3 Proven Ways to Create An Effective Facebook Ad For Your Restaurant

Are you considering Facebook ads for your restaurant or your food business?

Wondering how to set up a successful Facebook ad campaign but you don't know where even to start?

Understanding the basics of Facebook advertising can help you avoid common mistakes and pitfalls that will cost time and money.

In this article, you’ll discover 3 Proven Ways to Create An Effective Facebook Ad For Your Restaurant.




1. Choose Campaign Objective

On your restaurant page in the right hand corner select the drop down menu and click on "create ads".



At the campaign level, you choose your objective, which is the action you want people to take when they see your ads. Facebook has three objective categories: Awareness, Consideration, and Conversion.



The best way to determine your campaign objective is to work backward from your goal.The objective you select depends on your strategy. For example if you want to run a re-targeting campaign to send people from Facebok to your website, choose either the Traffic or Conversions objective, depending on what specific action you want people to take.

If your goal is to generate sale , for example, you could offer new customers 10% off of their entire order on their first visit to entice them to make a purchase. Instead of giving away the discount code in your ad, send people from your Facebook ad to a page called a landing page where they can receive the discount code. Because you want people to take a specific action, Conversions is the most appropriate campaign objective here.

2. Build Your Ideal Custom Audience

The second stage in the campaign structure is the ad set, which specifies how your ad will run.

Selecting the right audience, also called targeting, is one of the most important elements of your campaign and it can make or break performance, even before your campaign goes live. Let’s look at three ways to define your audience.

Target Demographics and Interests
The easiest way to target your audience is to use the demographic and interest options. This approach is generally used to target new people who haven’t previously interacted with your business.Here you’ll choose demographic constraints such as location, age, gender, and language.

Detailed Targeting

In the Detailed Targeting section, you can narrow your audience by choosing from thousands of interests, behaviors, demographics, and more. Typically you’ll get the best results with basic targeting by using a layered approach financial variable . Choose a mixture of interests and behaviors to zero in on your ideal customer. For example, suppose you would like to add catering to your business. Start by targeting people interested in life events like weddings.



Custom Audiences

Custom audiences can deliver some of the best results for re-targeting campaigns because you’re targeting warm audiences of people who already know, like, and trust your business. When you create a custom audience, you can choose from four categories: Customer File, Website Traffic, App Activity, and Engagement on Facebook. Let’s look at how to use each one in turn.



With the Customer File custom audience (otherwise known as email custom audiences), you upload or import a data list and Facebook will cross-match the people on your list to find them on Facebook.

Website custom audiences are based on people’s activity on your website. . This type of custom audience is best for re-targeting website visitors. You can create different website custom audiences based on the pages people visited, how long they stayed, and what actions they took.

On the other hand, the App Activity custom audience allows you to include people who have completed a specific action in your app or game if you have one created for your food business.. It’s similar to a website custom audience, but the actions occur in an app rather than a website.

3. Build and Test Your Ad Creative

The last stage of the campaign structure is the ad level, otherwise known as your creative. Your ad is what your customers or audience will see. This is where you choose your ad format and creative including images, videos, news feed text, URLs, display link text, and a call-to-action (CTA) button.

The number-one best practice of Facebook ad creative is to create multiple ads as you run your campaigns. Don’t just stop after you’ve created a single image ad, for example. By creating multiple ads to test variations in copy, imagery, and even overall ad format, you can improve performance over the life of your campaign.

Introduce new ads when the relevance score of your current ads decreases, often due to high ad frequency (where people keep seeing the same ad again and again), as the best way to continue to generate results from your campaign.
If your existing ad was delivering results, don’t stop it; introduce new ads instead.

Conclusion
Before creating your Facebook campaigns, take the time to define your campaign strategy and where to implement Facebook ads to grow your business.

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3 Reasons to love customers' complaints

 Customer complaints are like medicine. Nobody likes them, but they make us better. Identifying customer concerns and proactively responding to them with the aim of customer retention, can only improve your business's bottom line. Learning to love your customers' complaints is crucial, and here is why:

Seven tips on setting successful Pinterest account for your restaurant

 Pinterest is quickly becoming the hottest new social network, and a recently conducted study reveals that Pinterest drove more traffic than Google +, YouTube, and Linkedin combined in January of this year. To find out how to develop your business Pinterest presence, try these seven simple steps.
1. Reserve your space- even if you are not posting any content yet, reserve your user name because some Pinterest members are already using brand names and logos for which they have no affiliation. Registration takes only couple of minutes, plus you can use graphics or profile info from your existing Twitter or Facebook page.

