Influencer marketing, simply put, is a way to get more people talking about, and visiting your restaurant. It involves working with popular people on social media (influencers) to promote your restaurant to their followers. Presently, influencer marketing has become a game-changer for businesses, especially in the food and hospitality industry. Restaurants that know how to use influencer marketing are topping and dominating the market on a daily basis.
Thank God for social media and modernity. You don’t need to know how to implement influencer marketing in your business, or know top influencers personally. You just need to know the basics, and if that still sounds like too much work, employ someone or an agency to do it for you. So in case you were thinking, where will I start from? Or where will I get a good influencer? You don’t have to think too much. However, if you’re wondering if it’s really necessary, then yes, it is.
Influencer marketing is a great way to advertise your business online, one of the best really. You can reach a larger audience, attract new customers, and boost your brand visibility. So, without further ado, if you're looking to elevate your restaurant's presence online, here are 5 powerful ways to use influencer marketing to promote your restaurant.
5 Ways To Use Influencer Marketing To Promote Your Restaurant
1. Partner with Local Food Bloggers
Partnering with local food bloggers is one of the best ways to promote your restaurant. These influencers have a dedicated following of food enthusiasts who trust their recommendations. Imagine you own a cozy african restaurant. You could invite a local food blogger to come and try your famous jollof rice recipes for free. These bloggers have followers who trust their opinions, and when they post about your delicious rice, their followers will be eager to try it too.
Just by sharing their dining experience at your restaurant, you indirectly reach at least a third of whatever amount of followers they have, and get willing visitors that are more likely to stop by. It’s like getting a friend to recommend your restaurant, but on a larger scale. However, how do you know the right influencers to reach out to?
How to Find the Right Influencers for Influencer Marketing
Start by researching local food bloggers in your area. Look for those who have a strong engagement rate, as this indicates that their followers are genuinely interested in their content. Tools like Instagram, Tiktok, and food blogging websites can help you identify potential partners. Once you've found a few bloggers who align with your brand, reach out to them with a personalized message.
Offer them a complimentary meal in exchange for a review or a feature on their social media channels. You can also host an exclusive tasting event and invite multiple influencers to experience your menu. This not only creates buzz but also encourages influencers to share their experience with their audience. Or better still, if it all looks like too much work, outsource the job to someone competent and explain your goal to the person.
2. Host a Social Media Takeover
What is a Social Media Takeover? A social media takeover is when you give control of your restaurant's social media account to an influencer for a day. This allows them to share content, interact with your audience, and give followers an insider's look at your restaurant from their perspective.
Let’s say you run a trendy café. You could let a local influencer take over your Instagram or Tiktok account for a day. They could share behind-the-scenes stories, show how your barista makes the perfect latte, and interact with your followers in real-time. Social media takeovers are an excellent way to generate excitement and engagement. The influencer's followers will tune in to see what they share, which can lead to increased visibility and follower growth for your restaurant.
Additionally, this approach adds variety to your content and keeps your audience engaged.
How to Execute a Takeover
To execute a successful social media takeover, choose an influencer who aligns with your brand values and has an engaged following. By doing this, the influencer brings their audience directly to your page. Their followers will want to see what they post, which increases your visibility.
Plus, it adds some fun and freshness to your social media content. Plan the content in advance, including what the influencer will share, when they will post, and how they will interact with your followers. Promote the takeover in the days leading up to the event to build anticipation.
3. Create a Unique Hashtag Campaign
Why do Hashtags Matter in Social media? Whether you post on instagram, or twitter, or linkedin, or facebook or any other platform, you must use hashtags once or twice. Hashtags are a powerful tool in social media marketing, allowing your content to be discovered by a broader audience. Creating a unique hashtag campaign can encourage user-generated content and yes, make more people know about your brand.
Imagine you create a unique dish, like a super spicy jollof. You could come up with a fun hashtag like #JollyJollofChallenge and ask customers to post a picture of themselves eating it. Encourage a popular food influencer to start the trend by posting their own picture first.
