Social media is a powerful tool for any business, including restaurants and food trucks. But if you don’t take full advantage of it, you risk losing out on potential customers and business opportunities. That’s why we’re here — we want to help you make the most of any social network with the best tips and best practices when it comes to social media for food trucks.

Why Social Media is Important for Your Food Truck

Social media has become so much more than a place to share your family vacation pics. It has become a thriving mecca where businesses can connect with their audiences.

There has been no other place like it in history — for example, if you have an update you want to share with your audience, all you have to do is write it up, post it, and it’s immediately shared with your network. This is part of what makes social media a gamechanger.

And this is particularly true with food trucks. Before social media, if you had any change to your location or hours, all you could do was hope and pray that you wouldn’t lose customers in the process. Now, all you need to do is share a quick update on social media and it becomes easy for anyone on that network to access. You can connect to your audience anywhere and anytime you need to, for free!

Many social media platforms also give you access to free tools that help you market your business and engage with your audience. For instance, Facebook has live video, polling features, Messenger, and even a call-to-action button that can be anything you want. Tools like these make social media so much more than a posting platform — it’s a personally-tailored experience that fits in the palm of your hand.

As great as social media is, however, success is not guaranteed. You can’t expect to gain 10,000 followers overnight. It takes time and consistent effort to attract an audience and create a real bond with them.

Are you ready to put in the time?

If you are, here are some expert tips that will help you make the most of your social media presence, no matter what platform you choose.

How to Succeed with Social Media for Food Trucks

1. Post Often

A consistent social media schedule is vital to your success, no matter what social media platform you’re using.

More than just being consistent, you want to post frequently. Ideally, 2-3 times a week is the best schedule. It makes you a regular feature of your audience’s feed without becoming a nuisance.

This makes you a regular part of your customers’ lives. The more they see you, the more kinship they will feel with your brand and the more they will want to support you.

2. Engage with Your Audience

Don’t just post. Engage. Ask questions that encourage your audience to leave comments on your post. Make sure to like and respond to comments that people leave. It’s this back and forth that builds community with your audience and encourages others to follow you.

3. Tell People Where (and When) to Find You

Especially if you’re just starting out, you might not have a consistent place where you park your food truck. Or you might switch between locations throughout the week. Whatever the case may be, keep your audience informed. If you do have a regular location, make sure to include it in your social media bio and talk about it regularly in your feed.

Social media is a great place to let people know where they can find you. Give them directions and landmarks that are easy to understand.

While you’re at it, don’t forget to talk about your hours and any changes to those hours. This helps to avoid frustration for your customers who show up only to find that they’re too early or too late.

4. Talk About Upcoming Events

Are you going to be at a local food truck festival, ball game, or another major event?

Don’t wait until that day to tell your audience about it. Create excitement for the event by talking it up on social media. Invite your audience to come down and support you and highlight what else they’re going to see while they’re there.

On the day of the event, make sure to post highlights of the experience — the long line at your food truck, special menu items, etc. Continue to send out the invitation for them to come on down to the event.

5. Use Hashtags

No matter what social networks you are on, hashtags are pretty universal. And there are two kinds of hashtags that you can use for your food truck — branded hashtags and subject hashtags.

Branded hashtags are those that include your food truck’s name. If your name is unique, meaning there are no other restaurants using that name as a hashtag, then you can simply use that. If it’s fairly common, add something to differentiate yourself, such as your city or state — #AnthonysPizzaRI or #PepesTacosMiami. This kind of hashtag helps you to easily find out what people are saying about you.

Subject hashtags can be anything that relates to your cuisine, food truck, or location. It could be something as generic as #yummyfood or something regional, such as #LArestaurants. This way, when people search these hashtags, your food truck will be among the results. It’s a great way to attract new customers to your brand.

Of course, there is somewhat of a science behind choosing the right hashtags. It’s important to do your research to see which hashtags are most popular and which ones get the most engagement.

6. Share High-Quality Images

Visuals are really the lifeblood of social media, no matter what network you’re on.

When it comes to social media for food trucks, your images do one of two things — they either build anticipation for your food or build awareness for your brand. That’s why it’s important to include a variety of images. Post pictures of your food, your food truck, your staff, where you are, and other things that help people to learn more about your food truck business.

Just a word of warning… Never compromise on the quality of your images. Even on social media, where people are more laid back, low-quality images can truly detract from your brand. After all, a blurry image of your ultimate burger just isn’t appetizing. And that’s the whole point.

This isn’t to say that you need professional equipment. Most smartphone cameras have the ability to take really good-quality photos. Take the time to learn about your camera settings and how to best stage your subject matter to get the best results. If you want some pro tips, especially when it comes to photographing your food, check out our post on food photography tips.

7. Put Your Social Handles on Everything

Stay connected and give your audience a cohesive experience by linking your website, social media, and physical presence together. Include social media handles and links to your website on your truck. And make sure that all of your social media information is available on your website.

Go the extra step by including a QR code on the side of your truck. That way, all your customers need to do is scan the code and it brings them directly to your website or social media.

8. Promote Online Ordering

Online ordering has really hit it big since the pandemic — if you haven’t started using this tool, learn more about it and see how you can integrate it into your own food truck strategy.

Online ordering can be a great way to streamline your work. Perhaps some customers are at home and don’t feel like making the trip out to your food truck to order. Or maybe some of those waiting in line would prefer the convenience of putting in an online order and returning in a few minutes to pick it up.

Whatever the case, online ordering just makes everybody’s lives easier! But how will they know that you provide online ordering unless you tell them? And social media is a great place to let them know and encourage them to use it.

Concluding Thoughts

As a food truck business, you rely heavily on word of mouth — people telling their friends, families, and coworkers about you. But when social media came into existence, it became a real gamechanger for food trucks everywhere. Now people can find out about you online — reading your bio, checking out your posts, following hashtags, and even seeing what their friends are saying about you.

But in order to get all of these benefits, you need to be active on social media.

We hope these suggestions help you to carve out your own corner of social media and meaningfully connect with your audience. In our experience working with restaurants and food trucks, it’s truly worth the effort!

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