Restaurant Marketing Workshop
Restaurant marketers spent an hour swapping social media trips, tricks and no-nos when crafting social media plans.
Photos: NMG
June 5, 2025 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com
When creating the Restaurant Marketing Workshop, we had one goal: Inspire speakers to give specific, actional tips to help marketers drive traffic and sales. We wanted to avoid high-level strategies and give to-do items.
That goal was especially top of mind when putting together our Social Media Audit, featuring a panel of social media experts followed by 13 small groups discussing everything from leveraging local platforms and harnessing artificial intelligence to maximize social media impact.
 Melissa Dimayuga, director of Account Services for Push, Kylie Selvage, senior social media manager of Push, Jason Sobocinski, co-founder and president of Haven Hot Chicken and Erin Levzow, growth adviser of Batch & Box, give social media best practices at the Restaurant Marketing Workshop in Indianapolis. |
And because we are following the advice of our several panelists who hammered the importance of “setting a goal” (In our case it was providing actional content) and “measuring it,” (Providing specific examples of the actionable content) below are 13 ways marketers can improve their social media strategies.
1. Go local with Facebook, brand with Instagram
A clear directive emerged: establish local Facebook pages for all restaurant locations. This strategy is not merely about presence; it’s a direct route to strengthening SEO performance and connecting with local communities. For broader brand building and reinforcement, Instagram should serve as the primary platform. While local Facebook pages cater to discovery and hyper-local engagement, Instagram is the canvas for showcasing the brand’s unique identity and aspirational content.
2. Empower operators and franchisees with guardrails
Recognizing the crucial role of local execution, the session emphasized the importance of support. Leverage resources like SOCI to assist operators and franchisees with their social media efforts. Also, showcasing real-life examples of high-performing operator and franchisee social media efforts was highlighted as a powerful way to drive engagement and facilitate best practices sharing across the network. To bridge knowledge gaps, creating webinars to train managers and franchisees on social media skills and platform optimization was strongly recommended.
A crucial point in franchisee relations was articulated as the mantra: “GOT TO PLEASE THE FRANCHISEES.” This extends to social media. While it’s generally advised that franchisees should not have their own individual social media handles due to consistency challenges, if they do, strict guardrails are essential. Tools like Canva offer a way to provide locked-down assets for franchisees to use, ensuring brand cohesion even with localized efforts.
Another discussion highlighted the challenge of maintaining consistency with individual local store Instagram accounts, suggesting they might detract from operational focus. An alternative offered was “always-on awareness ads on Meta with evergreen creative, with a minimum $5 per day spend” as a way to address local social requests for stores without the burden of individual account management.
3. Integrate strategy and communication
Social media should not operate in a silo. The workshop stressed the need to build a comprehensive, integrated social media strategy that connects all marketing activities across the brand. This holistic approach ensures consistency and amplifies the impact of every initiative. Equally important is consistently communicating the “why” behind each social media and marketing initiative to secure buy-in and effective execution from all stakeholders, particularly those on the ground.
4. Embrace AI for content and strategy
The session highlighted the growing importance of artificial intelligence in modern marketing. Attendees were encouraged to utilize AI tools such as Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude and StoryBrand AI to enhance content development and strategic planning. These tools can streamline ideation, improve content quality and offer data-driven insights for more effective campaigns.
5. Field marketing: A local social catalyst
The active involvement of the field marketing team in local and brand-level social media efforts was identified as a critical success factor. Their proximity to local markets and understanding of community nuances can significantly boost the relevance and effectiveness of social content.
6. Focus on Surprise & Delight: Instead of a “needy vibe” begging for user-generated content, focus on surprising and delighting guests via location-based posts and then sending them direct messages. This authentic approach can organically encourage content creation.
7.Track influencer marketing: Influencer marketing works, but make it work more for you. Implement promotional codes to track effectiveness, much like Amazon affiliate marketing. This builds an engaged audience and provides measurable ROI.
8. Create ambassador programs: Consider creating an ambassador program that rewards your best customers for generating authentic content.
9. Give exclusive offers: Give your loyal followers and fans the “inside scoop” by sending email or text message offers and announcements of LTOs before they are publicly announced.
10. Embrace smart gifting: Instead of expensive gift cards, utilize app credits or loyalty program points for rewards.
11. Prioritize visuals: Reels are currently driving more engagement on platforms, and carousel posts are effective for reaching existing guests.
12. Don’t count out email: When forced to choose, email was emphasized as a more reliable and direct communication channel than social media. Use them together.
13. Get employees involved in content.Bring the camera behind the scenes to showcase the process or culinary inspiration. Give your employees incentives — swag, discounts, freebies — to post about your brand.
