Social media marketing for a restaurant does one job: keep the place in people's heads between visits, so that when the "where should we eat" text goes around, your name comes up. Posts about the food, the people, the room and the neighborhood do that job, and they can be made ahead of time; daily specials do not.
Keep Google Business Profile current first, then post on Instagram and Facebook, at a pace you can hold, about the things that stay true. Put the perishable things (today's special, tonight's closure) in stories and on Google Business Profile, where a same-day person owns them. Then choose who does the evergreen writing by how much of the job you want to keep.
Why the daily-specials feed fails
Many restaurant accounts are a photo of today's special, posted at 4 pm by whoever had a free hand. It helps the handful of followers deciding about tonight, and nobody after tonight. Within a month the manager notices nobody engages, and the posting stops.
The posts that travel are the ones a regular would send to a friend: why the brisket takes fourteen hours, where the tomatoes come from in August, who is behind the pass on Fridays, what a first-timer should order. They are true for months, which means they can be written ahead, which means they get posted when the kitchen is slammed.
What to post: six kinds that stay true
- The dish and the why. Not "our famous lasagna," but what makes it yours: the recipe's origin, the one ingredient you will not substitute, how long it takes. One dish a week is a year of posts.
- The source. The farm, the baker, the fishmonger, the roaster. Name them. It is the post local suppliers share, and the one that answers "why is it more expensive than the chain."
- The people. The line cook who has been there nine years, the host who remembers orders, the owner's reason for opening. With their permission, one a month.
- The first-timer's guide. What to order, when to come for a quiet table, where to park, whether to book. It is the post that gets sent to the out-of-town cousin.
- The room and the rhythm. What a Tuesday lunch feels like versus Saturday dinner. Patio season. The corner table. People choose a restaurant by how it will feel.
- The neighborhood. The event down the street, the shop next door, the walk after dinner. It is the post a local group leaves up.
Most of that list can be drawn from a restaurant's website, its menu page and its about page, when those pages say it, which is why software can write it. The 30 Facebook post ideas for restaurants go deeper, with engagement questions, theme-night posts and interview prompts for the owner who does not know what to say.
Which platform does which job
A restaurant does not need every channel. It needs the few where its guests decide, kept current.
| Platform | Its job for a restaurant | What works there | Keep in mind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Google Business Profile | The decision: someone looking for a place to eat nearby sees your hours, menu, photos, reviews and posts | Accurate hours, the menu, current photos, one update a week with a button to the menu or booking page | Free. Google's post rules apply (below) |
| The look of the place: the food, the room, the people, saved and sent to the group chat | Dish photos, a first-timer's carousel, short kitchen videos, stories for today | Feed for what stays true, stories for what changes by tonight | |
| The neighborhood: regulars, local groups, events, the "are you open on the holiday" question | The same evergreen posts as Instagram, events, community posts | Comments and messages arrive here, so someone answers the same day | |
| TikTok | Discovery by short video, for people who have never heard of you | How a dish is made, the line during service, the owner explaining one thing | Worth it when someone on staff will film every week; otherwise put the time into the three above |
Google Business Profile has rules a feed does not, and they trip restaurants up. Google's help page for Business Profile posts (read October 11, 2026) says:
- There are three kinds of post: updates, offers and events.
- "Posts older than 6 months are archived unless a date range is set."
- "You can use posts if you offer products or services in a regulated industry, but do not include content about the products." Alcohol is on its list, so the cocktail list and the wine dinner pour belong on Instagram, Facebook and the website, not in a Business Profile post.
- A post with a phone number in its text "might get rejected" if Google cannot verify the number, so rely on the profile's call button instead.
- For single-location food and drink businesses in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, posts about events, deals or specials "may automatically show" as featured posts on the mobile profile, "in place of reviews", and they can come from the restaurant's Facebook and Instagram as well as its Business Profile posts. The feed you keep can end up on your Google profile.
The Google Business Profile tools for restaurants compares the ways to keep a profile current.
A week of posts from one menu page
This is a labeled example: an invented neighborhood pasta restaurant, not a real business or a Boomp customer. The posts below were written by hand for this guide to show the pattern; they are not Boomp output. Its menu page says: "Cacio e pepe. Pecorino Romano and black pepper, finished at the table. Our pasta is made each morning before we open, from semolina milled two hours north. We switched to it in our second year because it holds its bite." Its about page says: "Closed Mondays. Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are quiet; Fridays after seven are busy. Please book ahead for four or more."
Those two pages are a week of evergreen posts.
Tuesday, the dish and the why (Instagram and Facebook, with a photo of the dish):
We make the pasta every morning, before we open.
