Guest post by Amanda Dee
People, including your customers, are becomingincreasingly local, social and mobile; for example, 35% of all Yelp traffic came from their 3.2 million mobile users. Now Facebook is making mobile even more effective for your business.
After claiming your business place on Facebook, you can begin offering deals through the Facebook check-in platform. Not only may this opportunity bring more diners through your door, but it allows you to reward your loyal customers and incentivize new ones.
Rewarding Loyal Customers
Facebook check-in deals are great for rewarding both your currently loyal customers and those who are well on their way to being one. Everyone wants incentive to visit your place of business, and this is a great way to get them that via a platform your customers are most comfortable with. There are a few ways you can make this work for your restaurant: check out three deal options.
- Loyalty: Like a frequent customer card, this allows your customers to earn after dining with you on multiple occasions. This is a great way to build buzz around your restaurant; offer a deal worth visiting you more than once and your customers will talk about it.
- Individual: One time only, this can be valuable when you've added something new the menu or have started selling wholesale products.
- Friend: Want to get more bang for your buck? Use the friend deal which only allows participants to earn the prize after all checking in all together.
Customer Marketing
What is the best kind of marketing? The kind your customers do for you. It's been found time and time again that customers rely on reviews from friends and strangers alike to make many of their purchasing decisions.
Communications specialists, Cone Inc., found, "... while 80 percent of consumers have changed their mind about purchases based on negative information that they found online, 87 percent claim that positive reviews reinforce their purchasing decisions." And, Facebook check-in deals are a great way to inadvertently get recommendations across the social sphere.
- Recommendations: By investing time in Facebook check-in deals, you're able to generate endless "reviews." When someone sees their friend checked-in to your restaurant for dinner, you automatically gain more authority.
- Quick traffic: If someone sees their friend has checked-in somewhere, there is a good chance they'll click through and head straight to your page. From there they may call you up, like your Facebook page, or share the check-in.
- Brand advocates: Deals are a great way to make brand advocates out of your business. Just like giving away a valuable promotional item, like a shopping bag; if you give something valuable to your customers they'll talk about it.
Facebook check-ins are valuable themselves, but adding a deal gives customers even more incentive to be involved. Not only do you get more brand awareness and restaurant buzz, but create more loyal customers who will continue to come back time after time. Social media is a great way to reach every member of your customer base, and with mobile becoming increasingly popular, the opportunity is even more valuable.
Has your restaurant ever used Facebook check-in deals? Tell us about your experience and strategy in the comments below.
Photo Credit: blog.newworld.com
Amanda Dee is a professional blogger who writes on a variety of topics including Boston restaurants. She writes for Restaurants.com, a leading directory of restaurant reviews.