8 Low-Cost Social Media Tools Every Restaurant Needs in 2024

As a restaurant owner or marketer, you know the importance of an active social media presence. But between creating content, posting consistently, analysing performance and more - it can get overwhelming fast. Fortunately, there are several low-cost tools that can streamline your social media management in 2024.

1. Canva (free + paid plans) 

   This easy drag-and-drop design tool with thousands of templates allows anyone to create polished graphics, even without design skills. Perfect for restaurants to mock up branded posts, Instagram Stories, menu graphics and more.

2. Snapseed (free)

   One of the best mobile photo editing apps out there from Google. Snapseed enables you to professionally edit, filter, and optimise your drool-worthy food photography on-the-go.

3. Facebook Creator Studio (free) 

   A comprehensive desktop dashboard for managing all your Facebook posts, Instagram promotions, insights, messaging and measurement across both platforms.

4. Later (free + paid plans)

   An intuitive visual planner that allows you to drag-and-drop to schedule Instagram posts, Facebook photos, and more. You can also save hashtag groups and easily re-share user-generated content.

5. Plann (free trial + paid plans) 

   A smart Instagram marketing platform that not only lets you calendar posts, but automatically audits your feed's colour palette and filters for an on-brand aesthetic.

6. BIGR Social (free trial + paid plans)

   A social media automation app that researches your social platforms, builds a social media schedule, creates on-brand and unique content for your business and automatically posts directly for you. For more information or early access sign up to the waitlist here.

7. WavePad (free)

8. A basic but reliable free audio editing software for recording, cutting, and polishing audio clips for things like Instagram Reels or behind-the-scenes stories.

9. Google Analytics (free)

10. While not a social-specific tool, Google's suite of free analytics products allows you to track website engagement from social media and other digital channels.

From design and scheduling to monitoring performance and brand consistency, these affordable tools have got you covered for an optimised restaurant social media strategy in 2024!