As a big foodie and social media enthusiast, it’s exciting to see how restaurants are using social media for marketing purposes more than ever before. However, there’s one piece of the social puzzle that tends to go missing: Having an effective, targeted content strategy.

For all of you that have gone fishing, content serves as the bait that attracts social media users, hooks them then reels them in. It can also be viewed as a spider web with each additional piece of content serving as an additional ring on the web, thus providing the ability to catch more people. Sounds scary, I know.

It’s imperative for restaurant chains to develop a solid plan for the types of content they’re going to deliver and for what purposes. This includes everything from photos used on Instagram to YouTube videos to artfully crafted blog posts.

The reality is that establishing a content strategy instead of shooting in the dark will not only improve results, but also avoid potential mistakes that can hurt a brand more than help.

One of the biggest mistakes I see on a regular basis is restaurants posting photos on Instagram and other social networks that are of very low quality and not representative of the food they put out. It’s truly amazing how one subpar photo can squash interest in a matter of seconds.

My advice for all of you restaurant operators out there is to take a step back and evaluate your content strategy for social media marketing. Think about your goals, your customers, and what you can change moving forward to make your efforts more successful.