How being on Pinterest can benefit your restaurant

 Many may have heard of Pinterest, but despite this, most brands have yet to hop on the hottest new social network. In this article, we examine how Pinterest can benefit your own restaurant.
1. Grow your customer base- Pinterest can help you interact with your existing or future customers and build meaningful relationships by sharing anything from recipes to tips on setting an intimate dinner for your loved one.

Best ways to keep kids entertain in a restaurant

 Going out and eating with your kids doesn't always have to be a hassle. Believe it or not it is possible to have an enjoyable meal and kids that behave all at the same time. While most restaurants recognize the importance of entertaining kids, simple crayons and placemats to color on doesn't always do it. Learn how this simple tips can help your restaurant put and keep a smile not only on the kids' faces but on their parents too all the way through dessert.
1. Close to windows- this is the best free advice we can give. When you are sitting a family with kids especially if they are young, make sure your stuff is train to sit them close to windows where kids can observe what's happening on the street at all times. This trick works great especially if your restaurant is on a high-foot traffic area.
2. Robot activity placemats- these are disposable placemats that feature friendly robots on the front and games and puzzles on the back.
3. Wikki Stix- they are non-toxic completely free of allergens and lead sticks made from yarn and coated in a colored wax. They easily can be made into about any shape imaginable and since they can be reused again and again wikki stix can be the beginning of endless fun.
4. Brainquest or Scrabble- these games in travel sizes are not only entertaining but highly educational.
5. Make your own restaurant game- you can easily work with your local printing company or collaborate with a company that specializes in games for kids and create your own restaurant game like "I spy" or your very own restaurant trivia game where you can teach kids to recognize the names and shapes of all the ingredients that would go into creating their meal for example.
 Remember whatever your restaurant decides to use as a kid entertainment make sure it is fun and engaging.

3 Ways to boost your productivity as a restaurant owner with tech tools

 As technology continues to advance restaurant owners should start thinking about working smarter not longer. Thankfully the devices we found can help you amp up your output and increase your efficiency as restaurant owner.
1. Monitor your restaurant remotely- D-Link HD Media Router 3000 minimizes over-the-air traffic by turning power outlets into possible network connections. This router allows everything from monitoring your restaurant to viewing your restaurant's site visits.
2. Never miss a call by routing all your calls to one place- Plantronics Calisto 835 is a desktop speakerphone device that uses Bluetooth to connect to your cellphone, USB to hook up to your computer and phone line. It even comes with clip-on microphone to allow you to take calls no matter what you are doing.
3. Think, speak, or text on your feet- Motorola Elite Silver is a headset packed with HD-audio and dual microphone to block background noise if you think better on your feet. The free app that comes with the headset reads messages aloud and allows users to reply or initiate new text by speaking. This devise travel case also doubles as a charger.

10 Commandments of how servers can increase their sales

 Like anything else in the restaurant industry, there are rules to selling especially when it comes to the art of up selling. To ensure sales success in your restaurant, whether you are just starting or an established server, here are ten of our commandments for sealing the deal and increasing sales.
1. Know your menu- we can't stress enough how important it is to know what you are talking about when you are describing a dish or up selling one. Knowing your menu will not only make you credible in the eyes of your guests but will keep you authentic when it comes to helping your guests in their decisions.
2. Communicate clearly- no one will take you seriously if you don't communicate clearly and confidently. You can practice by recording yourself and then playing it back to ensure your communication is coming across as you intended.
3. Make and maintain eye contact- if you want to be believed it is crucial to make eye contact with your guests. It suggests interest in them and their needs and projects confidence in yourself, the product you are offering, your services, and in what you are suggesting.
4. Always carry all necessary server tools- at all times be prepared it won't be good for your sales if a guest order a bottle of wine but you find yourself without a wine opener and the guest takes it as a sign that he/she should not be ordering a whole bottle. Always carry your tools, matter of fact if you can have a back up too.
5. Use humor- any humor that can make people feel good or inspired is always great when introducing specials to your guests. Everyone loves a good story, and people are more likely to buy when they are less serious. You will sell and up sell more if you can get your guests to lighten up and laugh.
6. Ask more than once- if you are told "no" figure out a way to circle back and ask in another way for a "yes". This doesn't mean you didn't listen, it just means you are sold on your view more than you are on your guests.
7. Check on your guests- leaving your guests after you serve their food or drinks doesn't mean your job is done always make sure the dish they ordered is just as good as they expected.
8. Always treat any other restaurants guests as your potential customers- regardless of the circumstances always treat a guest as your own potential customer, a simple "hello", "how are you" , or clearing their table can make a world difference.
9. Be positive- no matter in what mood the guest are or how they respond, keep your own mood light and maintain can do attitude throughout the conversations. When you go negative due to the customer being negative there's only one outcome and it's not good. Remember negativity succumbs to positivity.
10. Always smile- this is not just about your attitude but also about your physical manifestation. Practice smiling and do it until you can disagree with a smile, negotiate with a smile, over come objections with a smile, and sell with a smile. Smile at all times this is the secret to success.