The cacio e pepe is three things: that pasta, Pecorino Romano and black pepper.
We finish it at the table, so the cheese melts into the sauce while you watch.
If you only order one thing here, make it this.
Thursday, the source (Instagram and Facebook, with a photo of the flour sacks or the dough):
Our semolina is milled two hours north of here.
We switched to it in our second year.
It is why the noodles hold their bite all the way to the last forkful.
Ask your server about it.
Friday, the first-timer's guide (an Instagram carousel, posted to Facebook as photos):
First time here?
Order the cacio e pepe.
Tuesday and Wednesday evenings are the quiet tables; Friday after seven is loud in the good way.
Coming with four or more?
Book ahead.
We are closed Mondays.
The weekly Google Business Profile update (with a Learn more button to the menu page):
Fresh pasta, made every morning before we open.
The cacio e pepe is on the menu.
What a person still checks before any of these go out: the dish is on this week's menu, the price and hours in any post are today's, the claim about the mill is true, and no post makes an allergen or dietary promise. The perishable posts ("we sold out of the cacio e pepe at eight") stay in stories, posted by whoever is on shift.
What stays off the evergreen feed
Anything perishable. Today's special, tonight's closure, the sold-out item, a price change, a new allergen note. These are true for hours. Put them in stories, on Google Business Profile and on the website, where a same-day person owns them. Never let a scheduled post announce a special the kitchen has already run out of.
Anything about a specific guest without permission. A photo of a full room is fine; a named regular is a permission.
Health and allergen claims. "Gluten-free" is a promise with consequences. A person who knows the kitchen signs off on every one.
Drinks on Google Business Profile. Under Google's post rules above, the drinks stay out of Business Profile posts, even when they are the reason people come.
Replies, reviews and messages stay in the building
Comments, direct messages and reviews are where a restaurant's social media becomes hospitality, and they need someone who knows tonight's answer. Is there a table at seven, is the patio open, does the risotto have nuts: those are same-day questions, and the last one has consequences.
Give one person the job. Check twice a day, once before service and once after. Answer reviews on Google Business Profile: the good ones briefly, the bad ones with what you changed, not with an excuse (how to answer a negative Google review). Never answer an allergen question from memory in a comment; send the guest to a person who can check the kitchen.
No Boomp plan answers comments, messages or reviews, and no software should answer an allergen question for you.
Guest photos, local creators and paid boosts
Guests photograph your food more often than you do. Ask before you repost one, in a reply or a message, and credit the guest by name or handle in the post. A tagged photo is not permission to use it in an ad or on the website.
Local food creators can bring a restaurant to people who have never walked past it. If you comp the meal or pay for the post, agree on the terms first and make sure the post discloses the arrangement; the creator outreach guide covers the terms and the disclosure.
Paid boosts and ads are a separate job with a separate budget. Run them behind a feed that is already moving, so the people an ad reaches find something current when they tap through. No Boomp plan runs ads.
Cadence a manager can hold
There is no single right number of feed posts: in boomp.net's November 2026 review of 49 advice pages, Facebook advice ran from one or two posts a week to five a day. Make them ahead, at a number you can hold, such as three to five a week. Stories daily if there is someone with a phone and a free minute; none if not. One Google Business Profile post a week, because the profile is where someone choosing a place nearby sees your hours, menu and photos. Held through January, because the failure pattern is the opening-month burst and the busy-season silence.
A four-week restaurant posting calendar
Three feed posts and one Google Business Profile post a week, using the six kinds above. Swap in your own dishes, people and suppliers; the shape is what carries over.
| Week | Tuesday | Thursday | Friday | Google Business Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The dish and the why | The source | The first-timer's guide, as a carousel | An update with a button to the menu page |
| 2 | The people, with permission | The room and the rhythm | The neighborhood | An event, if one is confirmed; otherwise an update |
| 3 | A second dish and its why | A question regulars like to answer | A short video from the kitchen | New photos and an update |
| 4 | A second supplier | The season: the patio, the holiday hours, the winter menu | What is coming next month, only once it is confirmed | An offer with its dates and terms, or an update |
The stories, specials and replies run alongside it, every day, by whoever is on shift. For a sheet to fill in, the free content calendar template downloads as a CSV for Google Sheets or Excel.
Photos: you need fewer than you think
A dozen good photos of the signature dishes, the room and the people, refreshed each season, carry months of feed posts when the captions do the work. Software can also make branded quote and tip images from the website, so not every post needs a plate. Save the phone photos for stories.
What to measure
Followers and likes are not the measure. A restaurant's social media is working when more people call, book, ask for directions and look at the menu.
