Ideas to collaborate with Food influencers

Food influencers are key components of restaurant marketing in this digital age. One thing is certain: collaborating with influencers to reach your potential audience is an art in itself. To succeed when working with food content creators, all it takes is a combination of strategy, creativity, common sense and monitoring the lifestyle of these digital personalities on their social networks.

Before embarking on this new marketing adventure, you may be asking:

Why include food influencers in restaurant marketing?

There are numerous reasons, such as:

• To have a positive and direct impact on potential clientele and consistently attract them to the restaurant.
• To promote one-time events from the restaurant's marketing plan.
• To improve the restaurant's brand image, give it prominence and keep up with trends.
• To increase sales effectively in a relatively short period of time.

A food influencer's recommendation can have a powerful impact. For instance, an influencer’s endorsement can significantly increase a brand’s following. If the account’s content strategy is on point, these new followers will likely become customers in no time. Here’s how to get started with a few simple steps:

• Firstly, identify your business's potential clientele and to search for food influencers that address the same audience.
• Next, analyse the type of content that this influencer delivers to their followers and discern how it can tie in with your restaurant's marketing narrative.
• Finally, create collaboration proposals for each influencer. For inspiration on crafting these proposals, consider ideas like those found here.
   

Understanding the role of food influencers in consumer food choices

There are many factors that influence food choices today, including location and convenience, price, taste, health, social proof and influencer endorsements. 

Social media food influencers wield significant power over consumers' food choices due to a combination of psychological and social factors. Followers often view these influencers as reliable sources of recommendations, so trust plays a big part in this. 

Influencers are authentic when showcasing their experiences and they do this through genuine reviews and personal anecdotes, which helps to build a strong connection with their followers. 

What’s more, cultural affinity can drive engagement even further as influences often mirror the tastes and values of their audience. This mix of trust, authenticity and shared culture works well to encourage people to expand their horizons and try new dining experiences based on the influencer’s recommendations.
 

Engaging food influencers with behind-the-scenes content

If the food influencer is someone who likes to share recipes, you can propose a collaboration where they publish stories featuring the preparation of signature dishes from your restaurant, for instance. In this case, they could enter your restaurant’s kitchen, document the cooking process and, of course, taste the dish afterwards. A story that takes the viewer through the entire experience allows the influencer to provide engaging content for their audience and benefit the restaurant by directly advertising to potential clientele.

Offer exclusive discounts to the food influencer's followers

Some food influencers like to reward their followers with free products. You can invite the influencer to create a post or story with an image or video of the establishment, incorporating a "secret" word so that followers can receive a free drink or dessert when they mention it to the waiter. This is a splendid way to attract potential diners and boost your visibility.

Create an event that is relevant to food influencers

It’s important to conduct research on the most interesting topics for influencers that are relevant to your audience and design events at your restaurant that cater to their interests. This could include events such as tastings, talks, workshops, book presentations or live demonstrations by renowned chefs. Then, you can ask restaurant influencers to livestream highlights of these events to their Instagram and Facebook accounts, or, if they are bloggers, you can even ask them to write an article. Although this strategy is a bit more complex and requires greater investment, it can be highly effective in promoting your restaurant and establishing a trustworthy relationship with food influencers.

Preparing the influencer's favorite dish and giving it their name

How can you truly capture an influencer's heart? By doing something special that aligns with their lifestyle and personal tastes. For example, if you find out what your desired influencer's favorite dish or recipe is from their content, you can invite them to try out this dish, expertly prepared by your chef, at your restaurant. You may even temporarily feature their name next to it in your menu!  This thoughtful gesture provides them with a unique experience that they can share with their followers to foster a genuine connection. 

As you can see, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for leveraging the power and reach of foodie influencers. The trick is to:

• Find the most relevant influencers for your business.
• Establish a good relationship by following their social networks, interacting with their content and consistently maintaining a coherent brand image for your restaurant. 
• Propose collaborations that benefit both parties. 

Lindsey Tramuta

How to select the right food influencers for your restaurant?

Choosing the most suitable food content creators for your restaurant involves carefully evaluating several key factors. 

First, identify what the social media food influencer's niche is to ensure their content aligns with your restaurant’s offerings and target audience. Their engagement rate is also important; an influencer with high engagement is more likely to effectively reach and resonate with their followers. Authenticity is another important factor—choose influencers who genuinely connect with their audience and build relationships with their followers. 

Additionally, it’s crucial to assess how consistent they are in maintaining brand values, as this will ensure a harmonious partnership that improves your restaurant’s image and overall message. By focusing on these aspects, you can partner with influencers who will authentically promote your restaurant and drive meaningful engagement.

Measuring the success of collaborations with food influencers

Once you’ve proposed a collaboration and started working with the foodie influencer most suited to your business, it’s vital to track key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics to measure the success of your campaigns. These include but aren’t limited to:

• Increase in followers: Measures the growth of followers on your restaurant’s social media accounts as a direct result of the influencer campaign.
• Conversion rate: This metric tracks the percentage of followers or viewers who take a specific action, such as booking a table at your restaurant.
• Return on investment (ROI): Evaluate the financial ROI of the campaign by comparing the cost of the influencer collaboration and the revenue generated from it. 
• Engagement rate: Measures likes, comments, shares and overall interaction with the food influencer’s posts about your restaurant. 
• Social shares: Measures the frequency at which the influencer’s content about your restaurant is shared by their followers. 
• Sentiment analysis: Look at the overall sentiment of comments and mentions related to your restaurant. 

By monitoring these metrics, you can gauge how successful your partnership with a content creator is and make informed decisions about future food influencer marketing strategies. 

With all these new followers you’ll gain from your food influencer partnerships and campaigns, it’s important to then focus on how to turn them into loyal customers. One effective way to do this is to streamline your reservation process with TheFork Manager. Learn how it can help you effectively manage bookings and maximise the impact of your influencer campaigns. Explore TheFork Manager today.