Succeeding and beginning businesses are turning to Pinterest for information or inspiration to give their customers. People are turning to Pinterest to virtually shop for ideas, products, designs, etc.

This form of shopping is prevalent and might get the attention of a person just scrolling through pins. It is up to the person who created the hook to get a customer to make a purchase. We have that advantage; we can turn curious users and turn them into paying customers.

1 Check The Numbers

We know it is not easy to choose a new channel for your business just like that, so here we present to you a little taste of the platform numbers so you can evaluate if it fits your business needs.

• Monthly Users: 416 million+
• Second Largest Pinterest User Base (After the US): Germany, 14.9 million
• Average Visit time: 5.01 minutes
• Total Number of Pins (up to 2020): 240 billion
• Total Number of Boards 4 billion
• Estimate Market Value: $24.93 billion

Demographics

• 71% of Pinterest users are females
• Users 18-29 years old: 34%
• Users 35-49 years old: 35%
• Users with College Degree: 70%
• Users outside the US: 50%
• Adult women in the platform in the US: 42%
• 80% of Pinterest users say they are mothers.
• Approximately 34% of Pinterest users earn $50,000 to $74,00 a year
• 94% of marketing professionals use Pinterest in some way.

2 Start With The Basics

Setting up an account is just the beginning; once created, you will see Pinterest is a platform where people look for specific needs, ideas, or DIY solutions.

To begin promoting on Pinterest, you have to dive into it. In this guide, we will show you
How to set up an account, and we will see there is a business account for a reason: To help businesses like yours.

Also, with a Pinterest account, you can drive traffic to your website.

First of all, we have to understand and know all the Pinterest basics.

You can start by getting around, look for other people’s boards, and take inspiration from them. Soon you’ll start to ask yourself the right questions: what a pin is? How frequently should I pin? Is my pin click-worthy for the customer viewing that pin?

Everything Is About Planning

One of the best ways to do this is by paying attention to trends, This will often give you a very good idea of what your customers want to see.

Now, what we need to do is to make plans for seasonal content. You can explore other companies’ boards to take inspiration about what type of content to pin for every season.

You can also make sure your website images are pinnable with a “save to Pinterest” button.

Get Creative

Give your audience offers or put items on sale just for them
This way, you keep engaging and building that customer service and have them interested.

Engaging will expand your customer base
Keep customers engaged by building relationships through commenting or communicating with them, saying things as simple as “Thank you” or “good comment”. Being generous and pleasant is the best way to build your customer’s trust.

Remember one of our objectives is that people repin our content, so we can gain even more views.

Get To Know Your Audience

Were they looking for wedding dresses? Maybe later, that same person will be looking for a house to buy, an SUV to lease, or daycare near them.

Pinterest is a place where a business like yours can bloom if you provide your audience with things they don’t know they want yet.

3 Learn To Pin The Right Way

Now, what is pinning, you may ask? Pinning is some form of bookmark for users to save ideas they love on Pinterest.

And this is the part we are interested in as a business! because by pinning, you help potential customers to get to your website and let them see what type of ideas and or products you offer.

Connect To Your Website

You can also have an advertiser account and promote your pins there, just another excellent feature from Pinterest

Remember there are over 200 billion pins on Pinterest to look at. That means you need to make sure your website is pinnable with a save button. This also helps create easier guidance for your customers.

Focus On The Details

You should also include your logo so your brand doesn’t get lost by the repin shuffle effect on Pinterest.

Last but not least, be a good storyteller. Show what your brand is about. This way, pinners can view themselves as your customers.

4 Master Pinterest Content Creation

When creating content, you need to make sure you produce inspirational and informative content for your viewers.

Use Boards And #Hashtags

You can also create themed boards, For example, you can curate a board with all your existing products that match the seasonal color, or the products that match with your favorite Netflix series. Your imagination is the limit.

What Size And Ratio Should Be My Pinterest Images?

This is important to keep in mind because Pinterest will cut off any image larger than that. The resolution of the image is also very important. Pinterest says the best resolution to use is 600 x 900 pixels.

Add Text, But Not Too Much

Multiplatform Pins

Be selective and find the right images for what you are trying to express. Your content should stay positive and relevant to your website’s mission goal. Understand the vibe of the content and how it might make others feel.

Use External Tools

If you don’t feel creative enough to come up with a good board design, you can try Tailwind Create to make pin designs.

Tailwind creates a website to get ideas for your business, allowing you to stream personalized pin designs.

A team of experts creates pins for you that are all optimized for Pinterest engagement, and if you don’t like something, you can always switch between colors, layouts, and images so you can get the perfect look. It gets the job done for you! How much easier can that get.

5 Plan Ahead For Seasonal Content

Keep in mind people like to plan for holidays, so the best moment to promote, for example, your Back to School boards, is not during Back to School season, but at least a couple of months before.

When thinking about your Pinterest content strategy, try to have at least 6 months planned. This helps you to keep track of important dates.

Your profile will look more professional and better prepared when you take the time to plan ahead of time.

This will put you ahead of other competitors because you are moving with the trends, instead of trying desperately to catch on to them.

These efforts will help your users get engaged with your brand. If you think about it you can have all the seasons you want on your boards. That’s because almost every month there’s something to celebrate.

• New Year
• Valentine’s Day
• St. Patrick’s
• Football Season
• Mother/father day
• back to school for kids, and college students
• 4th of July
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas

On top of that, you can celebrate your business anniversaries, or come up with a sale season.
The list goes on! You get the idea.

As you can see, you can find endless ideas for possible pins, all you have to do is gather your team, and make a brainstorm to find the best seasons for your brand.

6 Engage With Your Audience

Diversify Your Content

It’s also important to have different boards or product categories. This gives your audience a glance and a way to easily sweep between your pins and boards.

Get Chatty

Undoubtedly, one of the best things you can do to get more engagement is to notice those users who are repinning your pins and following them. This shows your audience that you are interested in seeing them back on your page.

This will help boost engagement. Hence, they might want to follow you back. It would also help if you ask them for their feedback.

Simple comments made to your customers or users can have a huge impact. If they’re feeling truly appreciated, they might repin you, giving more opportunities for your products to be showcased and seen by even more people.

Pinterest Promotions And Sales

Remember to give a good thought to your promo and communicate all the rules to your audience before you launch it.

