What if your food truck could become the hottest new business in town? No matter how good your food is, becoming a successful business is all about marketing. Unfortunately, many owners don’t know how to take their food truck marketing to the next level.
A good social media strategy can help propel your business to new heights. Keep reading to learn more about how to improve that strategy and achieve serious success!
1. Jazz Up the Menu
Many owners think their social media strategy should be limited to social media platforms. The reality is that many social media initiatives take place “off-screen.”
For example, social media users will want to check out your menu online before coming to the food truck. This gives you a perfect chance to jazz up your menu before posting it.
Try to add plenty of images and an eye-catching cover. Don’t be afraid to upsell: recommend which dishes and drinks complement each other for maximum flavor!
2. Make It Visual
Earlier, we talked about the importance of making the menu more visual. However, that wisdom extends to your entire social media strategy.
While it’s not the only thing your customers care about, most of them have visited your social media page to learn more about your food. This is why you should prominently feature professional photographs of your tastiest dishes.
Feature those images in your posts and encourage customers to like, comment, and share. This helps get new customers’ attention while turning the old ones into brand ambassadors for your food truck.
3. Use QR Codes
So far, we have focused on how social media can drive new customers to your food truck. But have you considered how to steer your food truck customers to your social media platforms?
One surefire way to do this is QR codes. Customers can simply scan the code with their smartphone and are instantly taken to your social media.
You can use a similar strategy to drive customers to your website. It is highly effective because it takes most of the work out of finding your truck online.
4. Multi-Platform
How many social media platforms is your business currently using? Chances are that you’d be better off by adding a new platform (or two, or three).
Different platforms have different strengths. Facebook makes it easy for customers to engage with you and for you to track analytics. Meanwhile, Instagram makes it easy to focus on your absolute best food photography and share it with users online.
Keep in mind that various third-party apps help you cross-post and schedule future posts. This helps you post to multiple platforms without giving up all of your free time.
5. Advertise Major Events
When used correctly, social media is the perfect vehicle to advertise your food truck. And those advertisements should focus heavily on major events.
Are you unveiling a new dish, or maybe taking part in a downtown block party? Use social media to make customers aware of what’s going on.
These advertisements build anticipation and word-of-mouth advertising. And anyone who finds out after the fact will have serious FOMO, making them likelier to come to the next major event you throw.
6. Online-Only Coupons
The quickest way to a customer’s heart is through their wallet. That’s why you should feature online-only coupons and deals.
Customers will get instant gratification from the ability to save money. And making those deals a regular occurrence (such as posting new ones every month) is a great way to get customers coming back.
The more they save, the more they buy. And they’ll be happy to tell others about the great deals they found online.
7. Engage With Customers
Social media marketing must be different from traditional marketing. If all of your posts are pure advertisement, it will quickly turn away customers who want something more substantial.
This is why you should have posts that engage with your customers. For example, you can let customers vote on what your next new dish will be. Or you can ask them to post pictures of their favorite meals.
Inviting such engagement increases loyalty and helps your online community thrive.
8. All Analytics, All the Time
Redesigning your social media strategy means making several big changes. It’s important to understand whether these changes are having a major impact on your business.
First, don’t forget to use the analytics of your chosen social media platform. Facebook, for example, provides an easy way for you to look at every aspect of user engagement with your professional page.
Second, try to cross-reference those analytics results with your revenue. If you can tie an increase in customers to new social media strategies, this means you’re on the right track with your strategy.
9. Regular Posting
Retaining customers online is just as important as retaining them offline. In order to do this, you need to regularly post new content.
If you only post one or twice a month, you will not have much customer engagement. Furthermore, a low post count may keep your page buried by the social media algorithms.
Try to commit to posting once a day or several times a week. This gives loyal customers something to look forward to without completely clogging their timeline.
10. Networking Synergy
Fortunately, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel when you reinvent your social media strategy. Old techniques such as networking still work wonders.
Let’s say you want to be a brand that many people trust. One of the easiest ways to do so is to partner up with an existing brand.
Try to get a well-known food blogger or influencer to create original content about your food truck. Additionally, see if they will regularly mention you to their own group of fans.
This technique builds credibility with potential customers while letting you benefit from someone else’s built-in audience.
Food Truck Marketing: Serve It Up
Now you know the secret to food truck marketing via social media. But do you know the secret to running a successful truck?
Looking to start a food truck business or upgrade your current truck? Contact us today!