Methodological Basis for Studying Social Media as a Tool to Tackle Consequences of COVID-19 in the Restaurant Industry

Abstract

The article highlights the tight situation in the restaurant industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the study is analyzing the mechanism for tackling consequences of COVID-19 through social media and the social marketing sector. To achieve this goal, the article considers in detail the basic definitions, directions and features of the use of such modern mechanism (tool) to increase effectiveness of advertising and promote goods and services as social media. Currently, social media marketing dominates traditional marketing. Traditional marketing is much more expensive than social media marketing, which is why today most enterprises have chosen marketing in social media to intensify their business. The article analyzes the results of a European study on the use of social media in the restaurant industry. Based on the results of the study, the main stages of the customer relationship management are identified, and three general steps are formed: Step One — getting to know your customer; Step Two — customer retention; Step Three — interaction with clients. The implementation of all three stages should improve quality of servicing customers of the restaurant sector. This paper analyzes the consequences of COVID-19 for the restaurant industry and suggests the main ways to overcome them. The necessity and expediency of using social media marketing in the restaurant industry is proved. Conclusions about the feasibility of introducing special measures to normalize the financial situation, overcome the crisis and provide return on production costs are made. Among these measures, the use of social media marketing, improvement of effectiveness of advertising on the Internet and establishment of communication with customers are singled out.

Keywords

• social media marketing
• communication
• advertising
• social media