Taming Facebook | Making It Work for You

When Facebook came on the scene, it came crashing with brute force and had no expectations outside of social activity on a college campus. Facebook is the grandfather of all of social media platforms (notice I said grandfather; MySpace claims the *great* grandfather role) and it is a presence to behold. What started out in a college dorm has now grown to be a global institution, with an astounding 3+ billion monthly active users. Specific to Canada, there are over 29 million active users. That means that 7 out of 10 of your potential customers are on Facebook!

So, what does this mean for you, and why does it matter? Let’s do some digging to find out.

On average, consumers spend 144 minutes a day on social media. In addition to that time, 68% of them will use socials to check a restaurant before making a decision. That means that for every ten people that are both using Facebook and also want to dine at your restaurant, at least 6 of them will first check online to see what you have to offer. Everything you have on display matters, because what you’re offering will either entice the average consumer or will turn them away from lack of information or, even worse, lack of updated information. Think about your habits when looking into a new business, and consider how you'd feel if the business hadn't updated their hours in over a year and their menu looked the same as it did in 1987. 

This also means that anyone using socials for food options are also looking at recommendations from other patrons (e.g. if they had good food, what the service was like, how easy it was to find the hours, menu, address, etc.). No matter what, presence MATTERS. You must be able to use all the tools at your disposal to become a cornerstone, a staple in the food industry, a business with staying power, which  means using everything available to you. Facebook isn’t something insurmountable and it shouldn’t be seen as anything other than a tool to be used as you see fit. 

Facebook is very community driven, so use that to your advantage! Get yourself a good community and welcome new people with fervor. You've got 29 million opportunities, so what have you got to lose?