Customers love having offers available just for them. Who doesn’t like exclusive discounts? This is a perfect way to interact with customers because users are willing to buy things on sale.

7 And Remember…

Engage

Engage with your customers and whenever possible, ask for their feedback. This platform can help not only to promote your business but also to inspire others.

Spend Less

Another great advantage of using Pinterest as part of your marketing efforts is that you don’t have to pay for ad campaigns to showcase your product. This is a free worldwide used platform with endless possibilities.

Scratch Their Curiosity

Remember, pinners like to discover new products and brands, so certainly, there is room for everyone on this boat! Do not get discouraged and make that business thrive!

Long-Term Benefits

Remember getting Pin exposure can increase your website’s traffic and help you boost brand exposure and get to more customers.

Show Them The Way

Take your time to build your profile full of different boards with pins worth looking at. Also, make sure your customers have an easy way to go to your website or online store.

Pinterest Most Asked Questions

Do I Need To Switch My Account From Personal To Business?

Well, if you are in business, the answer is: YES.
When yours is a business account, you get access to some very useful tools such as analytics and many others, and also your profile gets a little visual upgrade.

Many people already have a personal account and want to know if they should switch it to business or to create a new one. The answer is not that simple. You should dive into your personal account and evaluate if your old pins can work for your new intentions. If you’re still not sure, maybe you will be better off starting a new one.

Should I Delete Old Boards And Pins?

Well, if your account was personal, you still can match its content with your business’. But if you already had an account for another business, then you should start evaluating to get a new one for the new enterprise.

Also, if your profile is filled with past seasons boards and pins, you can archive them all and keep your main profile looking clean and tidy.

How Many Pins Should I Post Every Day?

If your business allows you to create new visual and appealing content regularly, then you should start posting over 40 pins a day.

Do I Need A Landing Page Or Blog For My Pinterest Audience?

You don’t have to. But maybe you should if you can provide your audience with a blog that expands on the topic from Pinterest. Most importantly, your content should follow a predominantly visual strategy.

If you have a blog, you can also position yourself as an expert in your field! And of course, you can mix your Pinterest strategy with SEO to get the best possible results.

Conclusion

Pinterest is a great tool to make your business grow, and the best part is it can cost you nothing.

Take your time to cure your boards, and do not forget to share them on your other social networks!

And if you still have any questions, ask in the comments! We’ll be glad to help!

If you found this article to be helpful, I recommend you read this one as well. It is just as helpful as this one was! Best Restaurants Marketing Ideas.  

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Sources

https://www.pinterest.com/business
https://help.pinterest.com/en/business/article/build-a-pin
https://www.bing.com/images
https://www.pinterest.ca/cynspo/seasonal-content/
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/pinterest-facts/370926/
https://blog.hootsuite.com/how-to-use-pinterest-for-business/
https://www.omnicoreagency.com/pinterest-statistics/
https://vanessakynes.com/questions-about-pinterest-marketing/

Social networks have become part of the daily life of most people. So much that today we review our profiles almost routinely. That’s why it is a great alternative to promote your company regardless of whether it is well established, or if it is a company that is still growing.

For this reason, social media has become an indispensable channel for the business world. It is in your best interest to have the best real estate marketing strategies for your platforms.

The Power Of Social Media In Numbers

Increasingly, real estate agents are turning to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and more to connect with potential property buyers. A recent survey of marketers found that social media marketing is considered the most effective tactic for reaching customers, and the National Association of Realtors offers comprehensive guides to social media best practices for agents.

Here is the summary of the statistics on the use of social networks

• Facebook is considered the most popular social media platform
• 90.4% of Millennials, 77.5% of Generation X, and 48.2% of Baby Boomers are active users of at least one social network
• 2 hours 22 minutes a day is the average time of use of social networks and online messaging
• 73% of marketers believe that social media marketing has been “somewhat effective” or “very effective” for their business
• 54% of social browsers use social media to search for products
• 71% of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media will likely recommend it to their friends and family
• 49% of consumers trust the recommendations of influencers on social networks
• 91% of all social media users access social channels through their mobile devices

How To Choose Between Facebook, Instagram, And Other Platforms?

Facebook

It is the most widespread social network, with more than one billion users. We all know the “like” or the “share”, as well as its various functionalities. This is a platform “suitable for all audiences”.

Facebook can be used in two ways: as a user and as a Fan Page. By creating a company page (the most recommended), it is possible to establish long-term relationships with potential customers. Also, this is the best way to create an interactive community where everyone can participate, contribute, and share.

These pages are public and registered in search engines (like Google search results).

Instagram

Currently, 500 million stories are uploaded daily around the world. Instagram is characterized by its visual nature, being the perfect application for real estate agents looking to establish a more personal connection with their followers.

Instagram has options such as InstaStories, image, and text editors, which allow generating novel, fresh and striking messages through impressive images and videos, attracting the attention of millions of users every second.

Because it is linked to Facebook, Instagram gives the option of easily sharing publications on both social networks at the same time. In this option, the user decides whether to use it or not. There is also connectivity with Twitter and others, giving a wide range of possibilities to make yourself visible.

Twitter

It has already more than five hundred million users. Twitter is a two-way communication platform with the nature of a social network that limits its messages to 280 characters. This means short and direct messages must be constructed, a feature highly valued in advertising due to the impact of such a statement.

LinkedIn

This social network already has more than 50 million users. Having a profile on LinkedIn is one of the best professional cover letters on the Internet and is one of the most current platforms for doing business and strategic alliances.

Since this is a job-seeking-related platform, we suggest you use it only for professional purposes.

YouTube

YouTube is the official video channel of Google which will help us to find our services more quickly.

At the company level, it is necessary to have a presence in multimedia social networks. A promotional video can mean thousands of visits to the website.

YouTube channels can also offer an easy system to subscribe to. As the number of subscribers grows and the video views increase, so do the promotional opportunities and in turn send traffic to the website, all completely free.

Blogging

It also generates traffic and positioning if you know how to use it well. By integrating it into the agency’s website, it will go from being a purely informative page to an interactive site, which will make visitors stay longer.

It should be published periodically and allow comments from readers.

Email Marketing

You can send a weekly, biweekly, or monthly newsletter or information that promotes the properties you have on the market.

