Restaurant Owner’s Guide to Social Media Influencers
by Seated Team December 2, 2022
Should Your Restaurant Work with Influencers?
As a restaurant owner, it’s important to stay on top of the latest trends and marketing strategies to attract new customers and grow your brand. One effective way to do this is by partnering with social media influencers.
Working with social media influencers on platforms like Instagram and TikTok can help your restaurant reach a wider audience and improve your online presence. Influencers have a dedicated following of loyal fans who trust their recommendations, so when they endorse your restaurant on social media, it can significantly increase your visibility and credibility.
In addition to reaching new customers, partnering with social media influencers can also help improve customer engagement. Influencers often create unique, interesting content that can spark conversations and encourage their followers to share their experiences with your restaurant on social media. This can help generate positive word-of-mouth and increase customer loyalty.
Another benefit of working with influencers is that it can help build your brand’s reputation. Influencers are known for their honesty and transparency, so when they share their positive experiences with your restaurant on social media, it can help establish your restaurant as a trusted and reputable brand.
In short, influencer marketing can help take your restaurant to the next level.
How Do You Get Started with Influencers?
Here are a few quick tips for restaurant owners to help you start working with social media influencers:
- Research and identify influencers in your local area who have a following that aligns with your restaurant’s target audience. Here are a few quick tips to find local influencers.
- Reach out to these influencers and offer them a complimentary meal at your restaurant in exchange for them sharing their experience on their social media channels.
- Create a unique hashtag for your restaurant and encourage influencers to use it when sharing their experiences with your restaurant on social media. This can help create buzz and make it easier for people to find and engage with your content.
- Offer influencers exclusive discounts or promotions to encourage them to continue sharing their experiences with your restaurant on social media.
- Monitor and engage with the content that influencers create about your restaurant. This can help increase customer engagement and build a positive relationship with the influencers.
Tracking Success of Your Campaigns
One way to track the success of your influencer marketing campaign is by using social media analytics tools. Tools like SproutSocial can provide valuable insights into the performance of your social media posts, including metrics like reach, engagement, and clicks, as well as follower growth.
By analyzing this data, you can see how well your influencer marketing efforts are performing and identify which influencers are most effective.
Another way to track the return on investment of your influencer marketing campaign is by measuring the number of new customers you receive as a result of the influencer’s endorsement.
This can be done by giving influencers a unique code or special promo that their followers can use (e.g. a free appetizer) when they dine with you, or by asking customers where they heard about your restaurant.
By comparing this data to the cost of the influencer’s endorsement, you can calculate the return on investment of your influencer marketing campaign, which is especially important if you plan to put paid dollars behind influencer marketing.
By starting small (influencers with <10k followers), setting clear goals and ways of tracking, and using analytics tools to measure the impact on your online presence in addition to physical sales, you can grow influencer marketing as a channel for your restaurant.
And Remember…
Restaurant marketing takes time, so be patient. Find a few local influencers who seem like a good fit for the type of customers you’re looking to appeal to, and see how things go after a few posts.
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