Since joining Facebook a couple of months ago I’ve been able to connect with past friends as well as chefs from all over the world. But while in a restaurant today I thought about how any restaurant could use Facebook to promote themselves. Every day there are thousands of people joining the already millions on this social network, so why not spread your reach to them.  After all the price is right.. Its free.

Why Facebook? Good question. There’s been a number of studies and surveys on the internet looking at the demographic of Facebook users, and there is significant evidence that business people are joining the social network in droves. There is a strong chance that a good percentage of your existing customers are already on Facebook. This demographic can be very hard to market to as a restaurant as they are busy people and many don’t engage in usual media like TV, radio or newsletters making them very hard to reach. With this in mind Facebook is a good platform to reach that certain demographic as they are actively engaging in social networking.

So to make it easy, I thought I’d create the ultimate guide for restaurants to learn how to setup a Facebook Restaurant Page and begin promoting themselves on Facebook.

Get your own Facebook profile.
Ok to get started on Facebook you’ll need a profile, simply visit www.facebook.com and register your profile. Add details of where you work, so if you are the restaurant manager or chef, then put that in. Make sure you make your provide public. If you have a hidden profile you want benefit as greatly as if you make it available for all to see.

Setup your Facebook Restaurant Page
Facebook recently launched the Facebook Pages which allows companies to have their own profile on Facebook. As part of Facebook’s launch of this proeuct they used an Indian Restaurant which is apparently downstairs from the Facebook Headquarters in Palo Alto called, Junnon as an example. To setup up your Restaurant Page on Facebook visit Facebook Business. Choose local, then choose either restaurant or café from the drop down, then put your business name in. Make sure its 100% correct before creating the page. You cannot go back and change it.

Once you’ve setup the page start by customising it and adding information like your address, website URL, what credit cards you accept, name of your chef. Don’t forget to add a link to your menu, either on your website or link to a PDF of the menu. There is also a section where you can upload photos which is a great way to visualise your restaurant to the masses. Think of photos which will really sell your restaurant like food photos, photo of the restaurant, photos of the chef, wine cellar etc.

One of the great aspects of the Facebook Restaurant Page is the ability for other Facebook users to become Fans of your restaurant as well as share the page with other Facebook users. Start the trend off by becoming a Fan of your own Facebook Restaurant Page.

Facebook Applications for your Restaurant Page
There is a great deal of freedom on these pages to add what you want, but if you need more, you can make use of a few of the thousands of Facebook Applications that exist. I’ve hunted down a few which you’ll probably find most relevant to your Facebook Restaurant Page.

Zagat Ratings & Review Application
This application allows you to include your Zagat Review on your Facebook Restaurant Page. The best way to describe it is like having the Zagat Sticker on your front window on your Facebook Restaurant Page. Easy to setup and only for restaurants included in Zagats.

Reservations by Opentable
If you already accept reservations at your restaurant with Opentable, then this application will allow you to accept reservations via your Facebook Restaurant Page. You must be an OpenTable partner restaurant to install this application and requires an OpenTable account number.

Blog RSS Feed Reader
The Blog RSS Feed Reader application allows you to add your restaurant blog / website to your Facebook Restaurant Page for your people to read. All you need to do is install the application, then add your RSS feed form your restaurant website or blog. Then every time you update your restaurant website or blog it will automatically be reflected on your Facebook Restaurant Page. The application will also alert all your friends and fans that you’ve updated.

Facebook Video Application
If you’ve got a video on your restaurant, like a promotion video etc then the Facebook Video Application is what you’ll need to add these videos to your Facebook Restaurant Page. Video is a great way to engage possible restaurant diners.

Static FBML
The Static FBML is a Facebook Application that allows you to customise elements of HTML on page. So if you wanted to publish an element like flash, then you can use this application. You might have to ask your web designer to help with some of the HTML code required.

Social Ads
An effective way to target possible diners is via Facebook’s own Social Ads using location and interests. So for example if you had a restaurant in New York and wanted to promote it to possible diners, then you could setup a Social Ad Campaign with the following criteria;
Location: United States
City: New York City
Age: 20 – 55
Keywords: Restaurants, Dining Out, Fine Dining

This ad campaign will reach a few thousand people. Now this seems a very low demographic to reach out to but, these people are located in your city, they have an interest in restaurants and fine dining. Therefore these people will find your advertisement extremely relevant and have a very high chance of clicking on the ad and learning more. Compare this to taking an advertisement in the New York Times which will no doubt cost a lot more, and is rather a “shot gun” approach to advertising and marketing.

You can choose to pay for every click or for every view and you’ll need to commit to a budget from $5 a day. If you choose to pay for every click, then your ads will appear in the advertising space or New Feed. If you choose to just pay for views, then your ads will be displayed just in the ad space. I’d recommend you choose the cost per click. The spend will be greater, but you’ll have more exposure for advertisements. You also have the ability to choose if the user who clicks on your ad sent is to your own website or your Facebook Restaurant Page, its really up to you, but I would choose your own website.

Promote your Restaurant Facebook Page
Finally after you’ve setup your Restaurant Facebook Page and possibly a social ad campaign, now is time to promote it outside of Facebook. By creating the connection to your restaurant and Facebook really does show your innovation and commitment to marketing to a particular demographic.

Your own restaurant website
On your own website, have your web developer provide a simple link together with the Facebook logo which goes to your Facebook Restaurant Page. This could be put in the footer of your page as well as your homepage and contact us pages for maximum effect.

On your menu
At the bottom or reverse side of the menu, why not make a short mention of your website as well as mentioning your presence on Facebook. So something like “Visit us online at www.restaurantname.com or on Facebook”. The Facebook URLs are long and hard to remember, so to make it easy, speak to your web designer about creating a page which redirects directly to your Facebook Restaurant Page for example www.restaurantname.com/facebook

Become a Fan
Give Facebook users a reason to become a fan of your Facebook Restaurant Page. Why not do a monthly dinner for two giveaway, exclusively for Facebook Fans. Or all Facebook Fans get a glass of sparkling wine on arrival. Why all this to get people to become Fans? These people will be come ambassadors for your restaurant, every person will now have a link to your Facebook Restaurant Page on their page, kind of endorsing your restaurant in many ways. This in itself have a viral effect and will, over time help bring diners to the door.