Google Business Profile counts most of that for free. Its performance data counts taps on the profile's call button, direction requests, website clicks, bookings made through Reserve with Google and menu clicks (Google's Business Profile Performance API reference, read October 11, 2026).
| Check | Where | How often |
|---|---|---|
| Calls, direction requests, website clicks, menu clicks, bookings | Google Business Profile performance | Monthly, against the same month last year where you have it, because restaurants are seasonal |
| Reservations and covers by source | Your booking system | Monthly |
| "How did you hear about us?" | One question at the host stand or in the booking form | Read the answers monthly |
| Which posts got saved, shared or asked about | Instagram and Facebook insights | Monthly, to choose next month's dishes and stories |
| Whether the feed is still moving | Your own accounts | The first week of every month |
The last row matters most. A feed that is still moving in January has done more than a perfect one that stopped in October.
Social media management for restaurants: four ways to get it done
| Option | Monthly cost | Who writes and designs | Who checks and publishes | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yourself, with Meta Business Suite or a scheduler | $0 to $25 | Whoever has a free hand | Same person | A restaurant with a staffer who likes it and has time for it every week |
| Software from your website (Boomp Packs) | $9 | Software, from your menu, story and about pages | You, by email link; nothing connected | A restaurant that will post but never has time to write |
| Software from your website (Boomp Core) | $39 | Software, from your site | You approve in the app; Boomp publishes | A manager who can spend about ten minutes a week saying yes |
| Software with a person approving (Boomp done-for-you) | $275 | Software, from your site | Boomp's founder approves; Boomp publishes | An owner who wants the evergreen feed off the manager's plate entirely |
| Freelancer who shoots and writes | Varies by scope | A person, on site | You approve; they publish | A restaurant that wants fresh food photography every month |
| Restaurant marketing agency | Varies by scope | A team | Agency, with your sign-off | Groups and openings that also need ads, PR and reservations campaigns |
Freelancer and agency prices vary by scope. Upwork's cost guide, read November 2, 2026, puts sample billing for an intermediate US-based freelancer managing two channels at $400 to $2,000 a month. In Boomp's November 2026 pricing study, social media agencies that publish prices had a median entry price of $575 a month, and 11 of the 20 agencies checked showed no price. Neither figure is specific to restaurants, so ask for shoots, ads and PR to be priced separately. Whichever row you choose, the perishable posts, the replies and the reviews stay in the building. The automation tools comparison goes tool by tool on menu accuracy, approvals and shelf life. The cost question breaks the budget down by who owns each job. The posting service guide has the questions to ask before you hire anyone.
The software rows, in plain terms
Every Boomp option starts the same way: the software reads the restaurant's website, the menu, the story, the about page, and writes posts of the kinds above that your pages support, with images. It reads the menu when the menu is text on a page of your own website. A PDF menu, a photo of the menu, a menu on an ordering site or a separate subdomain, or a menu inside an ordering widget that loads in a frame from another site is not read, so the posts lean on what your pages say in words.
- Packs, $9 a month. Ten finished posts by email link. The manager posts them. Nothing to connect.
- Core, $39 a month. Twenty posts, a carousel and a video, published to Instagram, Facebook and Google Business Profile after someone approves each one in the app. Google Business Profile gets single-image posts; the carousel and the video go to Instagram and Facebook. About ten minutes a week. Keep auto approval off, so every post waits for that yes; menus, prices and allergens are why, and Boomp does not screen posts for Google's drinks rule.
- Done for you, $275 a month. The same content, with Boomp's founder approving each post. Nobody at the restaurant opens the app. Boomp's founder checks the posts against your website, not your kitchen, so keep the menu and prices on the website current. Sold-out items, price changes, closures, allergen notes, replies and reviews are still yours.
No contract on any of the three.
A setup for this week
- Claim and fill the Google Business Profile: hours, menu link, ten photos, a post. Free, and it matters more than the feed.
- Business pages on Instagram and Facebook, same name, same photo, link to the menu.
- Take a dozen good photos in daylight: six dishes, the room twice, the people, the front.
- Put the menu on your website as text, if it is only a PDF or a photo today. Guests on phones find a text menu easier to read too.
- Decide who writes the evergreen posts: a staffer from the ideas above, or software from your website.
- Give one person the perishable job: stories, specials, closures, replies, reviews. Same day, every day.
- Check in January that the feed is still moving. That is the whole test.
The free door is ten finished posts made from your restaurant's website: enter the website and an email, and the link to the posts arrives by email, with images, a carousel and a short video, and no account or card, so you can read them against your own menu before anyone is paid.
