It cannot be denied that the digital world has become more and more a role in people's lives every day, even in the restaurant industry. Online is an important channel to reach a huge number of customers. No matter near or far, you can introduce yourself to your customers anytime, anywhere, motivating people to want to taste our food. It is even another distribution channel. The COVID-19 crisis has made it clear that online channels are extremely important. Many restaurants survive by marketing and generating sales online, such as Line Official Account. So on this occasion, we invited 'Khun Zoe. Digital Shortcut' Or Pharmacist Sopha Phimsiriphanit, an online marketing guru and the first LINE@ Certified Trainer in Thailand, who will provide advice and techniques on using Line Official Account for restaurant businesses.

Restaurants are businesses that need to have a Line Official Account (Line OA) because today it can be called a good customer storage tank, which is important for the food business and can also be used to communicate directly with customers. This is different from other social media platforms where once you post, you may not be sure whether the customer group will see the message or food picture or not. But Line OA is like a Direct Message, so customers must use it regularly, allowing them to build a desire to eat at that moment.

Line OA has 3 levels of accounts: 1. General Account (standard Account) Or a gray shield account. When you open a new account, it will be a general account. 2. Certified Account (Approved Account) Or the Blue Shield Account is an account that has been certified by LINE Thailand, making it trustworthy. You can apply for a certified account by yourself and 3. Premium account (Premium Account) Or a green shield account, which has many special privileges, but must contact LINE Thailand.

For food entrepreneurs, if you have a storefront and a clear place of business, you can easily apply for a Blue Shield account, which has the following benefits:

1. You can print character posters of LINE can Whether it's a picture of Brown Bear or Cony the rabbit, the posters are placed around the store or posted on various social media. The posters have a QR Code that you can scan to add friends and follow them.

2. Gain an advantage in easier search General customers can search for our restaurants via the LINE application, for example, if they search for the keyword “Japanese food”, the blue shield account restaurants with this keyword in the Line OA will be immediately recommended. If it is a gray shield account, it will not be recommended, making it easier for us to create brand awareness.

3. Privileges in Near by Or the feature is near me, Blue Shield accounts will be recommended immediately when users use the feature. For example, if you are in the Phra Ram 3 area and search in Near by, all Blue Shield account Line OA stores in the Phra Ram 3 area will be recommended, and separated into categories such as restaurants, fashion, cars, etc.

4. Survey menu For followers to fill in information that is useful for the business, for example, how did you find out about the store? There will be a choice of answers, whether it is a friend's recommendation, saw it in the media advertisement, or is close to home. Gray shield accounts can use this feature to complete questionnaires and broadcast it. But for blue shield accounts, you can choose open-ended questions, which allows customers to write more feedback. However, some people have submitted but were not accepted. A common problem is that the business name in the Line OA and the website name are not similar, making it impossible for them to verify it, so they will not be certified. They will have to go back and check themselves carefully.

Discover 7 cool features in Line OA

Line Official Account has many features that help with marketing. Therefore, restaurant businesses cannot miss it. The charm of Line OA is that it can broadcast messages that you want to communicate in a One to Mutiple manner to all followers and you can also talk to customers in a One on One manner. For restaurant businesses, the recommended features are as follows:

1. Greeting Message It is an automatic welcome message, so you must use the Greeting Message to its fullest potential. Think of it as a one-time opportunity when everyone who adds a friend will see this message. So if you have something good, you must say it from the Greeting Message, which can send up to 5 balloons (1 message, 1 picture counts as 1 balloon). Therefore, you can include a Rich Video introducing the shop, a review message from customers and celebrities who come to eat, various awards, or appearing on TV shows, including stimulating sales and creating the first order by introducing monthly promotions or giving coupons. With the AI ​​system, you can automatically enter the name of the follower, such as a message that says Thank you, Mr. A, for being our friend. This month, there is a special promotion for Mr. A. Get a 20% discount for your first order. Click to receive special privileges at the coupon below... etc.

