How To Promote Your Restaurant’s Happy Hour Online

Restaurants can use all kinds of events to drive foot traffic, ranging from annual holiday dinners to weekly happy hours. In order to ensure these events are successful, it’s important to have a promotional plan in place. Here’s how to use your online presence to help, using a summer happy hour event as our example.

Know Your Audience

The very first step in marketing your event online is to identify your target audience. Happy hours are traditionally aimed at the after-work crowd, who likely want a quick, affordable drink and a bite after a long day of work - but depending on your location and its demographics, your timing and details may be different. Take inventory of your regulars, when they are gathering at your restaurant and what they are ordering. You can also set up a Google Analytics account, which can help break down in more detail the demographics of your restaurant website visitors.

Decide How to Spread the Word (and Do It!)

Once you’ve identified your audience, you’ll need to figure out the best way to reach them. Based on your target market, decide which social media channels will have the most reach, and post accordingly. If you use BentoBox, you can even simplify those posts by pushing event information directly from your restaurant website to your social media channels. To tap into your regulars, use email marketing to share information about your new happy hour. Whichever you choose, remember to make your posts appealing. For a summer happy hour, include text and visuals that will entice guests— think warm nights, cold drinks and delicious snacks.

You can also use your restaurant website as a tool to get the word out. Having a dedicated Happy Hour or Event section online allows you to post up-to-date info on drinks, specials and more. Adding homepage notifications can also help draw attention to your happy hour offerings to any guest who may be visiting your website.  

Track Your Success

While you’re promoting happy hours and other events online, it’s important to track certain data points so you can look back and determine the success of your campaign. Keep a record of what promotional social media posts performed well by tracking shares and likes. To see if your happy hour event is getting traction on your website, use your BentoBox Dashboard to see if your events section is getting more traffic over time.

Ultimately, the best way to measure success is through an increase in attendance and revenue that comes as a result of your happy hour promotions. Once you can see a return on your efforts, you can continue to fine-tune your event to make outreach even more effective over time.   

Want to learn more about using your restaurant website to optimize your events? Get in touch with our team today!