Online Marketing for Restaurants
In today’s digital-first world, restaurants that leverage modern online marketing effectively can drive more bookings, increase brand awareness, and build a loyal customer base where others may not be able to. Platforms like TikTok and Meta (Facebook & Instagram) present incredibly powerful tools, which not everyone leverages in the restaurant sector. Things are evolving rapidly, and while traditional strategies no longer cut it, those who stay on the cutting edge of marketing online, may succeed where other restaurants fail.
Here’s how you can maximise your restaurant’s online marketing this year…
Understand 1st party data connections with your ad accounts
Did you know that your website, can have a ‘digital handshake’ with your marketing platforms ad accounts. This means that each $1 your ad account spends, you can see exactly how many bookings were generated on your website? Business owners in the restaurant sector rarely have this functionality in place, and while the booking app you use can make this easier, or harder; this technology is vital for allowing a platform like TikTok or Meta to algorithmically learn which users are booking at your location. If the ads platform can see this, it can learn and find more people likely to book at your restaurant on autopilot. This ‘digital handshake’ is called a CAPI, or ‘Conversions API’ and is a huge game changer for people who are running online marketing for restaurants.
Use the targeting parameters in the platforms
Foodies & Recipe Explorers – People engaging with food trends, cooking tips, and restaurant reviews is a great audience.
Local Explorers – Users searching for things to do in their city, did you know you can target hashtag users on TikTok? Try running ads to #foodiehotspots and #placestoeat in your local area, or the locations of your restaurants.
Event Seekers – Those following nightlife, date night, and social gathering content.
Viral Trend Followers – A rarely used audience targetting parameter that we found useful for the restaurant industry. People engaging with trending audio, challenges, or food-related memes.
Pro Tip: Combine TikTok or Meta’s interest-based targeting with “Lookalike Audiences” from website visitors or past bookers to really drill down on the perfect audience.
When you join the above advice with incredible content showcasing incredible food, positive warm vibes in your space, and a strategy for collecting direct information on customers through a customer relationship system (CRM) it is a combination of technologies that vastly increase the probability of your success.
Being able to attribute each dollar spent to the number of bookings, gives you somewhat of a super-power. Not only can you easily see which content pieces and audience targeting is converting buyers, it also allows you to make informed decisions based on real data to improve your business. This system allows you to measure improvements, a vital step towards increasing customer base and wider profitability, not to mention the key insights on acquisition costs before potentially opening a new location!
