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Social Media Manager

Run your restaurant's Google, Facebook, and Instagram accounts from one dashboard. Auto-generate posts with AI, schedule them on a calendar, monitor reviews, and let Dinevate reply to feedback for you.

What the Social Media Manager Does

Most restaurant owners agree that social media is important — and most of them never have time for it. Dinevate's Social Media Manager fixes that.

In one place you can:

  • Connect your Google Business, Facebook, and Instagram accounts.
  • Generate posts with AI in seconds — for promotions, announcements, special offers, and events.
  • Schedule posts on a calendar and publish them automatically (Pro plan).
  • Reply to Google reviews automatically in your chosen tone, and get email alerts on negative reviews.
  • See analytics — engagement, reviews replied, posts published, profile views.
  • Get email notifications for new reviews, weekly performance reports, and post-published confirmations.

Currently supported platforms: Google Business, Facebook, and Instagram (via Facebook Business). Yelp and TripAdvisor show as "Coming soon" in the dashboard.

A Quick Note on Pricing

The Social Media Manager is a paid add-on with two plans:

  • Starter — Review monitoring, AI replies, and basic posting tools.
  • Pro — Adds scheduling, calendar, custom AI instructions, and advanced generation preferences.

If you do not subscribe yet, the Home tab shows a marketing screen with "Get Started" / Start Trial buttons. There is a monthly cap of 100 posts included.

Getting to the Social Media Manager

  1. Open a browser and go to dinevate.com
  2. Log in with your restaurant account.
  3. Go to your Merchant Dashboard.
  4. In the sidebar on the left, click "Social Media".

You land on the "Social Media Manager" with five tabs along the top:

Home → Calendar → Analytics → Posts → Settings

Tip: A search bar at the top of the Social Media area ("Search features...") lets you jump quickly to any tool. Press ⌘K (or Ctrl+K) to open it.

The Five Tabs

Home — Your Command Center

If you are not yet subscribed, Home shows a marketing/upgrade screen with stats, features, supported platforms, and pricing.

If you are subscribed, you see:

  • A plan banner showing your current plan (Starter or Pro), with "Manage Billing" (and "Upgrade to Pro" if you are on Starter).
  • Stat cards: Reviews Replied, Posts Created, Engagement %, Time Saved (Dinevate saves the average restaurant ~10 hours per week here), and your Google Rating if your profile has one.
  • Connected Accounts cards for Google Business, Facebook Page, Instagram, plus "Coming soon" chips for Yelp and TripAdvisor.
  • Quick Actions to jump to View Analytics, View Posts, and Settings.
  • A "Complete Your Setup" card if Google and Facebook are not both connected yet.

You can disconnect Google or Facebook from the overflow menu on each card, or click Connect to start the OAuth flow.

Posts — Create and Manage Content

The Posts tab shows everything you have ever published, with filters at the top:

  • Filter by status (All / Published)
  • Filter by platform (All / Google / Facebook / Instagram)

Each post card shows the platform, status, content preview, and engagement metrics (likes, comments, shares) when available. The card menu lets you Edit Post or Delete Post.

To create a new post, click "Create Post" (with a sparkles icon). The Create Post modal opens.

Create Post — AI Generate

  1. Setup:
    • Pick the platforms you want to post to (only your connected ones show up).
    • Choose a post type: Promotional, Announcement, Special Offer, or Event.
    • Optionally upload an image.
    • Add notes about what you want the post to say.
  2. Style toggles:
    • Hashtags on/off
    • Emojis on/off
    • Language (long list of options)
    • Target audience
    • Post length: short / medium / long
  3. Custom Instructions (Pro only) — Free-form guidance for the AI.
  4. Optionally "Save as default" so these settings are pre-filled next time.
  5. Click to generate. The AI writes a draft you can review and edit.
  6. Click Publish to post immediately, or Schedule (Pro only) to pick a date/time.

If you have no platforms connected, you will see "No platforms connected. Please connect a social media account first." — handle that in Settings (covered below).

Create Post — Write Your Own

Switch to the Write Your Own tab in the modal to write your post manually. Same publish/schedule options apply.

Pro tip: AI Generate works best when you give it a sentence or two of "notes" about what is special — the dish of the week, a holiday hours change, a brunch menu reveal. Vague prompts make vague posts.

Calendar — Schedule and View

The Calendar tab is a monthly grid. Use the chevron arrows to switch months.

  • Click an empty future day to open the Create Post modal with that date pre-filled (Pro plan opens it directly in schedule mode).
  • Click a day with posts to view what is scheduled or published, and to schedule another post on that day.
  • The legend at the top tracks Scheduled, Published, and Failed counts across your calendar.