How to Develop The Right Hashtag For Your Restaurant
When developing a hashtag, keep it short, memorable, and relevant to your restaurant. For example, if your restaurant is known for its signature dish, incorporate that into the hashtag. When the influencer uses the hashtag, their followers will see it and might want to join in. The more people who use the hashtag, the more others will discover your restaurant. It’s like starting a fun game where everyone wins by getting to enjoy great food.
Partner with influencers to promote the hashtag campaign. Ask them to use the hashtag in their posts and encourage their followers to do the same. You can also run a contest where customers who use the hashtag have a chance to win a free meal or a discount. This not only promotes your restaurant but also creates a sense of community around your brand.
4. Offer Exclusive Discounts to Influencers' Followers
For example, you can promote something like, ‘Follow (Influencer Name) for 20% off your next meal’. Offering exclusive discounts to an influencer's followers is a win-win situation. Let’s say there’s a popular influencer who loves your restaurant. You could offer their followers a special discount, like 20% off their next meal if they mention the influencer’s name when they come in. The influencer gets to offer something valuable to their audience, and you get to attract new customers to your restaurant.
Also, when offering a discount, make sure it's enticing enough to motivate people to visit your restaurant. You could offer even up to 40% off their first visit or a free appetizer with the purchase of an entrée. Lastly, try to make sure that the discount is easy to redeem by creating a unique code that the influencer can share with their followers.
Promoting the Offer
Have the influencer promote the offer through their social media channels, blog, or email newsletter. They can share their personal experience at your restaurant and encourage their followers to take advantage of the discount. This not only drives traffic but also builds credibility because it looks like the influencer is endorsing your restaurant.
5. Collaborate on a Signature Dish or Menu Item
This form of influencer marketing to promote your restaurant is not so popular but it can still be beneficial if used well. Why is a signature dish collaboration effective? Collaborating with an influencer to create a signature dish or menu item can generate a lot of buzz. It gives the influencer a sense of ownership in the promotion, and their followers are more likely to visit your restaurant to try the dish.
Suppose your restaurant is known for its amazing salal. You could collaborate with an influencer to create a special salad that’s only available for a limited time. Offer free side dishes for each salad that is ordered through this scheme. The influencer can also help design the salad with their favorite ingredient and promote it to their followers.
How to Collaborate
You can start by selecting an influencer who has a strong connection with your target audience. Then you both can now work together to create a dish that reflects both your restaurant's brand and the influencer's personal taste. Once the dish is finalized, launch it with a special event or promotion.
The influencer’s followers will be excited to try the special salad because it’s something unique that they can’t get anywhere else. They’ll come to your restaurant just to try it, which creates buzz and boosts sales. It’s like having a celebrity chef in your kitchen, even if only for a short time.
Don’t forget to promote the collaboration across all your marketing channels, including social media, your website, and email newsletters. The influencer should also promote the dish on their platforms, sharing behind-the-scenes content of the creation process, taste tests, and the final product. This approach not only attracts the influencer's followers but also creates a sense of exclusivity around the dish.
Conclusion
Using influencer marketing to promote your restaurant doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s about finding creative ways to get popular people talking about your food and bringing their followers to your tables. Simple right? Influencer marketing can be a powerful tool for promoting your restaurant if you know how to use it.
These are just a few but easy-to-understand ways to use influencer marketing to promote your restaurant. Want to know the best part about this? You can apply these tips to any business niche you’re into. It works across all the sectors, even those you might think do not need influencer marketing. Just to iterate what was said earlier:
- Partner with local food bloggers
- Host social media takeovers
- Create unique hashtag campaigns
- Offer exclusive discounts
- Collaborate on a signature dish
These simple strategies can help you attract more customers and make your restaurant the talk of the town. Remember, these days one of the keys to success is finding the right influencers who align with your brand and have an engaged following. You’ll not only improve your restaurant's online presence but also create a loyal customer base that keeps coming back for more.
Influencer marketing, when done right, can lead to long-term success for your restaurant. So, don't wait—start using these strategies today to elevate your restaurant to new heights!
All images are sourced from freepik
