Good Sales with an Endless Stream of Customers; Attract New Customers with Facebook, Stimulate Old Customers with LINE OA

Many people are confused about how to use online marketing tools, especially Facebook and LINE OA, because they think that these two platforms have the same functions. Today, MHA is going to teach you some more about Facebook and LINE OA in marketing as well as the concept behind the most efficient online marketing. We’re going to use a customer journey analysis in our online marketing for our restaurant!

What Is Customer Journey?

Customer journey means the decision-making process used by customers, from before they become a customer, when they are introduced to a product and search for information on it, to when they decide to buy the product or use the service and return to buy the product or use the service again. The word ‘journey’ doesn’t mean a real path but the process or stages customers usually go through in order to make the decision to buy. If you can understand this process, you can accurately match your marketing to your customers’ behavior.

Customer journey consists of the following 5 stages:

1. Awareness
2. Consideration or evaluation
3. Purchase
4. Usage
5. Loyalty

Customer journey is crucial for online marketing because if you don’t understand consumer behavior, such as which online platforms are popular and what kind of content consumers prefer, your restaurant’s promotions might not reach your target group and your sales might not be as good as you hope.

Reacquaint Yourself with Facebook and LINE OA According to the Concept of Customer Journey

Let’s start with your Facebook page, which generally acts as a storefront that’s open to customers and non-customers alike so they can get to know your restaurant, products or restaurant-related news. Facebook has specialized features where you can upload images, videos and content on the feed page and when a Facebook user Likes or Shares your page, their friends or followers can also see your content or page.

In addition, you can buy advertising space so your page appears directly on the feed page of your target group. All of this makes your Facebook page a suitable online marketing tool for recommending, reviewing and posting your restaurant’s content, which are collectively called ‘content marketing’.

Buyer Decision Process, Facebook Page and Restaurants

A marketer typically uses Facebook to raise awareness for new target groups by using useful and interesting content on the restaurant’s page and providing information to people who are interested in the restaurant but don’t have any information on it. This is in the consideration or evaluation stage which is linked to the customer journey in this infographic.

The restaurant’s target group will see the posts or restaurant’s page shared by Facebook friends or followers or they’ll see the restaurant’s page if the restaurant boosts the page. Otherwise, the target group will see posts the restaurant wants to advertise on their feed page if the restaurant boosts its page. (For this part, you’ll have to learn about how to boost your page and posts and buying advertising spaces on Facebook.)

Whether or not the target group will read the posted content on their page depends on how interesting the content is.  In other words, are there any interesting pictures or are you following the current trends? Thus, a good page needs to produce interesting content and get good reviews from customers or content from professional reviewers, etc.

Once a customer decides to visit the restaurant, try asking them how they got to know about the restaurant and keep the statistics for use as an advertisement channel in the future.

Offer promotions for reviews/likes/shares/check-ins. Don’t forget to notify the customers to make them public and don’t forget that a good review comes from good services.

If a customer is satisfied, they’ll give a positive feedback on Facebook and give your restaurant a good review. As a result, your restaurant gets more exposure and the customer will communicate with their friends. In addition, there’s a chance of repeat business.

MHA recommends the following when creating marketing content on your Facebook page:

• Storytelling: Tell stories about your restaurant, your food, history or content that is useful for the customers and tell them about your services. Accompany your stories with attractive pictures.
• Get reviews from both customers and reviewers because they can help draw attention and stimulate buying decisions.
• Use video content because moving images are more interesting than still images.
• Play with situations and festivals so customers feel that the restaurant is always moving.
• Likes/shares/check-ins are always necessary. It’s like word of mouth communication.
• You can occasionally have games for people to participate, for example, share your posts to win a lottery, etc.

Maintaining Your Customer Base with LINE OA

It’s true that while customers can add the restaurant’s LINE before visiting it, only a few customers will do it, unless it’s a restaurant that offers delivery. Even then, customers usually order through LINE or other applications. Therefore, LINE OA is very effective with customers who’ve already been to the restaurant and have seen the promotions they like in exchange for adding the restaurant’s LINE OA. The restaurant can then make contact and announce news and information via LINE OA, which can effectively help to stimulate loyalty and maintain a good relationship with customers according to this infographic.

1. When a customer comes to eat at your restaurant, you should offer a promotion as an incentive for the customer to add your restaurant’s LINE OA. You could offer a free special menu item or a discount. Whichever you choose, you should inform the customer of the benefits of adding the restaurant’s LINE.
2. Once the customer has added the restaurant’s LINE, you can spread the news or advertise through LINE OA. Every customer who has added your line will receive those messages. The content you should present to customers include promotional periods and messages describing your restaurant’s popular menu items accompanied by pictures. The messages should be too long and should have good timing. They shouldn’t be so frequent that they become so annoying that the customers block the restaurant’s LINE.
3. Generally, when customers find a promotion they like on LINE, they tend to visit the restaurant many times. Therefore, you should regularly offer a promotion or update the restaurant’s status.

MHA recommends the following when creating marketing content on LINE OA:

– Offer a promotion for the season or a related-festival. You could add a short content to describe the promotion.
– Create a rewards or membership program to stimulate more-frequent repeat purchases.
– Don’t forget that LINE is not a one-way communication channel but a two-way channel. Your restaurant should offer a service such as table reservation and answer questions asked through LINE.

As you can see, online marketing requires an in-depth understanding of your customers. Otherwise, your marketing efforts might be done through the wrong channels, causing you to not meet your sales goals. All of this might sound complicated, but if you learn the methods and are able to analyze the customer journey, it will greatly benefit your restaurant. You can find more interesting information from MHA in our next article.

Click to read interesting articles here:

• How to Pin Your Restaurant’s Location Precisely!
• What Can You Do to Get Your Restaurant a Lot of Reviews?
• Did you launch a restaurant page but don’t know what to post?
• How to Design Promotions for Your Restaurant, So Customers Line up to Buy Them!
• Selling via Food Delivery Apps or Delivering Yourself via Motorcycle, Which Is Better?