Don’t let its fading popularity among teens fool you — whether you call it Facebook or Meta, the ubiquitous social network remains a powerful resource for restaurant operators and marketing teams across the industry. The site boasts more than two billion active monthly users, which makes for a massive audience of potential new regular customers.
You already have a dedicated Facebook page for your restaurant? That’s a good start, but you’re only just beginning to taste the site’s data-gathering and revenue-generating benefits. Familiarizing yourself with the site’s advertising features and building a program for executing campaigns will pay off with far more than just new followers.
What makes Facebook such a powerful tool for restaurant advertising?
To take full advantage of Facebook’s advertising features, you’ll first need to familiarize yourself with the site’s broad range of features for creating ads, targeting customers, and fine-tuning messaging.
You can’t succeed (or even define success) without first setting goals. Once you’ve established your Facebook advertising program’s overarching goals and an action plan, you’ll need to select objectives for individual advertisements and multi-ad campaigns.
These goals will guide you through defining your audience, picking your channels, and fine-tuning your copy. Most importantly, your goals will determine the calls to action featured in each of your ads. Ask yourself, “What do I want customers to do?”
Facebook’s Ad Manager offers a range of objectives. Together, they cover the full buyer’s journey from awareness through conversion. In February of 2024, Meta/Facebook pared down its list from a hefty 11 to just six.
Here’s the simplified list of objectives for restaurant advertising on Facebook along with some details on how to succeed with each one:
These ads target a broad, top-of-funnel audience. Most of the Facebook and Instagram users who will come across an awareness ad aren’t familiar with your restaurant yet.
You can also run awareness ads to people who already know your restaurant when change is happening — when you want to introduce a new menu item, kick-start a rebrand, or start to enroll customers in a loyalty program, for instance.
Traffic here refers to online traffic, not foot traffic to your bricks-and-mortar business. If you’re looking to drive customers to a specific online destination, then traffic ads are for you. You can use them to direct customers to browse a specific page on your restaurant’s website, such as an ordering page or a page describing your catering services.
Different types of engagement ads aim to inspire different types of activities, such as liking a specific page or RSVPing for an event. To get the most out of these ads, you may want to appoint a team member or hire a provider to handle community management.
The leads objective fits advertisements that aim to bring new contacts into a sales pipeline. These ads are great for ongoing projects and for generating long-term loyalty. If, for example, you’re planning to add a loyalty program, leads-focused ads can collect contact data for a more robust promotional campaign later.
If your restaurant has its own mobile ordering application, this type of advertising campaign targets users who are likely to install the app and sign up.
Finally, the sales objective prompts users to fill their carts and make a purchase. Restaurants with integrated online ordering can use these ads to seamlessly turn Facebook impressions into delivery dollars. Customers won’t be able to resist ordering favorite menu items with just a few clicks.
Users build Facebook ads for restaurants by filling out five sections.
There’s no single recipe for a great Facebook ad, but high-performing campaigns tend to include many of the same components.
Try building “buyer personas” to create lookalike audiences. Build your ideal customer based on customer data (like age, gender, income level, buying habits). Are there types of people who are especially likely to visit your location, or do you have a gap in your customer base that you’re eager to fill?
Don’t load your imagery with text or snap photos of your menu to capture detailed descriptions. Facebook rejects ads that feature too much text. Save some rework by letting a high-quality photograph or custom graphic do most of the talking. With carousel ads, you can show off a handful of images at once and appeal to a range of appetites.
Putting mobile first isn’t just essential if you hope to get the most from restaurant advertising on Facebook. It’s essential if you hope to get anything out of the platform. Don’t send anything out before you’ve tested it on phone screens and tailored it to activate mobile consumers.
Follow these best practices to set yourself apart with better ads and a more dependable restaurant advertising program.
While consistent messaging is key, variety ensures you pique curiosity without beginning to get on Facebook users’ nerves. Whether or not you rotate your menu with the seasons, look for opportunities to build campaigns around the changing months. A great timely ad creates a sense of urgency, encouraging users to visit soon rather than filing your restaurant away.
You may even win some free advertising. Once satisfied customers have shared their gratitude on Facebook or Instagram, you’ll reach a whole new audience of potential followers and visitors.
Your approach to advertising on social media should echo your approach to the items on your menu. The tone and contents of your ads should shift to suit evolving tastes while taking into account feedback from customers, insights gained from competitive research, and emerging trends.
Talk to a pro about your restaurant’s next steps. If you’ve already built an effective marketing and advertising program for your restaurant, you’re probably no stranger to building partnerships and benefiting from third-party support. Schedule a conversation with me or another Back of House expert and learn how to get more from your tech and advertising spend.