile and website.

The following applies: search engine optimisation is always an improvement for users. After all, search engine optimisation makes your content easier to find and more accessible. Your articles climb up the search results pages and ideally become the first address for your target group.

The choice of topics and the timing of your posts are particularly important for success in social media. It is best to create regular editorial plans so that your profiles are continuously fed with new content and remain relevant.

Users want to see relevant content, which is why you should not neglect the choice of topics when creating the editorial plan. It's about matching the quality and quantity of your posts so that your company image benefits. If your posts are trivial or uninteresting, less interaction takes place and the interaction rate drops. In the long run, you will lose reach and be overtaken by your competitors.

Invite interaction in an appealing way. Surveys and competitions are particularly suitable for this, especially if they are attractive and humorous.

News on the menu, offers or tips and tricks on the topic of nutrition also have an added value for users, as they can learn new things and inform themselves here.

Ideally, every post you make will have added value - because generic wisdom and inspirational quotes are everywhere on the social networks. Interesting trend products and interesting facts from the gastronomy industry and the food trade also go down well with interested users.

Anyone who writes a comment or asks a question on digital platforms naturally wants an answer. Even more so if the addressee is a company profile. By responding to regulars and interested parties, you convey commitment and reliability. Often, critical commentators can be reconciled if you take note of their opinion and reply in a friendly manner.

Of course, you do not have to respond to every kind of criticism. If a user violates netiquette or even becomes insulting, you can rightfully terminate the communication and, in serious cases, even exclude said user from the comment function.

Another effective form of customer loyalty: Share photos and videos that your guests post in connection with your restaurant. The posts automatically act as testimonials for new guests, while the users behind the post are happy about your likes, comments and sharing.

To ensure that your channel is regularly supplied with new content and that you achieve your marketing goals, it is best to create an editorial plan. An added value of fixed editorial plans is that you always offer interested users the opportunity to interact with your brand with new content. In this way, you maintain a certain interaction rate at all times. The interaction rate in turn ensures a higher reach - the algorithms in the social networks assess your profile as relevant and make you visible to more and more interested users. In this way, you develop an up-to-date corporate image with its finger on the pulse.

If, on the other hand, you don't post for a long time, your target group may consider you inactive. In the worst case, users will assume that your restaurant is closed or even no longer exists. Traffic and interactions with your channel decrease and your business loses visibility. To prevent this from happening, editorial plans should be an integral part of your digital marketing strategy. Want some inspiration? For example, inform users regularly about new dishes and trendy products. This way you create real added value (see above) and also show that your business is active.

Young-run snack bars, cafés and restaurants in particular have long since recognised the potential of social media marketing. With ingenuity, precise knowledge of their target group and often with a lot of humour, some of them were able to quickly establish themselves as hip insider tips. In the meantime, however, target groups in other age groups are also active on the digital platforms - and choose the location for the next business or family dinner based on pictures, recommendations and ratings.

With commitment and, if necessary, a little training time, you can open up new target groups for your restaurant without major investment and keep your clientele up to date on the latest developments. In this way, you can expand your brand awareness and continuously attract interested new customers. An absolutely sensible addition to your digital marketing strategy - not only in times of pandemic.