Do you eat to live, or live to eat? If the latter you’ll no doubt know of the numerous sites, blogs, apps and networks where you can virtually discover new gastronomic delights, share your opinions, upload photos of what you're eating (I know it's frowned upon, but yes I have done it!) and discuss the minutiae of cuisines, restaurants and chefs. But given the consumer appetite, how smart are the eateries being in exploiting social and digital media to generate new consumers and keep regulars loyal?

As a food lover I'm always keen to keep up with what's good in the world of cooking and dining, so checking user ratings and reviews on Yelp or Toptable is always on the cards. But nothing beats word of mouth recommendation. Except a free meal. Which is why I was impressed when my wife's tweet about our lunch at Benares was followed up by an invite from a new local Indian Restaurant, whose head chef had trained at Benares, to attend their opening event. Smart move, nice keyword tracking and lovely food too.

Twitter is a great way of tracking live contextual tweets, and creating direct consumer engagement. When Public House (@Public_HouseN1), just off the busy Upper Street in Islington, were looking to create more awareness and footfall, we were able to design a social engagement program specifically to target local diners looking for their modern British cuisine, and also their (frankly brilliant) Sunday roast. By actively seeking out and responding to people looking for a cracking north London roast, and tweeting a user offer designed to convert interest to custom, we were able to more than treble the covers on a Sunday.

So Twitter is great for targeting and attracting custom, but what else could restaurants be doing? Well, Facebook is a good place to start and social ads can provide an amazingly cost effective way to create some initial interest. By being extremely targeted, you can attract the ideal diner. Babur, a two rosette Indian restaurant in south London, have been able to create a solid foundation by combining very targeted ads - designed to seek out locals as well as foodie fans of the better known West End restaurants - with a sharable voucher tab. Simply print the voucher and get a great anniversary discount. And as the widget is already on Facebook, it’s not a great stretch to introduce social crowdsourcing with a simple share mechanic.

Geolocation platforms too offer potential to drive custom, especially informal drop-ins, with specials broadcast in the local area. Public House have used this extremely well, and for a relatively small local venue to have 18 concurrent Foursquare checkins on a Friday night is no mean feat!

So what are the lessons?

Social let's you focus on your key market, so play to your strengths in terms of location, cuisine, dishes and known personalities. Roots at N1 piqued my interest off the back of Atul Kutcher's Benares!

Remember it's not a numbers game, a million fans or followers is no use if you can only serve 40 covers a night - it's all about bums on seats. Make the most of the free networks which are out there: Yelp, Foursquare, Foodspotting etc.

And broadcast more than just menu items - users like to be engaged, whether it's the eccentric ravings of Johnnie Mountain (a very switched on guy when it comes to new and traditional media, which has helped generate buzz for his most recent venture, The English Pig) or cookery tips from chef.

If you want to find out more about social media marketing or have any questions drop a tweet to John Lyons @johnnieego or the company account @Brandmovers_uk. We enjoy new food experiences as much as creating social strategies.