Samenvatting

Based around the central research question 'Can social media be used as a marketing tool for a restaurant?' this dissertation sets out to discover how a starting restaurant in Canada can use social media as a marketing tool. Over the past decade a large number of companies have embraced social media and have added it to their marketing mix. Why is it that social media can be so powerful for an organization? How can restaurants use social media to promote or extend their business? How should restaurants use social media to gain the upper hand in the market? These are all questions that will be explored in this dissertation. My research is based on the hypothesis that social media is the ideal platform to market a new restaurant (In this case Waves) and to promote their business and engage with their
customers. What does Waves have to consider before writing their social media plan? Who will be using their social media outlets and what will they be looking for? This dissertation will find answers to these questions, which will lead to the overall advice: Advertising through social media can be highly effective for a starting restaurant. Social media allows for people, businesses and groups to connect and bond on a new level at a relatively low cost. It allows a restaurant to communicate with its customers on a very
approachable, fun level and enables a restaurant to offer more to its customers then the products that can be found on the menu alone. Social media is proven to be popular amongst the potential customer base of Waves therefore it is important for Waves to have
a social media presence that aligns with the needs of the customer.