Why Using Twitter for Restaurants Can Spark Your Sales

Twitter for restaurants has become an essential tool for promoting your business. As of February 2019, Twitter has had about 126 million daily users. Using Twitter, therefore, gives you a great way to communicate with current and potential customers.

Restaurant tweets, however, work best when you know how to best address your audience.

Your tweets need to be bold and interesting for your customers to pay attention to them, which is why we’ll take a look at some of the:

• • Best fast food Twitter accounts
  • Unique restaurant promotion ideas for Twitter

• Benefits of social media for restaurants

All so you’ll know exactly what to do to skyrocket your online sales. By the end of this article, you’ll know more about how you should harness the power of social media to make your restaurant more popular & profitable.

What is Twitter Marketing for Restaurants?

Twitter marketing is the process of promoting your restaurant brand on Twitter, from posting about your menu items to sharing updates about new services, opening hours, promotions, and more. Twitter marketing also involved building a community and interacting with your followers.

Why Restaurants Need Social Media Like Twitter

You know how difficult it is to bring new people through your restaurant’s door, especially when there’s so much competition.

Using social media platforms, like Twitter has plenty of benefits: it can provide your restaurant with more online exposure to increase your food sales and brand awareness.

Before we look at ways you can improve your presence on Twitter, let’s dig into some numbers.

Your Customers Are Impatient

One study shows that 60% of consumers expect immediate responses to customer support questions.

If someone tweets at your restaurant, you have to respond ASAP. You have to respond within minutes. You can’t wait a few hours for the lunch rush to end. Otherwise, people will go to a restaurant that can answer their questions immediately.

You Must Meet Customers Where They Are

When it comes to monthly active users, Facebook dominates the social media game. More than 2.375 billion people log in to Facebook each month.

Compared to Facebook, Twitter seems quite small with its 330 million monthly users.

If you only have time to use one social platform, then you should focus on Facebook. However, doing so would mean that some customers miss your messages.

Not everyone using Twitter has a Facebook account. Facebook’s privacy issues have started to scare a lot of people. Twitter hasn’t had to deal with a lot of controversies, though. As a result, a lot of people using Twitter have walked away from Facebook.

As more people turn to alternative social media sites, you have to follow your customers. Today, it makes a lot of sense to maintain an active presence on Twitter.

Twitter Users Support the Small Businesses They Follow

People follow businesses for all sorts of reasons. Maybe they like the pictures they post. Maybe they think the posts are funny. Maybe they want to visit the location in the future.

Regardless, not everyone following your business on Facebook will spend money at your restaurant.

It’s different with Twitter, though. Social marketing surveys show that 94% of Twitter users plan to buy something from the small businesses they follow. To further grow this percentage, you could use a great Twitter marketing tactic to attract new customers: try sending them direct messages and offering them some great promotional deals. It’s personal and it works.

As your Twitter account gets more followers, you can expect more customers to walk through the door.

Other Reasons Twitter Works for Restaurants

Backing away from concrete numbers for a second, let’s acknowledge some of the reasons that restaurants use Twitter.

Some of the most common reasons include:

• Promoting special menu items
• Telling people about upcoming events
• Responding to what people say online about your business – which is why you can use it as a great customer support medium
• Learning how to improve services from happy and unhappy customers
• Posting restaurant promotion messages
• Twitter is an excellent communication and marketing tool. It’s free, so why wouldn’t you use it?

Learn From Some of the Best Fast Food Twitter Accounts

The best restaurant Twitter accounts should give you plenty of ideas for how to promote your restaurant business and communicate with customers.

Some of the best restaurant social media ideas come from major chain eateries like McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Wendy’s. These corporations have a lot of money to spend on marketing, so it’s not surprising that they come up with such creative ideas, yet simplistic ideas.

The Best Taco Bell Tweets

For the most part, Taco Bell focuses on promoting its menu items, contests, and news. The brand isn’t afraid to throw out some hilarious responses, though. When Men’s Humor tweeted:

 

“This morning I gave birth to a food baby and I think @tacobell is the father,”

 

Taco Bell responded:

“I want a DNA test.”

 

On July 20 (4/20, the popular cannabis holiday), Men’s Humor tweeted that:

 

“If Taco Bell delivered, they would make so much money today. #420.”

 

To which Taco Bell responded,

“We’re probably going to make a lot of money today anyway. #Ballin”

 

The thriving fast food restaurant doesn’t just have fun with other brands, though. It gets involved with customers, too. For example, back in 2013, Taco Bell tweeted:

 

“#SingleBecause I like TacoBell more than most humans”

 

A man named Jack Barakat responded:

“I’m in your drive thru.”

 

Taco Bell got a little creepy (in a funny way) by replying

“We know.”

 

Wendy’s Twitter Frequently Flames Its Competitors

Taco Bell isn’t the only fast food brand willing to clap back at its followers. Wendy’s takes it to a whole other level, though, by making fun of its competitors. Wendy’s gets especially vicious when it comes to McDonald’s.

