Effective Ways to Establish “Social Proof” for Your Restaurant

What is Social Proof

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon where people assume the actions of others in an attempt to reflect correct behavior (1984, Cialdini)

In the restaurant industry, social proof occurs when customers or potential customers see what others are saying about your business and make decisions based on those feedback

When people are looking to purchase an item or dine in to a restaurant, they would first look for ratings & reviews, recommendations, and ways that others have used a product before making their decision.

Social proof is the driving force behind why we do the things we do. In this article we will share some advice to help your restaurant stand out online through the application of social proof as the foundation for your digital marketing.

1. Gather and maintain positive ratings and reviews

People prefer to visit places that others believe are great. Ratings through online food review platforms plays a large role in increasing the reputation of the restaurants with customers.

Great reviews and ratings on sites like Google and Yelp can help your restaurant build a reputation and encourage customers to interact with the business.

To implement this strategy: The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Your Restaurant on Yelp

By having a database of customer information, you can send follow-up emails, tag them on social media. For example, you might employ a popup on your website that invites people to submit a review.

Reposting positive feedback on your social media platforms is also proven to influenced the customers to leave a review. You can also promote the review in your ads and on your website.

Your restaurant will stand out more online if it receives more positive ratings and reviews. Establish ways on where people could discuss their experiences with you, as well as manage criticisms as well. Don’t try to hide any criticisms from your customers. Respond professionally and show that you’re doing something about it. Having a high volume of only perfect reviews would give the image of a bot generated content. Non-perfect reviews and comments are normal because different people have different preferences. 

2. Utilize the Fear of Missing Out Marketing Tactic

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a marketing term based on people’s social urge of performing actions just to not be left out. The purpose of this psychological marketing trigger is to induce guests to make rash decisions to prevent them from “missing out” on things that they might not be able to get later.

You’ll boost sales and conversions if you put your audience in a scenario where they have to move quickly to take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime chance.

You can apply FOMO as a Social Proof tactic by launching limited-time offers and events that will get people to talk positively about your restaurant. This would often entail giveaways that encourage traffic and will boost your brand’s image.

Read more:     Restaurant Promotion Ideas That Actually Work In 2022

Social media contests that harp on exclusivity is another excellent example of using FOMO to build social proof. You can ask your contestants to detail their experience in posts and use hashtags when doing so to get the non-contestants to talk about your brand, too.

3. Be present on most if not all of the available social media platforms.

Marketing, equal to consistent quality, is arguably the most important ingredient in finding and retaining customers for your business. The data below validates just how much digital marketing has affected the market visibility of restaurants (Data from Forbes).

• 90 % of guests research a restaurant before dining — more than any other business type.

  • 57 % of those guests viewed restaurant websites before selecting where to dine.

  • 33 %  view other guests’ reviews prior to dining.

By being omnipresent in all the different social media platforms, businesses would have the opportunity to meet their consumers where they are with the correct message at the right time.

By having social media channels, company websites, eCommerce sites, you would have more client information that could help you provide services or response especially tailored to their needs

These different social media channels may interact and relate to one another, allowing the user to switch between them seamlessly.

Depending on product availability levels, you may use social-proof messaging to generate fear of missing out on popular menu items among your site visitors.

You may use live chat, email, and social media to make communication engaging and in real-time. You can send customized emails, for example, to customers asking for social proof based on their behaviors.

4. Gain visibility through influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is one of the new strategies of social media marketing which relies on recommendations and user generated content from social media influencers. Influencers are people who have a large social following and some of those people are often considered authorities in the industry.

Influencers and marketing are closely connected. Opportunities to collaborate with influencers relevant to your niche, who have a high engagement rate, are authentic, and provide high-quality content, would be very beneficial in increasing your visibility.

You can find influencers using sites like GRIN and Mavrck or manually search social media for people who would be a good fit for your brand. Additionally, you may also keep track of hashtags to see which ones are most relevant to your location and food offers.

Depending on whom you choose to work with, you may need to compensate them. This is not necessarily a cash payment. Hosting a food influencer for lunch at your restaurant in exchange for creating a post could also be an arrangement. You could also release a new menu item and invite influencers to try it before anyone else does.

During an event, you can also use the takeover technique. A social media takeover occurs when an influencer takes over your account(s) as a live content creator.

5. Boost the Customer Service

Part of a consistent restaurant is consistent customer service. Customer service is also frequently the face of your business. Having a good customer service team boosts your social proof since happy consumers are more likely to inform their friends and family about their positive experiences with them.

Customers will also return to your business if given excellent customer service.

Your customer service team must focus on carefully listening to and attending to the needs and desires of your customers.

For that reason, you must ensure that your clients have several options to provide feedback. You should also work to improve your team’s customer service engagement skills.

It’s also critical to increase your customer service team’s response rate to social media reviews and feedback left on your Google My Business profile.

Your customer service team must have the necessary skills for handling the needs of your consumers, such as empathy, patience, and consistency.

Another way to boost customer service is constantly innovating and providing unique features and services such as online ordering, contactless dine-in ordering, online payments, no-contact delivery and pickup, etc.

In summary, social proof is a significant motivator and the restaurant industry is starting to cash in on this realization. So, collect those testimonials, ask for “likes,” make use of those hashtags, and make sure that your online reputation is clean.

Need New Team Members to help you create a Social Proof?

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