2. Rich Menu Line OA users should create a Rich Menu or pop-up menu on the keyboard, which will help communicate with customers conveniently, such as Reward Cards, view point cards, promotions, recommend food menus, and even Line Man services. In another aspect, it also makes your restaurant look more professional.

3. Rich Content Using Rich Content makes it more professional. Customers have shared experiences with us, making us closer. Creating content with large images makes customers see the images clearly. You can also embed additional links to go to the website or desired destination. But another technique is that sometimes you send a normal image without embedding a link. Customers can save the image without having to capture the screen. And nowadays, videos can communicate more clearly. Rich Video Or a large video can communicate well with customers, such as a video of the atmosphere inside a restaurant full of customers, a video that zooms in on the food that is smoking and the crab looks fresh, which can also attract attention.

4. Reward Card Or a loyalty card to allow customers who come to eat to collect points and make old customers come back again. It is a CRM (Customer relationship management) that makes customers feel connected to the restaurant and want to come back and use the service again.

5. Coupon Using coupons to stimulate customer decision-making, so it needs to be broadcasted. It could be a buy 1 get 1 free coupon, a 20% discount coupon within the day… a promotion to invite friends to get more green tea ice cream, which makes customers feel like they have to use it because they are afraid of missing out on the opportunity.

6. Auto Responses It is an automatic response that helps facilitate and saves personnel in being an admin. You can set up an automatic response system, for example, type 1 to inquire about promotions, type 2 to inquire about branch locations, type 3 to inquire about fresh ingredients that arrive today, type 4 to inquire about opening and closing times, type 5 to inquire about the store map, etc. When customers type in, there will be an automatic response.

7. Timeline Post Many people may think that broadcasting is enough, but in fact, Timeline Post is very useful. Line OA users can post unlimited Timeline posts without any charges. Recently, LINE has a new update where if followers like your Timeline, it will be displayed on their Timeline as well, allowing their friends to see posts from shops, which is a free way to create awareness. You can also use your personal LINE to help share to various groups, which is another feature that is very useful.

For examples of restaurants that use Line OA in an interesting and effective way, as an idea for entrepreneurs who are starting to use it, for example: Maguro Sushi This is a restaurant that knows how to use the features in the Blue Shield Line OA account to its advantage. For example, the latest use is the use of Card Message or messages in the form of cards, which can slide images. Of course, the restaurant has a variety of menus. Card Message 1 balloon can send up to 9 cards at a time, and up to 3 balloons at a time. In addition, Maguro also creates content and organizes campaigns that are suitable for various situations. There are photos of fresh ingredients, and videos with stories about fishing, which were flown to Japan to film. Seeing it makes you want to eat it. Importantly, they use Line OA to do activities with customers effectively, such as doing Customer Reviews and giving out vouchers. In addition, Maguro also posts on the Timeline.

and Shabu You Shabu restaurants in Rayong Province that use all features of Line OA and Line MyShop can add up to 5,000 food items. Shabu You also includes all the food menus. Customers can order delivery through this channel.

Marketing after COVID-19 cannot rely on feelings. It must be deeply, truly known, and done well. The people who use Line OA and are successful, that's because they are serious, doing every feature they have. If we don't do this, we may be losers and cannot survive. Some people say they already have it, they've done it, but it doesn't mean using it effectively. They're doing it halfway, just to have it. The winners are because they do it effectively. I'd like to leave you with this thought: 100 people know, 10 people do, 1 person is successful. I believe many people consume a lot of knowledge.

Follow the gurus, but only 10% will apply all the techniques, and only 1% will succeed. Those who do it continuously and do not stop when faced with obstacles. I hope that those who read this article will be the 1% who succeed.

Online Courses Promote your restaurant online to increase sales 10 times.
Online Course: Create professional food menu images with your mobile phone
Interview Tips for Online Marketing for Restaurants in the New Normal Era by Digital Tips
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