5 Most Successful Local Food Spots That Use Influencer Marketing

There are so many variables that can either hinder or encourage the success of a restaurant. With so much competition, you need to stand out. In the past, news about an exceptional restaurant spread by word of mouth, but words spread like wildfire with social media. Influencer marketing works like word of mouth for your restaurant but significantly faster and on the most significant possible scale. Influencer marketing is the most efficient and effective strategy for restaurants to become known and establish credibility, no matter your marketing goals.

Promoting brand awareness and establishing a positive reputation benefit your business no matter whether you are a large chain or family-run restaurant. There is an influencer to meet every kind of marketing goal and budget. Nano and micro-influencers, for example, are often willing to post about their dining experience in exchange for the meal without any monetary compensation. Using an influencer with a more concentrated niche following is still very effective, with an estimated $17.50 profit for every $1.00 spent on influencer marketing.

Here are five restaurants using influencer marketing to be successful and stay on top in the industry;

1. SCHOOL Restaurant

2. Fresh Restaurants

3. Burger and Fries Forever

4. Foxies Bake Shop

5. McDonald's

SCHOOL Restaurant

There is nothing more Instagramable than brunch! This Toronto brunch favourite has continued to be number one with food bloggers of all different followings posting about them non stop. SCHOOL restaurant became known through influencer's and food bloggers posting photos of stacks of their perfect, fluffy pancakes.

SCHOOL's influencer marketing campaign did not feature any paid sponsorships. Influencers are invited to dine at the restaurant in exchange for a post about their experience. This strategy is known as a PR product. It is incredibly successful because it doesn't look like an ad, but an authentic photo and caption about their experience. Not only did the influencer posts create massive awareness for the restaurant, but it precipitated other Instagram users to post their irresistibly Instagrammable brunch at SCHOOL organically.

Fresh Restaurants

Fresh Restaurants is a vegan restaurant chain that has partnered with influencers to reach its target market of vegans and health-conscious individuals. During quarantine, Fresh took the opportunity to stay on top by working with influencers to promote their food delivery options. Fresh's influencer marketing strategy allowed them to let their customers know that they could still get their favourite meals delivered, allowing the restaurant to stay busy during COVID.

The timing of this influencer marketing strategy coincided with Pride month. Fresh collaborated with a variety of LGBTQ+ influencers to celebrate Pride and inclusivity. The community received these posts exceptionally positively. Some influencers got over 22, 000 impressions and on one post. Fresh's influencer marketing strategy's inclusivity gave the restaurant a positive reputation and established relationships that are the foundation of customer loyalty.

Burger n' Fries Forever

This Canadian joint capitalizes on their irresistibly Instagrammable locations. It is the perfect place to invite influencers to come and get content to post between the restaurant's delicious burgers and aesthetic style. Burger n' Fries Forever collaborates with micro-influencers and macro-influencers to promote the business. Given that the restaurant has 3 locations in Toronto and Ottawa, they usually work with influencers in these cities to reach their target market. Their strategy sets them apart from the hundreds of other burger restaurants in the two cities because the influencers that have promoted Burger n' Fries have made it trendy.

Foxies Bake Shop

Foxies Bake Shop is a Toronto based bakery that is known for its monstrous specialty cookies. This bakery is very on top of their digital marketing strategy, complete with making themselves national with an eCommerce store. The bakery has established a significant online presence through their influencer marketing strategy.

The bakery has collaborated with micro-influencers and accessible Toronto food blog pages. Free sweets are one way to gain attention. In addition to gifting influencers their delicious cookies in exchange for posts, Foxies Bake Shop works with influencers and food bloggers to do giveaways. The giveaways are a mutually beneficial way for the influencers and the bakery to gain followers, which generates leads for Foxies.

McDonald's

Influencers are not just about creating brand awareness. Almost everyone knows McDonald's globally. Nevertheless, McDonald's isn't sleeping on any of the benefits of influencer marketing. As a massive global corporation, the fast-food chain significantly benefits from the authenticity of influencers.

Though McDonald's does not need to spare any expense on their marketing budget, this doesn't mean they allocate their funds to expensive celebrity influencers. The company collaborates with macro and micro-influencers to advertise their food. Micro influencers' authenticity helped the corporate giant connect with communities more naturally than their traditional advertisements wouldn't. Their campaigns with micro-influencers lend to a more positive reputation, while campaigns with macro and celebrity influencers effectively generate awareness about a new menu item.

No matter what type of restaurant you are, or customer you are hoping to attract with your marketing strategy, influencer marketing generates the best results. Influencer marketing can be extremely cost-effective and have an extremely high return. Don't let business fizzle out; create loyal customers through influencers' relationships. How do you get started? Contact Blitz Marketing for a free consultation to learn more about your restaurant's influencer marketing strategy!