Follow A Different Strategy For Each Social Platform.

Advice on searching for housing, information on the economy of the sector in the country, or user guides (such as being informed about rental contracts, differences between types of mortgages, contracting insurance, etc.)

Develop An Appropriate SEO Strategy

One of the first tasks to perform to gain online visibility (web positioning) is to activate content marketing, and for this, we will need the target audience defined in the marketing plan, the personal buyers.

• Where is that target audience? (social networks, sites, interests, topics)
• What devices do they use? (mobile, desktop, voice search)
• What interests them?
• What are their needs?
• How can our company help you?

To launch all this real estate marketing machinery on social networks, we need a starting point, And an SEO strategy could be the right one.

What we suggest you is to carry out good keyword research. Look for topics, terms, and questions your audience may be asking google.

Before creating a list, you must know all the types of keywords that will allow you to increase and optimize SEO traffic.

Let us explain it better through the following examples:

Generic Real Estate Keywords

Keywords like: house sale, apartment sale, office purchase, houses for sale, etc.

A person is generally looking for a home in the same province, state, or country, so your IP will give you general and local results. First for your area, then in the rest of the nearby areas, and then throughout the country.

The problem with this type of keywords is that they are all already registered in an orderly manner by real estate portals and classifieds, and it is challenging to compete with them on a low budget.

Semi-Generic Real Estate Keywords

Some examples could be

• “House for sale in San Francisco”
• “Apartments for sale in Sacramento”
• “Commercial house in Santa Clarita”
• “Apartment in Santa Monica with views”
• “Apartment in Santa Barbara on the beach”

These keywords are a bit less general and show that the user is clearer about what they want.

Semi-generic keywords are usually used once the user has already been researching online and has a more concrete idea of ​​what to look for and where. In commercial terms, the customer has more potential to purchase or request information when they find you.

Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail real estate keywords are of the type: “Sacramento 2-bedroom houses $250,000”; “San Francisco city 3-bedroom apartment”; “Luxury home in Los Angeles”, (Temecula city area), etc.

In conclusion, keywords are a fundamental component of SEO, but keywords alone are worth nothing. We must use keywords with relevant and good quality content.

Write A Good Biographical Presentation

Within social networks, it is important to describe the biographical presentation of your real estate company clearly and concisely:

• Who are we?
• What do we do?
• What do we focus on?
• How do we help you?
• What differentiates us from others?

We also recommend using a catchphrase within your bio. A good slogan will help you identify and affirm the mission of your real estate company.

What is the objective? Leave a key message engraved in the minds of consumers so that, even if they do not remember anything else about your ads, they still remember the slogan.

We have compiled some examples so you can see what a slogan looks like.

• Century 21 is a real estate franchise with a slogan that we love: “It does everything for me”. Four words that summarize the philosophy of the brand.
• On the contrary, REMAX puts the accent on the more professional aspect, which encourages entrepreneurs to become part of the company with the slogan, “The Entrepreneur in You.”

Follow the example of these and look for what makes you unique. A good slogan, like a good design, should stand the test of time and remain attractive. If you want to know how to sell real estate with social media, you want to have your slogan right

Use Limited-Time Offers To Your Advantage

For example, you can invite your potential real estate clients to know the properties through a virtual visit, this will make them know the benefits of acquiring your services. Make sure to make their visit, a premium experience. Give them all the information they want and offer them free financing or mortgage loan advice.

Keep Your Audience Updated About New Developments

One of the great advantages of using social networks in real estate marketing is that you can share information about new projects and developments. This is an excellent way to keep up to date with new market movements; while keeping your audience informed and connected

Every Sale Is A Success Story -Use It!

Additionally, this type of publication will allow you to keep the portfolio updated with the available properties.

Take Advantages Of Visual Media

And if an image is worth a thousand words, good photography or video says a lot about the quality of your personal and commercial brand.

So how do you make your ads or listings stand out and generate leads?

Use Appealing Pictures

A professional photographer knows how to make every room look amazing – some rooms can be small and difficult to photograph. Other rooms can be simple and lacking in depth. A professional will know how to work with any space and make the most of it.

Now, if you prefer to take the photos yourself it could be much faster. There is no one else involved and no need to wait for the photographer to edit and then send them to you.

It is also more cost-effective to take them yourself because it can save you some money that you would otherwise have spent on a professional photography service. You can have many technological tools that can help you reduce the costs of taking your photographs.

Photography plays a very important role in real estate marketing and should not be taken lightly but as always; everything will depend on you.

If you want better results as a real estate consultant, invest a little more time and money into your visual content.

Increase Your Business With Quality Video Content

Why should a real estate agent care about video content?

Real estate marketing listings with videos on social media receive 403% more inquiries than those without video. For a local business trying to penetrate a crowded market, video production and optimization can be a key growth lever.

According to the National Association of Realtors, online video sites have rapidly gained in popularity, with 36% of people using videos as a source of information when searching for a home.

It is worth mentioning that is more effective to sell a house with short, well-produced videos, that can gain your clients’ trust, and catch their interest in your real estate agency.

Happy Customers Become More Customers

Publish these posts on a monthly or bi-monthly basis to create a habit.

Conclusion

The key to understanding how to sell real estate with social media is to try new ideas! And do not forget to keep track of your results! If it works, then double down on the idea. If it does not work, then move on to the next idea until something works.

Today, social networks are a necessity for every company, however, you must know how to use them wisely. Developing a good marketing strategy will help you define and achieve your marketing objectives. 

 If you found this article to be helpful, I encourage you to read this one as well. Real Estate Digital Marketing. 

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Sources
https://www.wide-marketing.com/elegir-keywords-estrategia-digital/
https://tupuedesvendermas.com/palabras-clave-inmobiliarias/

Email is one of those things that won’t be going anywhere for a long time. It could be seen as outdated with all this new technology but when used correctly, it can perform even better than some of the newer, flashier social media options.

Let us give you a quick tour of the very basics of email marketing for your restaurant before we jump into the 12 steps.

Email Marketing 101

Email marketing is simply the practice of sending messages to individuals who have told you that they want to hear more about your business.

Once you have somebody’s email you can send them company newsletters, menu updates, or coupons for popular dishes. Email marketing is different from spam because the recipients have told you that they want to hear from you.