How restaurants can beat slow periods after the holidays

 For many restaurants after the holidays sales slow down even in a good economy, and sometimes as a result even employee morale may plummet. To help your own restaurant bottom line, here are couple suggestions:
1. Explore- the beginning of the year is an excellent time to take a survey or poll. This is a great way to show your customers that their opinion matter by letting them shape your plans for 2012 that can be anything from your menu to your marketing campaign. To up your winter traffic, you can give out limited time deals for those who participate in your surveys.
2. Network- organize or attend network events where local business owners participate. You can share ideas or collaborate your efforts and offer a package deals as a reward to a joint effort contest.
3. Freebies- you can offer for example basic cooking techniques classes for free or any other classes that will fit your restaurant goals. Once classes are completed, you can opt for paid advanced classes. This is a great way to increase your sales since so many people nowadays want to learn or expand their cooking skills.

How restaurants can protect their social media information

 Protecting your restaurant social media presence has never been more important these days. Since your social media activities are a valuable currency, you should protect all your information from blog posts, to your restaurant's videos, to links, posts, and any other information you have ever shared through out any of your social media networks. Here is how your restaurant can easily do this:
1. ArchiveFacebook- this is a free Firefox tool that allows you to save actual web pages from Facebook, photos, messages, notes, and other Facebook information directly to your hard drive.
2. TweetBackup- another free tool which offers archive of up to 3,200 of your tweets and the people or brands you follow. The best thing about this service is that it doesn't require your Twitter password to do any of your daily back up.
3. BlogBackupr- this free service offer daily back up of your restaurant blog such as Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr, etc. without having to install any software.
4. YouTube downloader- yet another free program that will allow you to download your restaurant's videos from YouTube including HD and HQ videos, convert them to other video formats like MOV or MP3 files, and then easily save them on your hard drive.
5. Backupify- they offer regular backup of your social information on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and others. You can easily save online profiles, messages, Google apps, and more. The price of their services very from $4.99 to $19.99 a month.
6. SocialSafe- with this service you can create an online and offline searchable digital journal of your entries and photos of both your Facebook page and Twitter account. You can also back up sites such as Google+ and Viadeo for only $13.99 a year.
 Save you social information at all times, and you may end up saving your restaurant's future.

How to make your restaurant stand out this New Year's Eve

 To make your restaurant stand out this New Year's eve think outside the box. Here are a couple ideas that can help you put a twist on your restaurants' specials. Happy New Year to all!
1. Create a cooking kit of your most famous restaurant dessert or appetizer. You can give it out to your customers or sell them on your website.
2. Organize a cooking or mixicology class featuring New Year's eve specials.
3. Organize end of the year food donation drive for your community.
4. Hold a contest for the most creative edible ornaments or decorations for the New Year and reward the winner with a special New Year's eve dinner.
5. Offer free champagne at midnight or small door gift prizes to your customers.
6. Create and serve only New Years inspired dishes or drinks in certain colors such as gold, silver, or white.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our Followers, Fans, Users, and Lurkers!
We are thankful for all of you, all your feedback, and support!
Wishing you peace, joy, and goodwill this season!!!

How restaurants can avoid the Discounts trap

 With the holidays just around the corner, many seasoned restaurants tend to discount their services or products as a way of doing business, but for small and start up restaurants straight discounting is usually a ticket to financial disaster. Playing the discount game, usually means going into your own company every day to price yourself right out of business. To help you avoid the discounts trap, we have listed this three tips:
1. Know your margins at all times and look into lowering them where you can like negotiating better deals with your suppliers.
2. Add value instead of discounts. This can be as simple as providing incredible customer service to your guests.
3. Leverage your current resources and look for ways to increase your profit like expanding your delivery or catering services.
 Remember, don't fall into the trap of thinking that without discounts you won't have sales. Keep this tips in mind, and let other restaurants run themselves out of business.