When a random person on Twitter asked:

“@Wendy’s can you find me the nearest Mcdonalds?”

 

Wendy’s responded by posting an image of a garbage can.

 

Another person asked:

“@Wendys how much does a Big Mac cost?”

 

Wendy’s tweeted back,

“Your dignity.”

 

On Black Friday 2017, McDonald’s practically begged for Wendy’s to make fun of them when it posted “Black Friday **** Need copy and link****”, Wendy’s jumped into action with “When the tweets are as broken as the ice cream machine.”

Not everyone should try to roast competitors and customers on Twitter. When you have a good humor game, though, you might as well use it.

The Best McDonald’s Tweets

McDonald’s has more than 37,000 locations around the world, making it one of the largest restaurant brands in the world. Only Subway has more locations (43,000). As much as Wendy’s likes to troll McDonald’s, you should clearly pay attention to one of the world’s largest brands.

McDonald’s uses Twitter more professionally than Wendy’s and Taco Bell often do. Humor doesn’t work well for all brands. Instead, McDonald’s usually sticks to more traditional marketing ideas. For example, McDonald’s used summer 2019 as a reason to share images of its most unique locations. Until the tweet, most customers probably didn’t know that a McDonald’s had a bright blue arch or a neon hamburger sign.

McDonald’s also likes to highlight its products by associating with national events. The company posted several images on National French Fry Day. All of them looked delicious!

McDonald’s also retweets from its customers. When YouTuber and professional gamer Ninja posted a picture of him getting a McDonald’s delivery from UberEats, McDonald’s shared the tweet with everyone. The shared marketing gave a boost to Ninja and his favorite fast food joints.

Twitter Marketing Can Work on Other Platforms

If you haven’t set up a Twitter account for your restaurant, yet, then you should read our post about making the most of restaurant Facebook pages. Sometimes the best Facebook posts for restaurants also make great material for Twitter and other platforms.

Study Some of the Most Effective Twitter for Restaurants Marketing Campaigns

Some of the best social media post ideas come from smaller restaurants. While you need to follow national brands, you should also follow these best restaurant Twitter accounts. They will teach you how to use humor, images, and customer replies to your advantage.

• Sprinkles Cupcakes posts beautiful pictures of its baked goods while promoting its specials.
• Myers + Chang shows off its best recipes while reposting tweets from socially conscious celebrities.
• Union Square Cafe uses photos to emphasize the joy of sharing food and drinks with friends.
• Momofuku shares reviews, pictures, and information about its locations in NYC, LA, Las Vegas, DC, Toronto, and Sydney.

Find restaurant marketing strategies you like by following these brands. You don’t have to copy their style, but you can draw inspiration from their posts.

Strategies to Make Social Media Posts Work for Your Restaurant

When you first start using Twitter for restaurants, you might feel a little intimidated. Don’t worry. The platform has similar features to other social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. Try the following strategies to make social media posts work well for your restaurant.

Include Photos to Entice Customers

Include beautiful photos of your food, drinks, and locations when you can. If a happy customer will let you snap a photo, don’t hesitate. Your followers will love seeing a satisfied person hanging out at your restaurant.

Pictures of food also stimulate appetites. A person scrolling through Twitter probably isn’t thinking about breakfast, lunch, or dinner. As soon as that person sees pics of your food, though, mealtime becomes an important thought.

Link Marketing Across Platforms

Save yourself some time by using the same marketing materials across social media platforms. Equally to the restaurant Instagram hashtags, the twitter hashtags are very important. If you can use the posts to build a larger audience, then your restaurant should attract more sales.

You can also alter marketing materials to suit the top features of each platform. Instagram is great at displaying pictures. Facebook gives you plenty of space to discuss issues and promotions. Twitter is a good place for quick replies and shares.

Adjust your content to keep followers interested. No one wants to see the same post on multiple platforms. A little synergy never hurts, though. You’ll save time and improve your marketing efforts.

Post Links to Your Website’s Content

Twitter isn’t the best place to post lengthy content. You can, however, use it to direct your fans to longer pieces on your website. You can also use Twitter to redirect visitors to your website’s menu, online ordering page, and reservation page. Give people gentle nudges to visit your restaurant.

Form Alliances With Other Brands

A lot of restaurant owners and managers worry about how they can reach new customers. They love their loyal customers who come in every week, but they need more people to make their businesses profitable. Twitter can help you find new customers.

Start by following other businesses in your area. Focus on restaurants that share your passion for specific types of food. If you run a vegan bakery, become friends with other vegan businesses and groups near you. They’re likely to retweet your posts.

You can also do good deeds to gain more followers. Try donating food to a local fundraiser. In return, the fundraiser’s organizers should give you a shout out online. It doesn’t sound like much, but the advertising can increase your brand’s identity and visibility.

Twitter Restaurant Marketing Strategy for the Win

All social media platforms have features that can benefit your restaurant. Learn how to make the most of Twitter for restaurants so you can grow your brand, boost hype about your restaurant, and attract more customers!