From here it only gets better! With these tips and a little brainstorm with your team, you will come up with the best strategy for your business.

The best part? If it doesn’t work, you can try a different strategy! The objective here is to try what works best for you and tailor your strategies. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all.

Benefits Of Email Marketing For Restaurants

• Affordability

  Compared to traditional marketing such as tv, radio, and social network ads; email marketing is next to nothing as far as costs. You don’t have to pay for things like printing, postage fees, and exposure in a magazine or television commercial.

  With a low cost of entry, email marketing has the potential to become one of the most dynamic, cost-effective marketing strategies that you could use for your restaurant.

  We suggest you to use the same template in all your emails. This way you can decide the right moment to send a new one, and they will always look perfect and professional.

• Easy To Create

  Email marketing is easy to implement, and it does not require large teams or a lot of technical knowledge. You can simplify email marketing even more by automating the whole process to streamline your campaigns and reach more people with less effort.

• Easy Testing

  It is easy to test parts of your email and optimize them for the best Return on Investment (ROI). You can test to know the best time to send emails throughout the week to get the most opens. It allows you to reach everyone in your service area at the same time with the same message and the same results.

• Easy To Share

  When sending an email, every recipient can forward it with the click of a button, giving you a huge potential reach for new customers. You can also add social sharing buttons to your emails to encourage people to talk to you on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and more.

  Even if you do not get customers from that, you are still building your brand exposure by getting your name out there to new people through email.

Why Is Email Marketing Important

Email is still a highly efficient way to market your restaurant and here’s why:
 

• Being able to have a network channel such as email is a great way to boost your marketing campaigns because of its effectiveness and low cost.
• Connecting through your marketing channel can allow you to custom the different paths each customer will take in a way that they will understand.
• Personalizing your emails can make them relevant to each customer. When a customer sees how focused you are on their needs it can increase engagement and loyalty between you and the customer.

Having more data can allow you to deliver better email personalization. Having more complete data can improve your email automation, deliverability, and reporting.

Email Marketing In Numbers

Email marketing can be one of the most cost-effective ways to grow any business. Even with the growing impact of social media, numbers are showing strong for email marketing initiatives.

• More than 90% of adults use email in the U.S. alone
• On average, every dollar you spend brings you $38 in return
• Restaurants spend 15 % of their marketing budget on email marketing
• Only one out of three restaurants send emails monthly

It can make it easier for small, local businesses to compete with bigger ones, especially when these companies get their strategy right.

Email marketing can also build brand awareness among existing and new customers. That’s because it is best to market to a “warm audience”. For instance, people will be way more open and receptive to get offers from a place they signed in for.
 

• 70 % of customers want restaurants to send them coupons
• Unlike social media, you retain control of your audience
• It can increase the number of potential customers for your restaurant
• It can help you deliver a more personalized experience

How To Get Customer Emails?

You can even purchase databases, but the most effective lists are those with your real clients.

So instead of getting customers’ emails from other businesses or platforms, we suggest you build your own.

But don’t worry! It sounds harder than it is.

There are some ways to make your clients want to give you their email. Here are some ideas you can use to start your database.

• Promotions

  Offer free recipes, food guides, or free samples in exchange for registering

• Reservations

  From now on, ask your customers for an email to make any reservation, and do not forget to inform them you will use it to send them gifts!

• Free Dessert

  Can you say NO to a free dessert? No one can! For a limited time, ask for your clients’ email in exchange for a free dessert

• Bills

  Offer a discount on the bill in exchange for the client’s email.

Now that you have some ideas about how to start and how to get customer’s emails, let’s dive into the 12 strategies that can help you improve your business.

12 Strategies To Boost Your Restaurant’s Marketing Efforts:

1 Keep Your Brand In Mind

It is a great way to create your restaurant’s brand awareness, and it tells recipients exactly who sent the message.

Once you have a brand image you love, remember to use it everywhere: In your social networks inside your restaurant and of course, in every email you send.

2 Do NOT SPAM Customers

When it comes to email marketing, it is crucial to pay attention to the frequency and the number of emails that you send. By sending too many emails you can be marked as “spam”. And if too many people tags you like that, your emails will get nowhere.

However, if you don’t send enough, you risk falling out of contact and losing brand recognition with your subscribers. You want to send them enough to keep them interested but not so much that becomes overwhelming.

Why?

Because if they want out and you don’t give them the option to do it, guess what they will do?

They will send you to the spam folder. And any good digital marketer out there will tell you the same truth: There is no way back from the Spam Folder.

3 Email Segmentation

Customers tend to all be different so it is important to identify these groups to meet their needs and interests so that you can better serve each customer. These different email segments would include people that have ordered online, people who have responded to different offers, and also people who have signed up for special occasion-offers such as birthdays or anniversaries.

This information can also help you to offer them personalized offers that you know they won’t resist. All it takes is a little creativity and some research on the internet.

4 Email Personalization

You can personalize the email with things such as names, ages, interests, or any information you have on your customers. This is a great way to get their attention.

Deliver relevant email content based on interest or behavior, for example; you wouldn’t send a dine-in family deal promotion to someone who usually orders a single entree plate online.

5 Retargeting Website Visitors

When potential customers visit your website you need to give them a reason to stay. You don’t want them to get redirected somewhere else. Offer something of value to the customer. The value can be something as simple as deals and seasonal promotions in exchange for their email address.

You can give away coupons, recipes, and food preparation tips, while you gather more information. Try to place yourself in your customer’s shoes to give them reasons to return. Email can be a great way to build your customer list and retarget website visitors effectively.

6 Nurture Loyal Customers

Create a Loyalty Program that offers unique benefits to your best customers. You will give them free beverages, promotions, access to a secret menu, or any other high-value perk.

This way, they will always be glad to receive a new email from you, instead of skimming through it.

You can use the email channel to let them know their member benefits each month. Use it to inform them about news or promotions, but foremost, give them reasons to come back.

7 Follow Up Online Ordering Customers

Online ordering should be able to give you immediate access to obtaining a customer’s email by making it part of the online ordering process. It is a great opportunity to rapidly build an email list and engage with customers in multiple ways.

Engaging with the customer shortly after the order fulfillment process is completed, is a great way to solicit feedback on their experience.

Receiving this active customer feedback can allow you to respond to any concerns or suggestions and ensure customer satisfaction which leads to repeat business and positive reviews and ratings.

