Customers resort to online searches, especially through their smartphones, to find restaurant information more and more these days.  Bad online information, however, can hurt you.  A recent industry study revealed that 68% of people are not likely to visit a restaurant, café, or bar after encountering incorrect online information about the business.

Here are a few tips about managing your restaurant’s online presence:

Know Where You Are Listed - The numerous online outlets—Yelp, Foursquare and others—enable customers to identify, rate, and comment on the restaurants they patronize.  Be sure to regularly search for your restaurant online.  If you find a place where you are not listed, check into what it takes to get listed.  More importantly, if you see incorrect information, have it fixed ASAP.

Know What Counts - The aforementioned study also said that 60% of consumers say the menu is the most important factor in selecting a restaurant online.  For all of your online listings, you can link customers to your custom NetWaiter menu.  It will be available to consumers online and via mobile.  Photos are good, too – a few pictures of your restaurant (inside and out) are helpful selling tools.

Keep Online Information Updated - Remember, nobody likes a restaurant with bad or outdated online information.  Check and update your information regularly.  And most importantly:

Make sure your restaurant’s online ordering capabilities via NetWaiter are prominent - The quicker you can get customers to your online ordering site and placing their order, the better your bottom line will be. 

In a sit-down restaurant, new menu items are sold through menu inserts, easels, and as part of the introduction given by the wait staff.  In an online environment such as NetWaiter there are also a number of ways you can promote new menu items and changes.  Here are a few tips:

Maintain an Interactive Online Menu.  Nothing makes a customer twitch more than outdated information on a website.  With an easy-to-use interactive web-based menu, you can also update your menu without calling a website designer.  It’s also easy to highlight changes or new additions.

High Quality Images.  We’ve talked about this before, but it’s worth repeating.  A quality photo of a new menu item says more than any description.  Post it on your interactive menu, but also get it on Facebook, Twitter, and other sites.  You want those images shared.

Include Social Media Buttons.  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram - all of them.  Make it easy for people to spread the word about your new menu items.  Remember that certain social media sites are favored by different age groups.  Facebook is now considered an “old folks” platform.  Younger people tend to use Instagram and Twitter.  You may want to alter your message based on the platform.

Create Buzz with “Partnerships”.  Try naming a new item after someone popular in the community.  At the very least, they will promote the item and your restaurant for you.  You’ll make this person and all their family and friends advocates for your restaurant. Imagine the buzz.