{"id":25382,"date":"2022-09-27T13:09:48","date_gmt":"2022-09-27T17:09:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-gordon-food-service-canada.pantheonsite.io\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T09:56:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T13:56:41","slug":"stay-connected-with-social-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/","title":{"rendered":"Stay connected with social media"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keeping consumers in the know is just a click away.<\/h2>\n

Your to-do list pushed you to motor all around town, and now it\u2019s getting late. You\u2019re far from home, hungry and, well, you haven\u2019t planned anything for dinner anyway. <\/p>\n

A search for \u201crestaurants near me\u201d lands you on a glowing review of an Italian place a few blocks away. Two traffic lights later, you\u2019re in front of a carbonara plate that tastes as good as it looked online.<\/p>\n

Restaurant social media for the win.<\/p>\n

Know the do\u2019s and don\u2019ts<\/h3>\n

A Facebook digital commerce toolkit explains 84% of consumers decide where to eat less than an hour before a meal. The first stop for many people is online, and if your restaurant lacks a social media presence, you may be losing business.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of options out there, and it can be overwhelming. Should I be on Facebook? Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn \u2026 all of the above? How often should I post? And what types of images, videos or messaging work best?  <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a lot to consider. As the holiday season approaches, Gordon Food Service\u00ae Digital Marketing Supervisor Kristin Johnston suggests some do\u2019s and don\u2019ts that are even more important than promoting special events and LTOs on social media. For example:<\/p>\n

DO stay relevant and up to date.<\/strong> \u201cWe saw this explode during COVID, with people relying on current information about hours of operation, seating and service changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

DO make sure your online menu is current.<\/strong> \u201cIf you\u2019re out of something or have to make a substitution, be transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n

DON\u2019T ignore your social media pages.<\/strong> \u201cIf you haven\u2019t updated your Facebook page in two years, I have no idea what you serve or if you\u2019re still open.\u201d<\/p>\n

DON\u2019T think social media isn\u2019t for you.<\/strong> \u201cIt has become necessary for almost every business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do I need a pro?<\/h3>\n

Overall, Johnston says, avoid thinking social media is too advanced for you and that you have to hire professional services and photographers to do the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I think hiring a pro is worth it? Yes \u2013 professionals will give you a lot of quality, but I also understand the expense,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you can\u2019t do it, you may have someone you trust on your staff who can manage social media for you. And we all have great-quality cameras on our phones.\u201d<\/p>\n

For operators who hire professional photographers<\/a>, Johnston suggests getting someone shoot images of staffers, the environment and the entire menu.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat way, you don\u2019t have to think, \u201cWell, they shot two images, so there\u2019s two social posts, and I\u2019m done\u2019 \u2013 it will give you content for a long time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Budget-friendly photography may be as close as a local college or art school. Johnston points out that students want to build portfolios, have equipment, know about proper lighting and will likely be more affordable.<\/p>\n

Turn negatives into positives<\/h3>\n

When you have a robust social media presence, be prepared to interact with followers. New customers will find you and loyal customers watch for what\u2019s new. On the flip side, some people will post negative comments.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t fret, and don\u2019t ignore it, Johnston says, save that for the cranks, bots or spammers trying to pick a fight. <\/p>\n

Otherwise, criticism can work in your favour.<\/p>\n

\u201cResist deleting comments \u2013 unless they are slander or harassment \u2013 but always respond,\u201d she advises. \u201cYou can \u201clike\u201d positive comments and respond to negative ones by apologizing, offering to make it right, or just asking people to contact you directly.\u201d<\/p>\n

What matters is that people see your restaurant is paying attention and engaging. They know there\u2019s a person behind the social media screen, and it shows them you\u2019re sincere about creating a good experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Keeping consumers in the know is just a click away. Your to-do list pushed you to motor all around town, and now it\u2019s getting late. You\u2019re far from home, hungry and, well, you haven\u2019t planned anything for dinner anyway.  A search for \u201crestaurants near me\u201d lands you on a glowing review of an Italian place […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":26668,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122,123,112,69,111,113],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-catering-small-business","category-hotels-hospitality","category-restaurant-bars","category-running-your-business","category-healthcare","category-university"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStay connected with social media | Gordon Food Service<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stay connected with social media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Keeping consumers in the know is just a click away. Your to-do list pushed you to motor all around town, and now it\u2019s getting late. You\u2019re far from home, hungry and, well, you haven\u2019t planned anything for dinner anyway.  A search for \u201crestaurants near me\u201d lands you on a glowing review of an Italian place […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gordon Food Service\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-27T17:09:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-01T13:56:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Foodscape-Social-Media-760x400-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"760\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cody.rivers@gfs.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GFSDelivers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cody Rivers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Stay connected with social media | Gordon Food Service","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Stay connected with social media","og_description":"Keeping consumers in the know is just a click away. Your to-do list pushed you to motor all around town, and now it\u2019s getting late. You\u2019re far from home, hungry and, well, you haven\u2019t planned anything for dinner anyway.  A search for \u201crestaurants near me\u201d lands you on a glowing review of an Italian place […]","og_url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/","og_site_name":"Gordon Food Service","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/","article_published_time":"2022-09-27T17:09:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-01T13:56:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":760,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Foodscape-Social-Media-760x400-2.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cody Rivers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cody.rivers@gfs.com","twitter_site":"@GFSDelivers","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cody Rivers","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/"},"author":{"name":"Cody Rivers","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/person\/ac2dd585b10d08ce15daca230d897374"},"headline":"Stay connected with social media","datePublished":"2022-09-27T17:09:48+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-01T13:56:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/"},"wordCount":647,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Foodscape-Social-Media-760x400-2.jpg","articleSection":["Catering & Small Business","Hotels & Hospitality","Restaurant & Bars","Running Your Business","Senior Living & Healthcare","University"],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":["WebPage","CollectionPage"],"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/","url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/","name":"Stay connected with social media | Gordon Food Service","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Foodscape-Social-Media-760x400-2.jpg","datePublished":"2022-09-27T17:09:48+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-01T13:56:41+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Foodscape-Social-Media-760x400-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Foodscape-Social-Media-760x400-2.jpg","width":760,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/ideas\/stay-connected-with-social-media\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stay connected with social media"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#website","url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/","name":"Gordon Food Service","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#organization","name":"Gordon Food Service","url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GFS-EN-Logo-og-image.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GFS-EN-Logo-og-image.png","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Gordon Food Service"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GordonFoodService\/","https:\/\/x.com\/GFSDelivers","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gordonfoodservice\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/gordon-food-service\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/person\/ac2dd585b10d08ce15daca230d897374","name":"Cody Rivers","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9b81a7281ffd8fc2d52ce39faf1be6f131db67bdc3ed5914928324e202f21f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a9b81a7281ffd8fc2d52ce39faf1be6f131db67bdc3ed5914928324e202f21f7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cody Rivers"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/cody.rivers@gfs.com"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25382"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38444,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25382\/revisions\/38444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gfs.ca\/en-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}