1. ResDiary database
Update all your Walk-in guests and Internal guests to include their full name & email address in ResDiary. Now they are in your database and they will receive the Thank You email, which encourages them to share their great experiences on TripAdvisor, ResDiary Review site and other social media channels. It also encourages them to share negative feedback by email only. Your ResDiary subscription from HATI Solutions already includes unlimited database/mailing subscribers. You can make all your email marketing directly from ResDiary. You can add multiple filters to define who you wish to e-blast too. An average restaurant can easily build up a database of 10,000 subscribers in one year, this would cost you an additional $80 per month. So after 3 years you could be paying up to $250 per month with Mailchimp alone. That is more than your ResDiary subscriptions.
2. ResDiary review site
ResDiary is a commission free reservations channel, which gains high Google search ranking if your reviews are numerous and frequent. The more reviews you have in your neighbourhood, the higher your positioning will have on ResDiary when guests are searching by location.
3. Private Channels
Setting up Private Channels allows you to track where guests are booking from. This gives you very important metrics. To benefit from this fully, you need to make separate reservations page for each channel and add a little extra code. You can create local channels that are specific to your restaurant very easily via Promote > Private Channels. Eg Bali Bible, Bali Plus, What2Do.asia
See example here
4. Facebook
You have 2 options here. First option is ResDiary's Facebook widget which embeds into Facebook, this automatically highlights bookings coming from Facebook into your ResDiary. Unfortunately, Facebook strips this widget out in Mobile and some Tablet applications. Facebook has just launched in Indonesia, its new "Call-to-Action" feature, where you can add a Book Now button linking it to your Facebook reservation page www.myrestaurant.com/facebook-reservations (or just your standard reservations page, but then no metrics on source). You should include the link to your online reservations page in every Facebook post. You do not need to post reservations email address or telephone number, as it is far easier for your guests to click on the link.
See example of a Facebook reseravtion page here.
5. TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor gives you a website link option. You should change this website link from your home page and make it direct to your reservations page eg www.myrestaurant.com/tripadvisor-reservations. ResDiary's extra code will track the reservation as coming from TripAdvisor. The Booking will also be flagged in TripAdvisor Green for easy recognition. See example here.
6. Instagram
Instagram gives you a URL link which you can easily point to www.myrestaurant.com/instagram-reservations. This will track your reservations as coming from Instagram. Instagram is proving to be a very valuable source from restaurant business and giving the online link direct to reservations is highly advantageous. It also works beautifully on mobile applications. See example here. Search for Peter Dundas on Instagram and click on the URL and see where it takes you.
7. Twitter
Twitter gives you a website link and the ability to pin a tweet. Why not direct your guests to www.myrestaurant.com/twitter-reservations and then Pin a tweet about making Online reservations. You should include a link to booking with your Tweets. See example http://www.hatisolutions.com/twitter-reservations.html and twitter.com/hatisolutions
8. Other Social Media Channels
You can add Private Booking channels for all other Social Media channels. We have a few more globally covered but you can create in seconds. Try to imagine how you would make it easy for a guest to go straight to your reservations page from that social media channel. To set up individual Reservations pages is very easy. You just copy the standard reservations page, customise it if you wish, set the URL to be clear, and add the extra UTM channel code into the ResDiary widget code. Maximum 5 minutes per page.
9. ResDiary Widget & Booking Links
You can add your ResDiary booking widget to any of your online partners who give you approval. Many will not charge for this, just wishing to forge a stronger relationship, however some may wish to charge for this privilege. You can either add the full widget or just a booking button or link to your reservations page. By using Private Booking Channels and separate reservations pages you can monitor how successful this channel is.
10. Tools that allow you to enhance Posts
There are some very clever enhancing tools out there. Two, we recommend are Snip.ly and Linkedtube.com. Snip.ly allows you to share TripAdvisor reviews, Blogposts, Instagrams, etc but the difference is, that you can add a booking link to this. Snip.ly has a free account but the paid account is better as it gives you more creative graohical options. Here is an example of how to transform your TripAdvisor review to include an even more obvious Booking Link
Linkedtube gives you the ability to add a booking link to a YouTube video before re-posting it across your Social Media.
11. Making your Booking Online buttons more obvious on your Website will easily double your online reservations.
12. Why not Highlight on all your Traditional Print Advertising with the fact that you can Book Online. This is very appealing to perspective guests. You could add a QR code to be scanned and direct the guest to your reservations page. You could even make a Window sign to drive bookings online. There are other apps emerging which can scan printed URLS.
You will notice that the purpose of all these tools is to maximise the places where guests can book online, and for you to be able to track where the guest booked from. This is highly appealing to guests. In addition, we are trying to create as many commission free booking channels in your top 10 Google Search Ranking positions.
SELAMAT SUKSES!