Venturing into your own business is a risk that any
entrepreneur takes. After working in the food industry for 8 years, I decided
to use the space in front of our house to open a small restaurant. My wife and
I are both food lovers and we both love cakes and pasta. Luckily, my wife went
to a culinary academy so she has good knowledge on making delectable pasta and
mouthwatering cakes. After a year of planning, we finally opened a small café.
Like what other entrepreneurs do, I sent out flyers to my
friends announcing the opening of our café. The first few months were great.
People kept coming into the café. I asked them how they knew about our shop.
Most of them answered that it was recommended by our common friends. Indeed, I
was thankful that my friends were kind enough to spread the word about my shop.
However, I felt the need to advertise my shop more to gain more customers and
gain more revenue.
It was very noticeable to my customers taking pictures of
the food before eating it. I saw an opportunity. With the help of my younger
brother, I was able to make an account on Facebook about my shop. In my
account, I invited all my friends I know who had been to the shop. I posted
photos of the food we serve including happy customers who tried our food. The
response was overwhelming. I got likes and comments on the pictures that I
posted. Some people even share my posts to their own timeline. My wife had an
idea to write blogs about the food we serve. She made an account on WordPress
and started writing about our shop. These blog posts are linked to our Facebook
page which garnered more visitors daily reading about our food.
Aside from Facebook, I also used Pinterest in promoting our
food. It was so easy to upload pictures and share it to everyone on their
social media accounts. As more and more people like our Facebook page, our
customers kept increasing monthly. I even had a wall in my shop asking
customers to write a post on how satisfied they are with the food. Some even
tagged us on their photos on Facebook which I think helped a lot in promoting
our shop. The hashtags and mentions on these social media accounts have been a
cheap and easy way in reaching hungrier public for our food.
Today, I am currently having an extension of my shop. More
and more visitors are coming and I need to accommodate them – as I want every
customer of mine happy and satisfied. With social media marketing, I was able
to make my shop exist on the Internet. It is a marketing strategy wherein I do
not have to spend a lot on paper or radio advertisement. The simple like and
share buttons on Facebook are the powerful tools that attracted customers to
our great food. With the success of social media ads, I am planning to launch
our own website and write more on how good our food is. This website will serve
as a new hub for my customers to expect new menu and even promos in our shop.
Indeed, social media marketing has made my business bloom and popular among my
customers.
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