8 Convert Deal Seekers To Recurring Guests

A lot of restaurants have offers on Groupon or similar platforms, which allows them to engage with new customers. That is a great way to hook foodies and deal-hunters.

When you can find a way to effectively obtain the email addresses of those dining customers, you will be able to better communicate with that segment of customers and get them back in your restaurant again.

Offering a deal to bring them in and then a service to make them come back is a great strategy to get customers coming back.

9 Add Push Messaging

Push messaging can include SMS marketing, web notifications, and mobile app notifications. Mixing push notifications with email marketing can help you find the right balance, and increases the efficiency of your marketing campaigns.

10 Write A Good Headline

Writing your restaurant email subject lines shouldn’t be taken lightly. Everything that you have composed in the email will not matter if you can’t get the customer to open it.

Take your time to come up with a catchy email subject line that gets people to read it. Examples of catchy email subject lines could be:
 

• “Limited Time Only, BOGO Appetizer”
• “Best pizza you ever tasted!”
• “Hey Michael, need plans for a date night?”

11 Choose The Right Types Of Email Mkt

There are many types of email, Let’s focus on the three you will be using the most as part of your marketing efforts.

Transactional

Transactional emails confirm an action the subscriber takes, like subscribing or updating information.

Relational

Relational emails help build your relationship with the subscriber, by delivering free information and sometimes gifts.

Promotional

Promotional emails promote your business and can include notifications about offers or sales.
Each email must bring value to the customer. Emails could include:

• Highlighted new menu items, changes to old menu items, chef specials, and themed night menus
• The story of how your restaurant got started
• Recipes, cooking tips, or short videos of the cooking process in your restaurant
• interviews, reviews, and media coverage
• New blog content
• Congratulation emails, like birthdays or anniversaries
• Discounts, deals, and coupons
• Polls, surveys, and suggestions

Emails should always include information about your restaurant’s location, opening hours, how to order online and make reservations, as well as details about private dining and/or catering, gift cards, and other services you may offer.

And as mentioned before, it is always a good idea to offer your customer the option to not receive your emails anymore. That’s because if they want out and they don’t see the “unsubscribe” button, they will send you to the spam folder.

12 Always Measure Results

• You own and control the customer data
• Quicker and cheaper than direct mail
• Efficiency with automation
• Focus on segmentation
• A personalized form of marketing

Creating an email marketing campaign can also send traffic to your website because sometimes customers will want to check “for themselves” if the promo is legit. And with the growing use of smartphones and easier access to email mailboxes, email marketing is not just highly relevant but a crucial element of digital marketing plans for today’s restaurants.

Conclusion

To sum it all up, email marketing is one of those things that will be around, and will always be used for many years to come.

It is the best way to personalize and connect with each customer and potential customer, creating loyalty between you and the clients.

With marketing through email, you do not have to pay for things like ads or radio spots, it is a free form of advertising. This low cost of marketing gives email marketing a higher Return On Investment (ROI) than most marketing plans.

Creating an email list to obtain emails is huge in email marketing because it gives you direct contact with each customer.

It is affordable, easy to create, easy to test, and easy to share giving your company great brand awareness and exposure.

Did we leave something out? Let us know in the comments!

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Sources:
https://www.adobe.com/marketing/
https://optinmonster.com/how-to-attract-more-customers-with-restaurant-email-marketing/
https://www.webfx.com/industries
https://thedigitalrestaurant.com/restaurant-email-marketing-strategies/

Best Social Media Calendar

When it comes to increasing your fan base on social media, it is important to give your fans a variety and engaging content. You may already be overwhelmed with deadlines, customer calls, and employees getting your attention. We created the infographic above to help you easily create social media posts on your Social Media Calendar that offer variety and will increase engagement. Some examples of popular social media sites are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

1. Ask Your Audience a Question On Your Social Media Calendar

Why should you ask your audience a question? Social media posts will get more reach when people like, comment, or share your content. People are more likely to engage with a question and will contribute to the conversation.

2. Discount or Promotion

People are more likely to share a post if you offer a discount or promotion. Moreover, people are more likely to buy something just because it is on special, even though they don’t need it. Once they get on your website, then you can up-sell and cross-sell your other services. And, if you provide superior service to your customers, they are more likely to tell their friends about your business.

3. Inspirational Quote

Inspirational quotes are popular on social media. The best part is, that this is the type of post that can be easily scheduled way in advance. By using free posting software like later.com, you can schedule inspiration quotes for many months in advance. They also might like the quote and share your page with others.

4. Share a Tip or Trick

Sharing a quick tip or trick with a link to the full story is more likely to get more engagement. People are generally in a hurry and will not have time to read your full article unless they want to know more. When you share a part of a post, rather than the full article, it will intrigue others and draw them to your page. It will increase more traffic, letting others know more about you and your products or services.

5. Post Your Latest Blog Article

Having a blog article will allow others to respond to your thoughts and products. They can also give you their opinion, which might help you market your products or services better. Having a blog can drive traffic from your social media to your blog. Just make sure you are writing about your business or products to get the right audience.

Joining a Blog club can give your business more exposure, as well. When you connect with a group, you can read, share, and post your blogs and this will get the word out about your product or service.

6. Highlight a Biz-Friends Page

Working together with other businesses is a great way to increase your online reach. Through the power of reciprocity, other businesses are more likely to share your content if you have helped them out. .When working with another business, if they were to promote your business on their social media platforms, you have a good chance of gaining new customers that wouldn’t be able to reach if it were not for the other business you are working with.

7. Have a Fun Fact On Your Social Media Calendar

Adding a fun fact will get people to think about what you posted. People tend to keep coming back to find out what the next fun fact is by liking and re-posting the original post.

8. What you are Reading

When you share what you are reading, it gives your audience an insight into who you are on a more personal level. You can start up a conversation about the book in a post and attract others to the discussion and that can lead to more likes on your post and page. Additionally, by including #hashtags about the books you are reading, you are more likely to attract other visitors that also like the same books.

9. Training

People are always looking for quality training. You can introduce new concepts, instruct them on how to train, and discuss related trends within your industry. You can show someone rather than tell them. Many times, your customers will realize they do not have the time to do it on their own and will likely hire you for the job instead. Hosting events is another way to improve yourself, your business, and the community.

