Social media for restaurants and cafés: a practical plan
A weekly posting rhythm that a busy kitchen can keep, answering reviews and messages in one place, bookings by message, and planning busy seasons early.
Updated 3 min read
For a restaurant or café, social media does three jobs: it makes people hungry (Instagram and TikTok), it helps them find you (Google Search and Maps), and it answers them quickly (WhatsApp and direct messages). Doing all three by hand on four apps is a full-time job; the plan below is built to fit around service.
Where your guests are
- Instagram and TikTok for food you can almost taste: short videos of the dish, the pour, the grill.
- Google Business Profile for people deciding where to eat right now. You can publish updates (up to 1,500 characters with one image), and new reviews and questions arrive in your inbox to answer (Google Business Profile).
- WhatsApp for bookings, orders and questions, on your own business number.
- Snapchat is popular in some markets, but OmniBrand does not publish to it; keep posting there in the Snapchat app.
A weekly rhythm you can keep
- One short video of a signature dish or drink.
- One behind-the-scenes post: the morning bake, the team, where the coffee comes from.
- One offer or new item, with the price and the date it ends.
- One guest review, shared with the guest's permission.
- One Google Business Profile update, for example this week's special.
Templates has ready-made posts for the business type Restaurant or café, with goals such as Offer, Behind the scenes and Customer review, in English and Arabic. Replace the parts in square brackets with your own details and schedule the week in one sitting (Templates).
Answer fast, in one inbox
Instagram comments and messages, Facebook Messenger, Google reviews, WhatsApp chats, website chat and email arrive in one inbox in OmniBrand. Assign a conversation to whoever is on shift, use saved replies for the questions you get every day (opening hours, parking, delivery areas) and let AI draft a reply you check before sending (The inbox).
Bookings without the phone ringing
Inbox bots are an add-on that OmniBrand engineers build for your business. The Restaurant reservations bot books tables by party size against the seats you have, shares your menu link and opening hours, and lets guests cancel or keep a reservation, in Arabic and English. Bookings appear on the Bookings page, and the bot hands the chat to your team when a person is needed. The add-on is priced on request (Inbox bots).
Offers on WhatsApp, the right way
Put an opt-in QR code on table cards and receipts: guests who scan and send it agree to your offers, with the proof saved (Opt-in link and QR code). Then send one clear offer at a sensible hour, never to people who did not ask. The WhatsApp broadcasts guide explains costs, limits and timing.
Busy seasons and holidays
Holidays change everything for food businesses: special menus, different opening hours, family gatherings, whether it is Ramadan, Christmas, Lunar New Year or your town's own festival. Start preparing about a month before: the Upcoming occasions card on Today reminds you of the occasions in its calendar, and the quiet hours in Messaging rules keep your WhatsApp offers to the hours your customers are awake.
Keep an eye on the competition
Market Watch reads competitors' prices, offers and social posts from screenshots, compares them with your own prices and turns each finding into a draft promo post for approval (Market Watch). Analytics and Brand Health then show which posts brought reach and engagement, so next month's plan starts from facts.