Get National Pizza Month Social Media Ideas

October is National Pizza Month. It’s 31 days of pizza celebration. Why not schedule 31 days of interactive posting on your social accounts? We can make it easy on you with engaging social marketing ideas.

Let’s first talk ROI, the biggest bang for your buck and time. We scoured through #nationalpizzamonth social campaigns and found some common patterns. There are a few styles of posts that drive views and engagement. Let’s examine a few strategies:

The Giveaway 

Hands down, doing a giveaway on social reaps high exposure and engagement. And you don’t have to give away the farm (or, in a pizzeria’s case, something like free pizza for a year). Yes, that does get a huge amount of traction. People love free stuff, whether it’s a pizza, appetizers, dessert or restaurant swag. They will like, share and tag to get free stuff.

Get the details right. Avoid confusion and even legal issues by spelling out everything in your contents. Some items that should be included are specific contest opening and closing dates and times, eligibility requirements, methods of entry and selection of winner, judging criteria, publicity rights of winner’s information and any exclusions, among others. 

There are guidelines that you must adhere to run a giveaway on social. Be sure to read through the rules carefully for each platform on which you plan to post a contest. Some of the information that should be included is that participating in the contest requires no purchase necessary.

The Collaboration

Social platforms make it easier than ever to team up with another account to post to followers. Increase your National Pizza Month reach by collaborating. Make the most of your collaborations. Are any of your pizza fans social influencers in your community? What local and regional food and events bloggers can you align yourself with?

Be strategic who you select as social collaborators. Local celebrities may not be the right fit. Make sure that they fit within your brand identity and values. 

The Mention and the Tag

Mentions and tags can also expand the reach of your National Pizza Month campaign. Let’s break them down into four key tags:

• Mention. Maximize the power of your post by mentioning accounts that are important to your specific campaign with @ symbol. Good mentions include key products you use, campaign partners and creators of graphics and content that you roll out. For instance, @PizzaToday would be a great mention for National Pizza Month. Don’t forget to invite your customers to mention your account in their National Pizza Month celebration.  
• Tag. Add tags on your images and videos. Think of this as putting your social campaign on their radar. Local or regional media and blogger are great accounts to tag. Events, tourism and review accounts may also be good tags. Don’t overdo it. Tag who’s important. 
• Hashtag. First and foremost, use #NationalPizzaMonth. Sure, you can use broad hashtags like #pizza and #pizzatime. With millions of mentions, try to drill down to your area and niche. What are common foodie hashtags in your market. Are their media hashtags for story pitches? Check out other local businesses. Have they found the hashtag sweet spot? Don’t forget to create your own hashtag for customers to join in on your National Pizza Month fun.  
• Geo-tag. Wherever possible, geo-tag your pizzeria’s location. Guess what? Your customers are already geo-tagging themselves at your spot. Make sure your content is there, too. Geo-tagging also helps you connect to local customers and lets them see precisely where your physical location is. That’s the point, right, to get them through the door?

Drool-worthy Images and Video

Stop a scroller dead in their tracks with a mouth-watering cheese pull or charred pep cup. Your best National Pizza Month social content is your jaw-dropping product. Showcase it with good, we mean GOOD, photographs and video EVERYDAY. 

Hire a professional. No time or budget for that? Google it and learn. Put a pizza by the window (not in the direct sun) and point your camera phone at the pizza and fire. Get creative with angles. Don’t know what you are doing? You have an entire team of social media aficionados that can point you in the right direction. 

User-generated Content

Now that you have your customers mentioning your pizzeria and using your custom National Pizza Month tag, it’s time to include them in your social campaign. It is always best practice to ask for permission to share that content. It’s as easy as commenting on their tagged post: “Great shot! We’d love to use it in our marketing (specify usage — i.e. social, print, web, etc). Please reply with #yesYOURPIZZERIANAMEorSOCIALHANDLE to give us the go ahead.”

Now that you have the mechanics of creating an engaging social campaign, it’s time to blast your National Pizza Month content across your social platforms. 

But you might still be asking: posting on social for 31 days … isn’t that a lot of work? It is work, but it can also be a fun way to engage and celebrate your product and your customer’s favorite food. Have fun with it.

We’ve put together a National Pizza Month social calendar template. Follow it, use a few ideas or fill in your own. The key is plan, execute and celebrate. 

Go to pizzatoday.com/national-pizza-month-october-pizzeria-tool-kit/ and download the social calendar.

Happy National Pizza Month!