10. Industry Article

What is the latest and greatest thing that is happening in your industry? Writing an article about your industry lets people know you stay up to date with new information coming out within your industry. Moreover, it helps you become more established as an authority figure in your industry. It can also turn into more traffic and return visitors to your social media web pages.

11. A Day in the Life Post

People like doing business with people. The more relatable you can become to your audience, the more likely they will be to purchase from you. You are letting your audience take a sneak-peek behind the scenes of your daily life. Your audience will feel more connected to you. Also, if you are working on a new project or product, then this would be a great time to share your exciting news. Be careful not to act as if you are desperate for attention, just remember to always be yourself and have fun!

12. Comic or Meme

When you add a comic strip to your social media, you increase the chances of a higher click-through rate on your post. A comic strip can lighten the mood for the user scrolling through the feed of your Social Media Calendar.

The meme is an element of a culture, or system of behavior, passed from one individual to another; a humorous image, video, piece of text, and so on that can be spread rapidly by social media.
See this post:

13. Share an Eye-Catching photo

An eye-catching photo will gain more attention for your site than anything else. People can relate to images. They can inspire, show details about your product or service, and can inform them about who you are. A photo can tell a story and give depth to what you can do for your customer.

14. Highlight a New Product or Service

Social media is a great way to highlight a new product or service. You can reach more people, get reviews, share your photos and stories, and eventually have more people buy your product or service. You can let your audience know what to expect and to have them give feedback on your product or service. A sneak peek into something new.

15. Holiday Photo Post

A holiday photo is a good way to show what seasonal items everyone is talking about and has to have. Also, showing events that your company is having, shows your culture and sensitivity to your employees that work for your company and is a great way to spread awareness. Furthermore, this type of post can easily be scheduled in advance to show on future holidays on your Social Media Calendar.

16. Share an Interesting Statistic

There are people like us that love numbers. If you can put that data on a timeline, then it will likely get more shares. This allows your post to get more exposure because it’s more interactive for the viewer.

17. This or that Question

Asking random questions might seem like a weird thing to do, but this can get the reader to think about the subject, and possibly ask someone on their friend’s list about it. Share the question, which will link back to your social media page, and it will likely have more likes and responses. Having a this-or-that question is a fun way to support your product or services or community.

18. Infographic

Infographics are a great way to show a collection of imagery, charts, and text that is easy to read. The purpose of an infographic is to tell a story and make it relevant to your business. You need to make sure that you use accurate data, the right color scheme, the appropriate fonts, and keep it simple.

19. Long post or story

Sharing a long post or a story on your social media calendar can be a great way to show others what you are thinking. But, you need to keep the topic interesting, or the reader will not read the whole thing and will go on to another post. If you find a way to lure the reader in and keep it interesting, they will most likely read the entire article and even might share the story. It can also be a video. You just need to keep things interesting to keep the viewer engaged.

20. Recommend a helpful tool or tip

When you interact with your audience by having a conversation about your brand, product, or service, your audience will be more engaged. This investment will make them more likely to shop at your place of business or web page.

21. Share a Free Resource

When it comes to free items, whether it is a CD or food, most people want to join in to get whatever it may be. You can promote your products or services by offering free items. Make it a contest by saying “like my page” and pick a person at random.

22. A Weekly Roundup of Interesting Articles

Update your feed with things you and your company are interested in. Something to do with health, new technologies, or something related to your product or service would be a good place to start. It can also be an interesting video of what is going on with your company.

23. Contest or Giveaway

Contests or giveaways can be a good way to start a conversation about the product or service that you offer. Doing this can start up more buzz around your brand. Try to be creative and come up with something that others have not thought about doing in the same way, and people will be talking about you and your site.

24. Share a Fan Photo

Sharing a fan’s photo or testimonial will give your site more credibility. Also, if you can add some rewards in the area you live in or to others on your social media, such as gong to graduations, ball games, or any other large event, you can expand your follower base to keep them coming back time after time to see your newest posts.

25. Breaking News

Posting a breaking news story is becoming the main source of the news online and on social media today. When you post a breaking news story, more people will see the post, and that can be helpful for your site. Just be careful about what you post. You do not want to get bad feedback on your social media site. Try to keep the site positive.

26. In Case you Missed it

No one wants to miss out on a good post, and sometimes you need to re-post your social media post for those who did not see it the first time. If you are going to point someone in the right direction of something interesting or enlightening more than once, you can let them know by telling them, “in case you missed it.”

27. Behind the Scenes Photo

Images of employees and business owners can enhance your business because most people like to see the face of who is running the company. And, this does not have to be all business-related. Showing pictures of everyday life can help customers bond with you.
You can even show photos of assembling products or preparing for lunch with your employees. Spotlighting your employees will show credibility, and your audience will feel like they are part of the team.

28. Product Pictures

Taking beautiful and interesting product pictures can promote your product or service on social media. You are getting yourself out there, and that is what it is all about.

29. Thank Your Fans

When you use the words “thank you,” it is not just polite to say, it can also build stronger relationships with your current and potential customers. Saying “Thank You” can build trust and loyalty in your social media. Having your photo or just a nice picture to show will give out the right tone.

30. Create a Poll

When you create a poll, you get a lot of feedback and different opinions of a population by asking a series of questions on what people like and do not like about a certain topic. This can help you find out who your audience is.

31. Funny Joke or Picture

Who doesn’t want to laugh and have a good time? When you post a funny image or a good joke, you can get others engaged and make them feel at home. Just stay away from things that can backfire. Posting about others, politics, religion, or what is going on in the world today can lead to more trouble and is not worth it. You want to keep your best side showing at all times to grow your business.

So, what is next for you?
Social media is the way of the future; it is growing at a faster rate than the market industry can keep up with. With all the updates, social trends, and new cutting-edge features, it can be overwhelming. Social media is essential and critical for any business of today. We can track what people are buying, selling, and talking about to give the customer what they are looking for and need. Posting something on your social media site every day can and will increase your traffic, which will lead to more people looking at your product or service. Do you need help with your social media advertising? Call us today at 559-553-5000 to get a customized strategy for your business.

