So you’ve noticed that the cafe down the street from yours is the place to be. It makes no sense. You sell the same things, you put on your best smile, and your shop looks great! What do they have that you don’t have?
Well, in short – social media.
When 84% of people are more influenced by reviews and online comments than by their own friends’ recommendations, having an intentional and effective digital strategy is essential to your restaurant or bar. Moreover, window shopping or cafe hopping is no longer a thing. Sure, your attractive storefront may allure some walk-ins, but it won’t have the same effect as creating a stellar online presence.
1. Complete Your Accounts
- A branded image such as a logo or a picture of your team
- A concise, catchy, information-dense bio or description – consider adding some emojis.
- Contact info (location, phone number, email)
- Opening hours
- Relevant links

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
For Instagram, as of now, creating content that people will save is essential. Of course, likes and reposts still count but saved content currently holds the most weight. To make sure customers save your content, make it heartfelt and full of personal value. Consider posting quotes related to food or even coffee. Alternatively, cultivate a warm and touching post with a regular customer – tell a story.
On Twitter, SEO is all about retweets and likes. Businesses don’t win solely with statements or announcements. On the other hand, talking to your audience will win your attention. Fun jokes and even some memes are permitted on Twitter, so make the most of it!
Facebook SEO revolves around setting up a business profile and completely filling out every available element of the account.
3. Understand Your Customer
4. Tailor Your Posts to Your Target Audience

The key to engaging your audience and keeping them hooked is through targeted posts that promote interaction. Before taking on this step, you might want to get a good grasp on your overall brand. You can even consider rebranding to suit your target audience.
Marketing and branding have changed from the cut & dry, hands-off days. Customers now want to feel like they’re on the same wavelength as the brand they’re purchasing from. This change means that brands have to be relatable, in-touch, and transparent about their values and goals.
While it’s best to keep your Instagram captions relatively short (and SEO friendly), you can still get conversations going through stories and reels. In fact, Instagram Stories offer some of the best tools for customer engagement.
5. Eye-catching Photos

6. Google Business Accounts
These days, reviews make the choice for the customer. Plus, our online average attention span is just short of 8 seconds if the research is to be believed.
If your cafe isn’t a contender for the top listing spots, it doesn’t stand a chance of bringing in busy customers. According to research done by SagaPixel, 46% of Google searches have local intent. Furthermore, 86% of people look up a business’ location on Google Maps – that’s huge.
Final Thoughts