Learn what to post and how often to post on social media

As a pizzeria owner, you know that social media is essential for growing your business. Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter help us connect with customers, promote menu items and increase brand awareness. However, with so many social media channels available, knowing how often to post and where to focus your efforts can be challenging. Let’s detail how often you should post and what you should do posts of.

It’s important to know why you are posting and not just to do it because “I guess that’s what you do.” Lean into the goal and remember that if your channel were a tv show, like a sitcom, it would be 22 minutes of entertainment and eight minutes of commercials. So, make sure you lean into entertaining and informing for seven out of 10 posts and use three posts to create a CALL TO ACTION or CTA; the rest are TOMA, aka Top of Mind awareness.

TOMA:

Social media is an excellent way to increase your brand’s visibility and reach a wider audience. You can reach more potential customers by posting regularly and using relevant hashtags (I suggest the app (Hashtag Expert). Videos, photos and enticing funny or informative content will increase the likelihood that people look at your content and, if a subscriber, that they look long enough for it to become at the top of their feed.

Connect with Customers:

DO NOT POST TO POST and call it a day. Think of social media as a networking event. Your post is the shirt you are wearing, but when someone comes by and says, “Hey, cool shirt.” or, in this case, likes or comments on your post, you need to say something back. If you have ZERO followers, here is a 100-percent foolproof trick to get some: like and follow other people who follow other pizzerias or restaurants in your town.

You: “But if I have a higher follow count than follower count, will I look desperate?”

Me: “No one that matters gives a hoot about you or is checking that much. And more followed today turns into more followers tomorrow; get over yourself and get social.”

THE CTA:

Once you have entertained, informed and shown off gorgeous photos of food (professional shots or portrait mode shots near natural light of perfectly fresh food), you can humbly inform your customer of an upcoming special.

Example: Hey, we’re doing a one-night-only tap takeover with (local brewery), and the first 50 people are getting swag; it starts at 5 pm; see you then.

This could be a video or a post, but since it’s timely, if it’s on Instagram, this should be a story, not a full-tile post.

What Social apps should you be on?

Focus on what’s relevant and what you can give solid attention to. Start with one and move on; if you cross-utilize content, post it natively in each app and do with discretion.

Facebook:

Facebook is the most popular social media platform, with over 2.7 billion monthly active users. You can use Facebook to create a business page, share menu items, post pictures, and connect with your customers. It typically runs older, like 25-65, with the prime audience being 38-65; almost everyone still has one, and it’s still the largest app, so don’t discount it.

You should post on Facebook at least three times a week. This posting frequency will ensure that your page remains active and your customers are engaged. Posting at different times of the day will also help you reach a wider audience.

Instagram:

Instagram is a visual platform perfect for pizzerias to showcase what you’re all about. With over 1 billion people checking their feeds monthly, Instagram is an excellent platform for reaching millennial audiences. Posting to stories is very simple and creates a lot of easy and organic engagement.

Aim to post on Instagram at least once a day. Instagram is a highly visual platform and posting pictures of your menu items and specials regularly will keep your customers engaged. Also, Stories, you need to post to stories more; it feeds the beast and keeps you at the top of the algorithm.

Twitter:

Twitter is an everchanging platform that can be super engaging if you have the gift of written gab over visual. Look at Wendy’s for a prime example of this. With that said, Twitter is a less visual app and can get into the sandbox quickly with its passionate, typically not-as-supportive fan base. It is still a solid venue for sharing real-time pizzeria updates. If choosing which app to start with, I would start with something other than Twitter in 2023.

While it’s socially acceptable to post on Twitter multiple times a day as it’s a fast-paced platform, it’s also an excellent way to burn out on a less effective platform; I suggest posting only critical updates on Twitter.

TikTok:

DO NOT SCOFF AWAY TIKTOK as a kid’s app for dancing. If you are not wholly addicted to TikTok, get on the app and let it play for about five days, and it will game your viewing habits quickly. It is a super solid app with an intelligent algorithm based on interest and not who your friends are. It’s a Silicon Valley game-changer. Despite the political issues involved with piracy, you can not deny its effectiveness. ALSO, VERY IMPORTANT, while setting up a TikTok ad account is slightly more complicated than Meta Instagram FB, it’s way more bang for your buck. No joke, I posted a video during the holidays and put 700 bucks behind it, and I was so visible in Tulsa that people posted in the comments, “I will pay 50 bucks not to see this TikTok five times a day on my feed.” That’s the best social media proof I’ve ever read online. I’ve been doing local news for a decade and got more public recognition the week my TikTok ad dropped than the decade before.

TikTok Copycats:

YouTube Shorts, Facebook and Instagram reels are all seeking to take the TikTok success and try and get it back to themselves. They’ve all made quick video solutions like TikTok, which is good for you. I suggest this:

• Make TikTok videos in the TikTok app.
• Save them.
• Upload them to a watermark remover website.
• Upload natively to the other apps.

CapCut is another excellent new app to create videos on your phone or computer, share on there, and then post to video platforms at will. You will need to potentially add sound native to the app to maximize trends and still post hashtags, but that can all be done with a posting app like Hootsuite or Sprout Social.

BEWARE: Instagram and Facebook are savvy to this and don’t promote videos not built native to the app as much, so if you have the time, working inside each app gets more reach.

These sites don’t come off badly if you post a lot at once, you can space it out if you choose, but if you put a bunch of videos up at once, the app will send it out sporadically and not in chunks, i.e., it does the spacing for you.

Social Strategies to achieve a great presence without eating all your time:

Batching and Content Calendars:

Always take photos and film videos in batches. Then use a device that posts them for you later, like Hootsuite and Sprout Social. You can’t post everything on these, like Instagram stories, but it does much of the work for you. This is a content calendar on autopilot; if you don’t use this, then you need a manual content calendar of what to post and when to keep your head above water.

Social Media Liaison:

If all this sounds like too much work, I get it. If you offload this to an employee or firm, make 100 percent sure they know your voice, and you edit and review all the posts every week before they go out. Also, ensure you are connected via notification e-mails on what people are replying with, so you can reply at any given moment since it is your business, not theirs.

Analyze Your Metrics:

Analyze your metrics to understand what types of content resonates with your audience and what don’t. Use tools like Facebook Insights and Instagram Insights to track your reach, engagement, and follower growth.

By following these tips and strategies, you can create a solid social media presence for your pizzeria and connect with your customers on a deeper level. Remember to be consistent and authentic and engage with your followers to build a loyal customer base and increase ROI.

Bonus-Influencers:

If you like someone else’s content, ask them to come to your place for free and let them do the posting for you. Their following could be larger and more diversified than yours. SEEK your influencers, like local celebrities and news anchors, not just self-proclaimed influencers who typically pay to play and don’t get nearly the bang for the buck.