6 Ways for restaurants to celebrate their customers this holiday season

 With only four days to Christmas and ten days left to the end of this year, it is only natural to look back and be thankful for all the amazing things 2011 has brought to your restaurant business. This time of the year, is the perfect time to show everyone who has contributed to your restaurant success, especially your customers, your appreciation. Here are some great ideas of how to celebrate your  customers this holiday season.
1. Spotlight your customers on your website, Facebook fan page, or your twitter account by posting pictures of different events you held during the year and your customers' participation in those events (with their permission of course). Thank your customers for their loyalty, repeat business, and support through out the year.
2. Enlist the help of famous local chef or a celebrity chef (if you can) and reward them with a private consultation or a private dinner prepared by the chef.
3. Offer tickets to a local winery where your customers can learn and try different wines.
4. Give out chef's table service.
5. Offer 1 year free subscription to Food and Wine magazine.
6. Give out a holiday inspired free Family meal to-go.
 There are many other ways to celebrate your customers this holiday season, so let your imagination run wild. Let us all remember this holiday season how to be thankful!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

How your restaurant can turn daily deal buyers or bargain hunters into loyal customers

   They say that daily deal buyers or bargain hunters chase deals or deeply discounted offers, that usually they don't spend beyond their deal, and that as a restaurant owner who wants to keep the shirt on his back, you should stay away from such buyers. What if we tell you that you can capitalized on this trend with little or no competition? Find out how this 6 tips can help your restaurant turn daily deal buyers or bargain hunters into loyal customers.
1. Offer more than the perceived value of the deal.
2. Offer an invitation to your next sampling event to expose the customers to you other menu items.
3. Train your employees how to redeem daily deal coupons, how to upsell, and how to effectively promote your restaurant business.
3. Involve your new customers and ask for feedback on the given deal, what you could you have done better, or anything else you can think of that can help you gather useful data.
4. Offer email sign up for special deals like birthday dinner coupons, promotions, or discounts.
5. Send out your monthly restaurant newsletter to your new customers with useful information such as food articles, pictures of your new food menu items, or any other restaurant specials being offered for the month.
6. Once you had the opportunity to get to know your new clients, give them what they ask for just exceed their expectations.

3 Things every restaurant can learn from daily deal sites

Offen daily deal sites like Groupon and Livingsocial entice small business owners with the ability to reach large groups of prospective clients. Unfortunately,  altering traditional retail discounting can sometimes lead to unintended consequences. Learn how you can better protect and prepare your business by studying these 3 things which every restaurant can learn from daily deal sites:
1. Plan ahead- anticipating the cost of a social discount can be crucial for your restaurant success since daily deal offers can easily stress capacity. If for example you oversell your product or overbook your restaurant you risk to be operating on low margins which can lead to a financial loss.
2. Turn your daily deal clients into a full paying customers- have a step by step marketing plan in place from capturing customers demographic data, to emails, social media presences, and more.
3. Shop around for the best daily deal sites for your needs- you can't assume that one daily deal company is better than another. Instead find a platform that matches your restaurant's marketing goals. Daily Deal Media is a company that tracks close to 600 daily deal sites and how they perform which can be extremely helpful when you are making your decision.
  Social sales can be an important component especially to a small business market just keep in mind if you decide to give daily deal sites a shot to do your homework and to prepare accordingly.

10 Ways negative comments, posts, or reviews can be used to your restaurant's advantage

 Today our social driven society compels most restaurants to avoid any negative responses from customers and/or employees. Negative comments, post, or reviews are usually frown upon and perceived as damaging to a restaurant's reputation. However as unbelievable as it may sound, negative criticism can be used to a restaurant's advantage. Learn how your restaurant can take control and turn an unpleasant situation into a success story. Negative comments, posts, or reviews can:
1. Increase credibility which can minimize the risk of appearing superficial and pushy.
2. Increase customer engagement and readership which can offer more exposure to positive posts.
3. Create personal connections and dialogues with your customers.
4. Opportunity to improve products or customer service.
5. Opportunity to prevent any potential future problems.
6. Minimize employees' turnover.
7. Decrease employees' training expenses.
8. Increase customers' loyalty.
9. Increase restaurants' productivity.
10. Increase restaurants' profit.
  However keep in mind that too many negative posts just like anything in excess can be more harmful than helpful. Keeping diligence in delivery, response and editing if possible are highly recommended for a successful restaurant venture.

