Facebook Adds Easy Access To Restaurant Menus

Facebook is joining Google, Yelp and other leaders in the local information space by rolling out easy access to restaurant menus.  A Facebook spokesperson explained that, “Facebook wants to help people decide their next meal.”

Restaurants can now use SinglePlatform from online listings service Constant Contact to upload menus and other relevant information directly to their Facebook Page.  For restaurants who already use SinglePlatform, their menus will automatically be added to their Facebook Page.  For restaurants that reside outside of the U.S. or Canada, or for those that don’t use SinglePlatform, they can simply upload a PDF of their menu to make it accessible.

The Facebook announcement this week described the intention further.  “When looking for a great meal, people often turn to Facebook to find a restaurant’s location, hours of operation and menu.  That’s why, beginning today, we’re making it easier for restaurants worldwide to display one of their most important assets directly on their Facebook page – their menus.”

This could be a great move for Facebook, as users who discover a restaurant on the social network can now view the menu directly on the restaurant’s page, as opposed to using Google or Yelp to search for it.  Some people are even wondering if Facebook could eventually compete with GrubHub Seamless, the popular online ordering company.  Even though you can’t currently order food directly through Facebook, it could be seen as a logical next move for the social media giant.

Facebook certainly wants to control a greater share of the local information and advertising market, where companies like Yelp have achieved great success.  Yelp recently reported a 66% increase in revenue to $76.4 million in the third quarter.  The report also indicated that active local business accounts grew 65% year-over-year to approximately 74,000.  The increase of average monthly visitors on the Web was 30% year-over-year to approximately 132 million, with mobile traffic growing 32% to 61 million from a year ago.

The Facebook Pages of local businesses are responsible for over 645 million viewers and 13 million comments per week, making the success of small businesses an important component of the success of Facebook itself.  Facebook continues to make efforts to appeal to SMBs with better ad-targeting options, and these strategies appear to be working.  Borrell Associates recently stated that 83% of SMBs currently use Facebook, with the expectation for that number to continue to increase.

“Google appears [to] have topped out [among SMBs], while the roots of Facebook just seem to be getting deeper and deeper into digital culture,” explained Greg Harmon, senior research analyst at Borrell Associates.

Can dealers learn a lesson from restaurants? These companies are making things easier for their customers by putting the menu right in front of their customers. In a every more transparent retail auto industry, what can dealers do, using Facebook, or another social platform, to help their clientele?