If you enjoyed reading this blog article, the make sure to 6 Great Things You Can Do When You Automate Your Social Networks (+links)

Other References

https://adespresso.com/blog/facebook-offers-ads/#:~:text=Discounts%20or%20promo%20codes%20in,on%20who%20you’re%20targeting.
https://coschedule.com/blog/social-media-post-ideas/
https://buffer.com/resources/psychology-of-facebook/
https://blog.snappa.com/social-media-marketing-images/
https://www.envisionup.com/blog/5-key-elements-of-a-successful-infographic/
https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-tips/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicolemartin1/2018/11/30/how-social-media-has-changed-
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10522-future-of-social-media-marketing.html

Automate Your Social Networks

Social media automation is the perfect tool to have a social media presence without spending all your time sitting on a computer. Keeping a solid social media presence can be an excruciating task. With other important tasks for the business, like attending phones, making sales, finding new clients, and many others, it seems impossible to have the time to also post original content on several different platforms and accounts. This is made easier when you automate your social networks.

What is Social Media Automation?

In today’s world, businesses need to have an online presence to get in touch with clients and potential customers and to remain on people’s minds.

Having a website, an email, and even a mailing list are great ideas to enhance your business and keep connected with leads and clients, but something that is vital — whether you like it or not — is a social media network presence.

Why Should Your Business Have Social Media Presence?

According to statista.com, by 2017 the total number of social network users was more than 2 billion worldwide, and this number could increase to over 3 billion by 2021. This represents at least one-third of the entire world’s population, and businesses know it.

For that reason, they create business social media accounts, to keep in touch with customers and leads in a more relaxed, informal way. Through pictures, short stories, quizzes, and other entertaining and informative content, they keep people engaged with their brands.

On these platforms, companies can also inform about sales, promotions, events, and more, thus increasing their clients, sales, and of course, profit.

As a matter of fact, according to entrepreneur.com, 95% of adults follow a company through social media networks, which means visibility can be achieved through these channels.

And if you are not sure about why it is important to be on social media networks, we mention some reasons given by an entrepreneur:

• Increase your search engine presence in a natural way
• Make people talk about you and pass the information around
• Help you build trust because customers prefer brands with social media profiles
• Increase your ability to compete in your niche
• Allow you to connect and bond with customers and leads
• Help you generate leads
• Help you drive sales

So now that you know the importance it has for your business to have a social media network presence, you may be thinking about how to do it. How can you be able to post engaging, informative, and entertaining content every day on all your platforms?

Companies who already knew the importance of social media networks faced the same problem as you are right now. Thankfully, the task is not as daunting as you might think.

Social Media Automation – A Solution For Social Media Marketing

When you hear or read the term “Social Media Automation”, people are referring to a group of software, apps, or websites that help you to automate some of your social media marketing activities. This is what articulate marketing tells us in their article, where they also state that there are two groups when it comes to social media automation.

There are people in favor of and against these kinds of tools. People against it call it unnatural, while people in favor say it makes you gain efficiency. But whether you think it is good or bad, the truth is that social media automation has gained more and more users among people who need to increase their productivity.

So, social media automation is a tool that allows you to post content, send messages, and more at any scheduled time or circumstance.

How to Use Social Media Automation?

Using social media automation is very simple. With online apps such as Buffer, Hoot Suite, CoSchedule, Hub Spot, or IFTTT, you can configure your personal or business social media accounts within minutes to schedule posts, send messages, and more.

It will all depend on what you wish to automatize in your social media networks. Always keep in mind that you will still need to manually enter and interact on your social networks to avoid being seen as a bot.

Some of the things that you can do when you automate your social media marketing are:

1. Schedule Posts

When you have a brand and you want to stay current on social media networks, it is very important to constantly post content that engages your audience and keeps you on their mind. With social media marketing automation, all you have to do is upload all your posts for a week, schedule them for a time and date, and wait for the magic to happen.

There are several options to do this, whether you are posting original texts or photos, sharing your blog’s content, or even sharing other people’s content.

The best advantage of this is that you can make sure to always post on times and dates your target market actually check their social media profiles, so it gives you a higher chance to be seen by your audience.

2. Share Content

An important part of social media marketing is to keep consistency. This means that it is important to constantly post new content on your social media networks. A strategy lots of companies use is to share engaging, interesting content from other websites.

Jeff Bullas.com mentions the importance of posting on a regular basis to keep the audience engaged and aware of your existence.

You can target content to share from other websites such as articles, photos, infographics, and more, and save it to have easy access to all of it when you want to share content.

Obviously, you can share your content from your website. Blog posts, photos, and articles can be in the queue and ready to deliver whenever you schedule it.

3. Make Users Take Action

With the use of social media marketing automation tools, you will have the chance to make your website and social media networks more visible by adding a call to action button to every shared content you post.

This means that whenever you share a link when the person opens it to see the website, they will also see a call to action button linking back to your website. In this way, you will have a higher chance of people visiting your site, increasing your ability to make sales.

3. Create Custom Responses

If you are getting more followers and connections on your social networks, you may want to show your appreciation to your new subscribers by sending them a welcome and “Thank you” a message.

But doing this task manually can be long and difficult to do, especially when as an entrepreneur you have a lot on your plate.

When you automate custom responses for your contacts, you will be able to automatically send a note every time a person likes, subscribes, shares, or interacts in any way with you. This way they will feel welcomed when they interact with you.

There are many benefits of using auto-responders on your social media networks, like turning visitors into subscribers, following up on visitors at a faster pace, and saving money on the price it would cost to hire a person for this job.

As general advice, automated responses should be used for messages such as a welcoming, showing gratitude for subscribing or a weekly newsletter. Make sure you still schedule some time to manually and personally interact with others on social media as well.

5. Articulate your Social Media Accounts

This is something you already can do with some social media networks such as Facebook or Instagram.

By automating your social networks with tools such as IFTTT, you can interconnect 2 or more social media accounts to inform one when you post something to the other one.

This is great for information such as promotions, discounts, contests, and quizzes that are meant to be socialized through all possible sources. This can lead to concrete actions from leads and clients because you will have to post the information on only one social media network to have the information posted on all your profiles.

Some useful advice on this aspect is to use this function only to post information like the mentioned above. It is important to remember that each social media platform was created with a purpose; therefore, make sure to post content especially designed for each platform.

