The Influence of Social Media on Restaurants

DISCLAIMER: This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be used as legal, accounting, tax, HR or other professional advice. You are responsible for you and your businesses' legal and regulatory compliance. Contact your attorney, accountant, or any other relevant professional for specific advice related to your own needs and circumstances.

Facebook is one of the most established social media platforms worldwide with over 2.7 billion users as of 2022. It has a wide range of ways to market your business, whether paid or unpaid, from video and photo posts to facebook groups and more, Facebook is a must have for many businesses’ marketing strategies. Creating a Facebook business account has its advantages as well. It gives you access to the Meta Business Suite, a useful marketing tool to schedule, create, and analyze your paid and unpaid posts. 

Another important aspect of Facebook Business accounts is Facebook business reviews. Having high reviews on any channel is a big boost for business and shows your community’s trust in your restaurant. But knowing how to increase your ratings or how to respond to reviewers is crucial to maintaining a healthy and high reputation on the social media platform.

As reviews have become an integral part to a consumer’s buying decisions, it’s all the more important to focus your Facebook page efforts on maintaining your reviews. If you’re a new restaurant and just starting out, creating incentives to get reviews on major problems are a great way to start increasing your ratings on platforms like Facebook reviews. Incentives could range from offering coupons, discounts or freebies in exchange for a review online. However, what if your business receives a bad review? 

Reviews, good or bad, should be seen as a beneficial tool. These reviews, no matter where they land, are sources of engagement. Engagement on your business account makes it easier for the algorithm to boost your posts adding to your visibility on Facebook. But leaving your reviews there will do nothing to help your business page. Engaging with customers, responding to their ratings and reviews not only helps your business page within the Facebook algorithm, it also helps your restaurant’s image. 

No business can escape negative reviews. However, what you do and respond when there are negative reviews impacts your restaurant’s standing in the digital sphere. Negative reviews don’t always have to leave a bad taste in your mouth. These reviews are key to understanding why your customers may be unhappy with your service. It could tell a story that the data within your POS may not be able to tell you. Why these customers who left a review are unhappy can be indicative of how other customers felt about your service who did not leave a review but are also not going to return to your restaurant due to a bad experience. If there is common ground among the reviews, it is wise to take heed and take the necessary steps to combat whatever problems were mentioned.

When handling negative reviews, first start off with a sincere apology. If the review is severely scathing, redirecting your dialog to a more private or offline form may mitigate damage. Offering reparation to make up for any negative experience helps by offering goodwill and a second chance for your customer to have a better experience. Finally, take the feedback and relay it to your team and see if there is anything that could be done to avoid similar situations in the future.

Now responding to negative reviews is a must, but it’s never a good look when restaurants only respond to negative comments. Negative reviews may have a higher and more immediate impact on your restaurant’s bottom line, but good reviews that come from happy, satisfied customers also have impacts on your restaurant’s revenue. Studies show that over 90% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, meaning that viewers of your Facebook reviews are more likely to look at not just your good reviews but at the responses that you give them. Having well written responses to all reviews, in general, will help increase your reputation within Facebook reviews and in your community. 

If you’re having trouble managing your online reviews, check out our article on our Customer Review Function on our POS to know how applications can improve your ratings on multiple review platforms including Facebook reviews. 

TikTok is uniquely positioned out of all currently popular social media platforms. It is one of the fastest growing social media platforms in the world, with a near 50% annual growth. TikTok is often misconceived to be only for younger audiences. In reality, less than half of TikTok users are under 30 with older audiences joining the platform daily. TikTok has a wide range of users with people from all sorts of backgrounds and interests, meaning restaurants and businesses in general should take advantage of the rapidly growing popularity of TikTok to promote their businesses. 

TikTok, like Instagram and other established social media platforms, have popular foodie niches that often have cooking and restaurant videos going viral. TikTok shares the same potential as other platforms to create a loyal consumer base. Whether by posting food, your staff, sharing promotions or other fun events at your restaurant, there is always space for your business to shine on the platform. 

TikTok’s algorithm is unique since it actively promotes and pushes newer accounts to users who are already interested in similar content. Because of this, users on the platform are more likely to see new content and accounts on their For You Page that would match their interests. This makes it easier for restaurants to reach thousands of people even with a smaller following. 

But posting on TikTok isn’t the only thing that could promote your business. Other users reviewing your business on the platform could be great word-of-mouth recommendations, if the reviews are positive.

Food critics have slowly transitioned to the digital space. Yet a new form of restaurant reviews have gained popularity in recent years. TikTokers making honest and sometimes scathing reviews are truly making or breaking businesses. TikToks that rave about restaurants can cause a restaurant to go viral overnight, some with lines out the door in the following days. TikToks that point out poor service, quality of food, or experiences can, unfortunately, cause restaurants to lose customers in a flash. 

This immediate reaction to TikTok criticism, good or bad, is not just due to the platform’s popularity, but also because visual criticism is much more effective and immediate than a wordy Yelp blurb or a food critics review in a national newspaper. The blunt, drama-filled, unfiltered ‘hot-takes' these TikToks present to their viewers is what makes them so sensational and is partially why these videos go so viral.

Even as some TikTok influencers thrive on the negativity, there are many who refrain from posting any negative content. The reasons being that these influencers do not want to make any negative impacts on anyone’s business. Others are less considerate, thriving on the views that their dramatic criticisms bring to their channels. 

While you can not stop a customer from posting their negative opinions of your restaurant on social media, you can mitigate the effects by already being present on the platforms, and if need be, resolving any issues in a diplomatic matter privately while publically offering a chance to make up for any bad experiences. On the other hand, like Instagram, using your good reviews as content will bolster your trust within the very community you serve. 

TikTok, like all other social media channels, offer a low cost and alternative digital marketing approach for restaurants new and old. To learn more about marketing strategies for restaurants, read our article dedicated to the topic.