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The Best Social Media Marketing Management Tools for Restaurants
Need Advice? Talk to an Expert
Written by: Hilary Young | Published: May 7th, 2024
It’s hard to avoid the fact that your restaurant’s marketing mix needs to include a well-thought-out and effective social media strategy. Social media marketing is central to many restaurant marketing strategies, and for good reason: it’s a cost-effective way to reach a lot of people.
The best social media marketing tools create greater efficiency for your various efforts, allow multiple users to post on behalf of the restaurant, and help you tap into valuable insights that can help you make better marketing decisions in the long run. If you’re struggling to figure out which of these technology platforms will yield the greatest return for your business, we’ve got you covered. Our experts have spent hours on research and product demonstrations so that you don’t have to.
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How to leverage social media for your restaurant
Social media offers proven strategies for increasing brand awareness, driving traffic to your restaurant, and boosting sales. But it’s important to “do social media” correctly. There’s actually a lot that goes into building a positive social media presence. You’ll want to establish a good cadence for posting content, create a pleasing visual experience, and hone your messaging to your audience.
Social media represents your best opportunity to engage directly with your customers, showcase your top menu items, and share special events or promotions. They provide a dynamic environment where your restaurant can participate in real-time interaction, build targeted advertising, and cultivate a community of loyal customers.
What to consider when choosing a social media marketing tool
When it comes to choosing a social media marketing tool or service, the first thing to figure out is how involved you want to be in the process. There are options available for those who want to fully outsource their social media marketing efforts, as well as options for operators who want more hands-on involvement or with smaller budgets.
While many of these tools make it easier and more efficient for restaurant operators to manage their social media, they won’t necessarily help you generate better content (unless you choose to outsource your marketing to pros). If you’re looking for additional tips, we have expert advice on how to improve your social media content for your restaurant as well as advice on utilizing influencers as part of your marketing strategy.
Vetted and Approved by Back of House Experts
Our Top Picks
Feeling overwhelmed by all the options out there? Our team of experts have identified their top choices for social media management systems for you. As you review, pay close attention to more than just price–from the level of your own involvement in the process to the other types of integrations that work well with each platform, it’s important to take your restaurant needs into careful consideration before making an investment.
Any paid partnerships have no influence on our evaluations and suggestions. All our opinions are our own.
GREAT AI-POWERED SOLUTION
SproutSocial is both an all-in-one social media content scheduler and a rich source of data on your digital marketing performance. With advanced publishing tools, it’s easy to post your social media content across multiple platforms, and multiple times, with a single click.
Starting Price
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Features
- Advanced multi-platform publishing tools
- Optimal post-time recommendations
- User engagement tracking
- Brand-level engagement reporting
- Keyword and hashtag trend analysis
- Service Cloud integration
- Brand Ambassador program
- Professional consulting services
- Chatbots with automation tools
Who it’s best for
Restaurant teams who have a marketing budget and want to tap into in-depth user behavior analytics, and detailed, easy-to-follow reports–all while incorporating AI and machine learning technologies.
Things to consider
Where it excels
SproutSocial offers a user-friendly interface and dovetails with operational needs through Helpdesk and CRM integrations.
MOST USER-FRIENDLY
Hootsuite is among the original innovators in multi-platform management for social media scheduling, campaign creation, and analytics.
Starting Price
Features
- Unlimited post scheduling
- Optimal post-time recommendations
- Canva integration
- Custom analytics and reports
- Link-in-Bio tool
- Automatic link tracking
- Advanced content curation
- Organic and paid campaign management
Who it’s best for
Teams looking for essential social media management services like unlimited post scheduling, data-driven alerts for when to post, and detailed reports on your ROI from various digital marketing campaigns.
Where it excels
Hootsuite turns the tedious and time-consuming burden of social media management into an efficient and manageable aspect of your digital marketing strategy. For Enterprise businesses, Hootsuite offers comprehensive digital marketing services to outsource your restaurant’s content curation, manage advertising campaigns, and even provide customer support service agents
Things to consider
GREAT FOR RESTAURANTS ON A BUDGET
Social Pilot is designed to help your business scale your social media operations while lowering the burden of labor on your in-house team. With an intuitive and navigable interface, Social Pilot makes it easy to onboard team members and begin scheduling posts across your social media mix.
Starting Price
Features
- Social media calendar
- AI Assistant
- Team management and workflow tools
- Advanced and analytics
- Browser extensions for instant content sharing
- Bulk Scheduling
- Integrations with third-party apps like Slack, Dropbox, and Canva
Who it’s best for
Smaller restaurants looking for an inexpensive option with structure to keep you on task.
Where it excels
Social Pilot is not as robust as some of the other options; they don’t identify peak posting periods and analytics tools still provide insight but are not as extensive.
Things to consider
GREAT OUTSOURCED SOLUTION
Targetable earns honorable mention among the social media platforms featured here because it is tailored directly to the digital marketing and social media needs of restaurant owners and operators. While the platforms noted above are all highly adaptable to the needs and goals of restaurants, Targetable offers a suite of services and tools built with restaurateurs in mind.
Starting Price
Features
- Social media ad development
- Organic social media posting
- Comment response
- Cultivation of customer reviews
- Custom landing page development
- Oversight of digital awareness campaigns
Who it’s best for
Restaurant operators who don’t have the in-house resources to manage their digital media mix, but have the budget to outsource to experts.
Where it excels
Targetable also offers to manage your email marketing, oversee acquisition and loyalty programs, build customized landing pages, and enhance your brand visibility.
