As a restaurant owner, if collaborating with bloggers is not yet part of your marketing strategy, it may be something you want to consider moving forward. Why? Because food bloggers and influencers have a huge impact on their followers and can directly affect the likelihood of these followers becoming potential customers. It’s a great way to increase peoples’ awareness of your restaurant and brand, as well as to promote any upcoming events you might have in the pipeline.
Collaborating with bloggers can be mutually beneficial for both parties; for example, as a recipe developer, I have worked with TeaPro to create desserts using their products and posted a blog on their website as well as my own instagram, @ambersfoodfeed. Coming from two different areas of the industry, this helped both of us gain exposure to new audiences. In this blog, we will explore several ways in which you can achieve this for your restaurant.
If your restaurant prides itself on fresh produce and the preparation of your dishes, choose a blogger which enjoys focusing on cooking and sharing recipes. They could document their visit on their stories, including a tour of the kitchen and chefs cooking, which would create engaging content for themselves and great brand awareness for the restaurant.
Input
You could take this a step further by asking the blogger to choose their favourite dish and name it after them, or for their input to create a new dish altogether. Additionally, if you sell any products, the blogger could incorporate this into a recipe, again creating more exposure.
Events
To showcase any exciting changes you have to your menu or restaurant, you can organise an event and invite food bloggers and influencers who will be able to share their experience with their followers. This can result in an increase in your followers, and hopefully convert your existing followers into customers!
Additionally, you can host events or workshops which are relevant to the bloggers and potential customers. By using your restaurant as an event venue for workshops, talks or tastings, and this being shared on social media, you will be generating new interest and attracting a new audience.