Affordable consumer research tools for restaurants

 When it comes to entering a new market, expanding, or launching a new product it is financially imperative to gauge customers' demand and feedback through market research. Until recently such service was extremely expensive for many restaurants. Fortunately today, we have the opportunity to take advantage of affordable research tools that can help any restaurant gather important and trustworthy market research data on targeted audience. Find out how your restaurant can take advantage of this service:
1. uSamp provides custom targeting as well as predefined consumer list with 6.5 million global panel members. You can target your audience by country, business-to-business, or a specific industry such as food. Results are provided in real time, so you can observe your data as it comes in.
2. AYTM allows you to create surveys on the go which can be send to your own list or AYTM panel of 4.5 million people. You can choose a targeting criteria such as gender, or geographic region, and you can include images and videos. Results come within 24 hours.
3. GutCheck enables you to conduct 30-minute one-on-one video interview with any of the 3.5 million members consumer panel. Targeting can be done by age and income, and results are usually ready in 48 hours.
4. Zoomerang is another well known research tool that allows surveying your own list as well as their 2 million panel members using more than 500 targeting criteria.
5. SurveyMonkey is best known for enabling you to send online surveys to your own list, but it also offers custom surveys which can be send to SurveyMonkey panel of hundred of thousands responders.
 Finally keep in mind, the most important thing will be to determine which research tool will best suit your restaurant, so before you use any of the services listed test each tool to compare cost effectiveness.

How restaurants can create personal connections with customers

 Nowadays it is not always enough to create and promote your restaurant product and service. The most successful restaurant ventures are the ones that connect with their customers on a personal level, as it is known people like to buy from people they like. In this six tips guide, we reveal how to create personal customers' connections at your own restaurant.
1. Get to know your customers- using your customers names, asking about details they shared in previous conversations, or just remembering how your customers take their tea, or what temperature they like their stakes can make a world of difference.
2. Ask questions- before you launch into a hard sell, take the time to ask questions. It's easier to show your customers you can fulfil their needs if you know what they like or what they are looking for.
3. Wow your customers- to stand out from the competition and win your customers business you have to hook them somehow. You can consider for example sending a "Thank you" note for choosing your restaurant for their special occasion, and also take the opportunity and invite them back to celebrate with you.
4. Reveal something about yourself as a restaurant owner or your establishment that customers can relate to.
5. Listen to your customers- listen to what your customers have to say about your restaurant or your product.
6. Have patience- making lasting personal connection with customers can take time. Arm yourself with patience, properly train your stuff on your products and services, and never stop improving.

Using social media to take over your competition

 In the restaurant industry knowing your competition is just as important as knowing your own business. Find out how keeping an eye on the competition through social media can help you not only get an edge but also help you take over your competition.
1. Can you add a new future?- is there anything that your competitors' fans are complaining about. Is something missing and can you include it into your own restaurant?
2. Do you promote enough?- is there anything that your competition is successfully promoting? Find out what it is and how you can implement it into your own campaign.
3. Do you connect with your customers' emotions?- is there any specific emotions that your competitor's fans are connecting with in regards to the products or services being offered. Can you convey the same or even stronger emotions?
 Keeping up with your competitors' social media outlets can not only boost your marketing efforts but can give you an insight to important operational techniques that can be extremely valuable to your restaurant success.

5 Thanksgiving ideas for every restaurant to show your employees you care

 Thanksgiving is not only a family holiday, but a time to show how thankful we are for all the amazing things in our life. It is also an ideal time to show our own restaurant employees how much we care about them and how grateful we are for the work they do. Find out how this 5 tips can help you this Thanksgiving make a difference in someones life.
1. Send handwritten Thank you notes to all your employees, suppliers, or vendors and tell them how much you appreciate everything they do. If you want you can name specific qualities in them that you admire.
2. Throw an Appreciation lunch for all your employees and their families.
3. Create certificates of Appreciation and encourage your employees to vote and nominate each other for the award. Then organize a ceremony to present the certificates to the honorees.
4. Organize "30 Day thank you " box and each day of November write down a reason why you are thankful for your stuff. On Thanksgiving let your employees read the notes you have written.
5. Invite your employees to Thanksgiving dinner.
 Remember without your employees or customers your establishment won't be where it is today. Show your appreciation and Happy Thanksgiving to all!