Note: Scheduling requires the Pro plan. On Starter, clicking the schedule option in the create modal shows "Post scheduling is available on the Pro plan".

Analytics — How You Are Doing

The Analytics tab is your last 30 days snapshot, with a "Last 30 days" badge at the top.

  • KPIs: Total Engagement %, Reviews Replied, Posts Published, Profile Views.
  • Engagement trend chart — a 30-day line chart so you can see when engagement spiked.
  • Per-platform breakdown — Google, Facebook, Instagram growth and share of total engagement.
  • Top posts list — your best-performing posts with content preview, platform, and engagement.
  • Connected Accounts cards — your Google rating, review count, and follower-style metrics where the platforms expose them.

Use this view weekly to figure out what kinds of posts and times work best for your audience.

Settings — Connect Accounts and Tune the AI

Settings is where you do the one-time setup and the ongoing tuning.

Platform Connections

  • Google — Click Connect to start a Google Business Profile OAuth flow.
  • Facebook — Click Connect to start a Facebook OAuth flow. This also brings in your Instagram if your Instagram is linked to your Facebook Business account.
  • Instagram — Status reflects what came in via Facebook: Connected, Needs Facebook, or No IG Account.

Posting Schedule

  • Posting Schedule — Pick how often Dinevate creates and publishes posts for you: Daily, Weekly, or Bi-Weekly.
  • Monthly Usage — Shows X / 100 posts used this month.

Review Replies

  • Auto-reply to reviews — Switch on to let Dinevate automatically reply to your Google reviews.
  • Reply tone — Pick Friendly, Professional, Casual, or Formal.
  • Notify on negative reviews — Switch on to get an email alert any time a 1-star or 2-star review comes in.

Email Notifications

Three switches:

  • Weekly performance reports — A weekly summary of your social activity.
  • New review notifications — An email any time a new review is posted.
  • Post published — An email confirmation each time a post goes live (off by default).

Generation Preferences

Set your AI defaults so every post matches your brand voice:

  • Default Language, Audience, Length
  • Emojis and Hashtags preferences
  • Free-text Instructions (Pro)

Click Save to lock in your defaults.

Billing & Plan

  • Current Plan with price
  • Manage Billing to update your card or cancel
  • Upgrade to Pro modal if you are on Starter

Review Monitoring

In the background, Dinevate is also watching your Google reviews:

  • New review alert — When a new review comes in, you get an email (subject line includes the rating). If Auto-reply is on, Dinevate's draft reply is included so you can see what was posted.
  • Negative review alert — A more urgent email for 1- or 2-star reviews so you can respond personally.
  • Positive review celebration — Every few hours, Dinevate scans for new 4-star and 5-star reviews and sends you a celebration email — a nice little win in your inbox.

Heads Up: There Are Two "Social Media" Settings

This can be confusing, so it is worth calling out:

  • Social Media (sidebar item) — The full Social Media Manager described in this guide. It is the AI-powered posting and review tool that requires a subscription.
  • Website Settings → Social Media — A separate, free form where you simply enter the URLs of your public Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Yelp, and TripAdvisor profiles. These show up as clickable icons on your restaurant website.

The two are unrelated. The Website Settings → Social Media form just makes the link icons appear on your site. It does not do AI, posting, or analytics.

Quick Tips and Best Practices

  • Connect Google and Facebook first. Instagram comes for free with Facebook Business, and you cannot post to Instagram without going through Facebook.
  • Turn on Auto-reply to reviews. Google rewards businesses that reply to reviews, and most owners never get around to it. Dinevate does it for you in your chosen tone.
  • Set a Posting Schedule. Even Weekly keeps your accounts active; Bi-Weekly is the bare minimum.
  • Use Custom Instructions (Pro) to teach the AI your voice — "Always mention we're family-owned", "Never use exclamation points", "Promote our happy hour Tuesdays-Thursdays". The output gets noticeably better.
  • Schedule around your peaks. Use Analytics to find your best days/times, then use the Calendar to schedule key posts to land then.
  • Auto-post your events. When you create an event in Events, turn on "Auto-post to social media" to generate teasers automatically without lifting a finger.
  • Check the Negative review alerts within 24 hours. A fast, gracious reply does more for your reputation than 10 perfect posts.

Need Help?

If something is not working or you have a question, head to your Support Center in the dashboard sidebar and create a new case. Our team will get back to you fast. The full process is covered at the bottom of the Getting Started guide.