5. Get Statistics and Important Info

This is one great feature you can get when you automate because all these apps and websites can collect important info for your brand, such as whenever your brand is mentioned on social media, or when the keyword you are tracking is mentioned on any post.

Always be aware of the state of your competitor’s demographics in order to get more leads or even capitalize on unhappy customers.

If you enjoyed reading this blog article, the make sure to How to Make Your Website More Persuasive 

Conclusion

When you start a business you do not know how much time you will have to invest in branding your company. With today’s technology and the importance of the Internet, there are plenty of fields open for you to market your brand, get new followers, and increase your sales.

But having entrepreneurship is not an easy task all the time and the effort you can save is monumental. With this in mind, social media marketing automation can help you complete tasks that would take hours and with just a few moments you will have most of your next week’s content ready to be instantly posted at times and dates you need.

Some people say automation makes social network marketing lose its social nature. But if you make sure to automate only the content that is uniform for all your platforms, and if you make sure to keep interacting manually and personally on social media networks, you will be able to make your time more efficient and grow your business.

If you enjoyed reading this blog article, the make sure to How to become a networking superstar (in 11 simple steps)

Become a Networking Superstar

Networking is defined as connecting and communicating with others to exchange information and develop professional or social contacts. In business, networking is one of the most essential keys to increasing the awareness of a newly developed establishment. It is important to know how to network, where to network, and how to plan out your course of action. Here are 10 tips any busy owner can easily use to become better at networking their business to new clients.

1. Figure out where to network.

Understanding your target market is important in order to find out where you need to network. Whether you do business locally or outside of your immediate area, you can find out who they are, what they like, and more importantly, the best way to give them information about your business. A business owner could figure out what industries are aligned or work directly with his industry, and start from there. Figuring out what other industries your product or business works with and going to their events is a quick and easy way you can begin networking with others.

2. Contact the Chamber of Commerce

Joining the Chamber of Commerce in your local community will put you in environments where you can meet potential clients. The Chamber of Commerce was tailormade specifically for local business owners so they can communicate with each other and establish business relationships. You may want to e-mail your local chamber and be asked to be put on their mailing list. This way you can receive regular notifications on where the next event is going to occur.

3. Join a Leads Group

A lead group is a business association in which members regularly communicate with each other for the purpose of giving and getting potential clients. There are many lead groups, and some do charge a fee, so it is important to do research on all lead groups before joining. You are more likely to get leads if you give leads to the group because they will likely feel the need to reciprocate.

4. Plan Your Work And Work Your Plan

One of my mentors once said, “Plan your work, and work your plan.” You are more likely to achieve your desired goal if you have a game plan. Why are you there? Who do you want to meet? What do you hope to accomplish? These are questions a business owner should be asking themselves before going to any networking event. Creating a clear and concise plan within your mind helps you understand what your goals are. Find some of the other attendees and try to establish a relationship with them prior to the event. This way you can begin to pre-plan any other questions you may have prior to professional interactions.

5. Sum yourself up in 30 seconds or less.

Do you have an elevator pitch? The difficulty of networking is figuring out the best way to sell yourself within a limited amount of time. If your introduction is too short, you may leave out vital information. If it is too long, you may initially grab their interest but lose potential clients when your message is too long. The key to communicating when trying to create business relationships is to create a concise monologue that gives a clear answer to who you are, what you do, and who you do it for. Remember to practice, practice, and practice some more until it becomes second nature.

6. The Only Thing To Fear is Fear Itself

You won’t create any new leads or potential clients by not communicating. Remember this is a gathering specifically for business. It is important to introduce yourself and try to find people to talk to. Get to know the person you are talking to. Ask questions and let them lead the conversation. Not every conversation is going to turn into a business opportunity, but it does allow you to explain who you are and what you do to another business owner. Become genuinely interested in other people’s business and you’ll be surprised how the floodgates of information open up. After hearing them talk about themselves and their business, then they will want to reciprocate and talk about your business.

7. Bring Business Cards and Magnets

With social media websites and emails, we sometimes forget that being able to hand someone something physically still draws attention. Business cards are still a classic way to give potential clients all of your information. It is still a virtually inexpensive way to make it easy for clients to contact you. Include your name, website, email, and phone number. However, if you want to take your networking up a notch, invest in some business card magnets. People are more likely to keep your magnet and put it on their refrigerator, than a business card.

8. Follow up is the key to real networking.

Around 95 percent of people do not follow up with potential clients after networking. This is why following up with any potential client you meet can immediately set you apart from any of the other business owners they may have met the day of the event. A business owner should follow up with a potential client within 48 hours of the initial meeting. You may want to consider using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management Software). One that comes with a lot of bells and whistles and is free to use is bitrix24.

9. Grow Your LinkedIn Connections

Unlike Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram the sole purpose of LinkedIn is to establish professional relationships and to network. There are groups that exist within LinkedIn that make it possible to communicate with other people who specifically deal with businesses within your industry. Take time out to personalize your messages. It lets the potential lead know you are specifically interested in their business as opposed to appearing as if you are sending messages to every profile you encounter. Commenting on their post would also help to personalize your interactions.

10. Be Patient and Think Long Term.

I don’t believe that every relationship you establish will lead to sales or new business. But it is still important to work on each of those relationships individually. We as business owners are eager to sell our product or service as soon as we develop our relationship, but it is important to remember that people will buy when they want to, not when we want them to. You never know when a potential client will be ready to work with you. Even if after several meetings your leads may not be interested in doing business with you, they still have the potential to introduce you to other potential leads. Touch bases with your networking business connections every 30 days as to not lose your influence.

11. Wear A Name Tag

Most people forget a person’s name within the first 30 seconds of an introduction. However, many networking experts agree that you are more likely to be remembered if you wear a name tag to an event. This is why it’s important to invest a few dollars into a professional name tag and wear it to every event.
If you want more business you need to network, communicate, and meet new people. Introduce yourself at any opportunity. As stated before, every interaction you have won’t lead to new business, but creating those relationships will let more people know about your business. Contact your Chamber of Commerce, join a lead group, and become an active member on LinkedIn. Harness those communication skills, pass out business cards, and your other marketing material. Get ready to introduce yourself (and more importantly your business) to the world!

www.chavezwebdesign.com
Written by Noemi Chavez

If you enjoyed reading this blog article, then make sure to read How to create viral content for Twitter