Let us start with explaining what an “influencer” is. As the name suggests, an influencer is someone who has the power to influence sales or purchase decisions. As an example a sportswear brand such as Reebok or Adidas use professional athletes or sports people to wear their products, which results in regular consumers wanting to buy them.
So how does this work for restaurants? I have seen many “influencers” asked to “review” restaurants in return for a “shout out” on their social media pages. Why did I use quotation marks there you ask? The thing is in my sportwear example the synergy is clear and easy, sports people wear athletic clothes and trainers and therefore their endorsement makes sense and has the power to influence. When it comes to influencers that have earned their celebrity through the number of followers, the dynamic is very different.
Let me pause here by adding a caveat that I know and appreciate influencers that have gained thousands and millions of followers have put in a hard graft and worked all hours in order to create this following and therefore deserve recognition for this. I have no problem with influencers at all but I do have a problem with hospitality owners and operators paying for influencer marketing and not getting their expectted return on investment. I hope that this article will help you discern who to engage and who to avoid!
So here are my top 3 tips on what to look for when choosing which influencer you work with:
Do Not Look at Number of Followers
This is the hardest thing to get your head around. The assumption is that if an influencer promotes your restaurant and they have 10million followers, this will instantly mean sales for you. However, this is hardly ever the case. When selecting an influencer you need to compare their target audience to yours. If there is a good overlap there is a good chance it will work, if not the likelihood is it won’t.
As an example, you are a casual high street restaurant based in Ealing. All your customers are local aged between 30-50 and spend well on cocktails. You will want all if not most of these criteria to match with your chosen influencer. If the influencer lives in Hackney and has 10million followers predominantly 20-35 that love fashion and beauty, the overlap is not sufficient enough to give you a good enough return on investment. In fact you will be better off spending the same amount on a local blogger with say a 2k following that are all based in and around Ealing.
Choose Value and Quality Content
We have talked about number of followers but you always need to think about value and quality. Ensure the influencer you choose has got excellent quality photography. If they are talking about your food or service or interiors, you want to ensure they are shown in the best possible light (pun intended!). To be honest if they have a huge following, the likelihood is they have this right already!
Secondly the value of their posts; do they provide value to their followers? Do they have good engagement rate. They should be able to provide you with figures, but typically you should see a minumum of 2% engagement on Instagram posts and around 1% on twitter. You want to see that they have consistent engagement rates (not just good engagement on 1 random post).
To make it easier for your research, ask your chosen influencer to provide a cast study or statistics of how they make have driven traffic to a restaurant they have worked with.
Be clear on Expectations
You have gone through the process in tip 1 and have chosen your influencer. Now you need to be clear on expectations and if possible draw up a contract or terms of service. There are a number of ways an influencer can help you.
They can write a restaurant review (the best reviews are honest, so be prepared for it to show you off with warts and all! )
They could dedicate 1 Instagram post to you on their feed (make sure this is not temporary!)
They could post about you in their Instagram stories (remember this only remains for 24 hours!)
They could write a Facebook post for you or review you on your own facebook page
They could write a Google review
They could publish a blog post for you or mention you in a blog post about something related if they are in the lifestyle blogging space
They could offer a combination of the above
Whatever the offer, ensure you understand what that is and what they would expect in return. Most professional influencers have a media pack that detail all of this with clear indication of costs. The higher the number of followers the higher the fees are likely to be. As long as both parties are clear on expectations (ensure it is always in writing even if only on email!!) you are less likely to be disappointed!
If you do a quick google search on “influencers for restaurants” you will see a number of horror stories. This is nearly always because this final point has not been met and expectations were not clear! As a general rule, if an influencer is pushing you to pay them for something you are not comfortable with, there should be alarm bells. You are essentially hiring a professional so they should act accordingly and be happy to provide you with the reassurance you need!
By following my top 3 tips you should be able to choose an influencer that works well for you and your business. Try to make sure you are consistent if this is the route you wish to follow and include it within your marketing plan. Nothing happens overnight and if any agency tells you otherwise be very, very worried! Return on investment through marketing, happens through consistent and high quality targeted marketing. So influencer marketing is a very small part of your overall plan. Let me know if you try it out and if it works for you!