With the ever-changing trends, restaurant marketing has evolved to a great extent. Influencers like restaurant reviewers and bloggers drive restaurants’ marketing and local branding.

Influencer marketing sounds to be a new term for many entrepreneurs. A Hootsuite report shows that the right influencers can help establishments generate around $17.50 with each $1 spent on influencers.

Social media influencers have built a higher degree of trust among followers.

The right promoting strategy can help you promote brand awareness, which will lead to increasing the number of leads and sales.

Wondering why your restaurant business needs a solid influencer marketing strategy? Here’s why you must use this promotional strategy to feel vacant seats.

Influencer Marketing For Restaurants

Why is Influencer Marketing Important?

Influencer marketing is the most reliable method to promote a brand and increase trust. It helps restaurant businesses to focus on critical activities that help them drive more businesses and build a strong image in today’s competitive market.

However, the restaurant is one of those special business sectors where recommendations heavily influence customers.

Now, most entrepreneurs are more likely to pay a considerable amount to influencers who help spread the word of mouth. Nevertheless, influencer marketing impacts business growth and provides you with numerous benefits like:

• Enhance your brand’s presence
• Derives quick customer acquisition
• Boost content strategy

It’s more impactful for your ideal customers to see an expert snapping the food shots and promoting your business. It’s more effective than managing everything by yourself or through other ways of marketing.

Influencer marketing is the best way to get more shares, likes, and comments faster than ever before. You can consider leveraging this strategy for various delivery platforms like:

• E-Delivery is an advanced platform that helps restaurants to automate their business activities. The digital solution helps establishments provide an improved experience to their customers, helping them gain positive word-of-mouth.
• DeliveryMark is an impressive solution that eases the goods transportation process, and it helps individuals get anything delivered from one place to another.
• Shupple is an easy-to-use solution that makes it easier for customers to quickly access all the information they are looking for. The digital solution has gained immense popularity among users as it provides customers with quick access to the details they are looking for.

You can use this marketing strategy to boost the popularity of your branded solution.

Influencer marketing has proven to be a practical and fast strategy, and it helps both influencers and restaurants to develop unique and successful campaigns together.

Influencer Marketing Statistics

Restaurants have a significant turnover rate, and more than 85% of businesses fail or change their ownership during their first year. Hence it’s crucial to use influencer marketing to improve brand visibility and gain more loyal customers.

Let’s explore a few statistics that help you understand how this strategy helps to make your restaurant industry lucrative and appealing:

More than 71% of customers‘ shopping decisions are highly impacted by the social media posts of those they trust the most.

Around 94% of diners choose your restaurant based on online reviews, which affects their shopping decision.

More than 91% of people regularly or occasionally go online and read reviews, while around 84% trust online reviews as a personal recommendation. Online reviews also help customers to make decisions more quickly. Around 68% purchase after reading more than six reviews online.

Over 75% of customers use Facebook to decide which restaurant to choose to enjoy their meal

6 or 7 out of 10 teenagers follow advice from influencers over celebrities.

Facebook measures around 50% of social referrals while around 64% of social revenue.

84% of millennials agree that UGC from strangers has at least influence on what they buy.

Over 49% of customers depend on recommendations from one of our other influencers. At the same time, more than 49% of women take purchasing advice after exploring their social accounts.

In today’s modern world, where people believe in word-of-mouth recommendations, influencer marketing is an effective way for restaurants to boost their brand and image.

As stated above, influencers are more potent than other celebrities, especially when promoting a product or service at a pocket-friendly price.

Influencers have a bulky following through the images, videos, and other information they share.

Loyal followers believe in recommendations and reviews because they find the experts more credible. Even one post by them can help you increase traffic for your restaurant business.

Potent Ways to Integrate Influencer Marketing for Restaurants

Influencer marketing continues taking the world by storm. Many influencers post about mouth-watering dishes and food you share. Restaurants can leverage worthy results with influencer marketing.

The use of influencer marketing can help you expand your company’s reach, boost your credibility within your industry. It also helps you strengthen yourself as a thought leader within your industry.

The following are five influencer marketing strategies you can use to make diners aware of you.

#1 Post Content with Influencer-driven SEO

You need SEO-friendly content, relevant backlinks, and a steady stream of traffic for your website and social media accounts.

That’s where influencers come in!

In order to find influencers who have content relevant to your niche, you will need to identify food bloggers, vloggers, chefs, and connoisseurs.

For instance, a pastry chef can be a great partner if you want to advertise your bakery products. Those who specialize, know their audience well and have a fan base.

Therefore, they will be able to create content around your products that resonates well with your audience. This helps develop brand recognition and strengthen customer loyalty.

#2 Delicious Images for a Visual Treat

Today, “foodporn” is everything. 

In order to satisfy people’s desires, influencers frequently share drool-worthy images that stoke people’s appetites and stimulate their taste buds.

People eat with their eyes first, which is based on this theory.

Therefore, when an influencer shares such images, they are creating visual hunger for their followers, and they are evoking an emotion of a must-have experience!

#3 Ratings Work Best as Social Proof

Did you know? 94% of Americans rely on online reviews when making dining decisions, according to TripAdvisor?  When traveling, how do you choose restaurants? Do you use Yelp ratings and recommendations? Facebook? Google?

You can get the much-needed reviews and ratings with social influence marketing. It can motivate their communities to react and respond favorably to their recommendations if you can get an influencer to try your product or dine at your restaurant.

#4 Leverage Maps and Check-ins

Turning simple dining and takeaway moments into marketing opportunities is possible with social check-ins.

In their social media posts, food bloggers, lifestyle bloggers, and travel influencers include the tiniest details that will appeal to their audience. How they selected a place, what they tried, cooking techniques, and how they got there can all be described here.

But most importantly, they leave behind social check-ins with their food and travel trail.

#5 Pay Attention to User Generated Content

User-generated content (UGC) has become a powerful tool for marketing thanks to short video platforms, hashtags, and challenges.

It is certain that influencers are motivated to try challenges when they participate and use hashtags.

Using the hashtag #myfavoritepizza, ask influencers to share their special recipe using your products. This would further encourage others to participate. All three things can be achieved simultaneously: product sales, brand awareness, and consumer engagement.

Influencers post about your restaurant on a blog and description. Just make sure you place a link as it helps you measure the response.

Depending on your targeted goals, the results might differ. Sometimes you get results faster, but there is nothing to worry about. Be patient and get the result you are actually looking for.

Amplify Your Restaurant Business with Influencer Marketing

Influencer marketing in the restaurant segment has room to grow. It nurtures brands into an acclaimed enterprise.

However, it becomes crucial for restaurants and other businesses to adapt to new trends and be creative to make their space more crowded.

Getting the support of influencers can help them gain a selective fan following and cover topics that help them create more engagement.