As social media influencers become increasingly important to restaurant marketing campaigns, many brand leaders are wondering how to run an effective influencer campaign.
How should I find influencers? How many followers should these influencers have? How much should they be paid for their work?
To get answers to these questions and learn more about how business owners can build influencer campaigns and what kind of ROI they should expect from them, NRN Editor-in-Chief Sam Oches , we spoke with Lena Katz, lead creative for variable content.
This interview has been edited for clarity. Stream the podcast above to learn more.
What do you think is the first step a restaurant should take when searching for the right influencer?
Unless you're a ubiquitous national chain, macro, nationally known influencers may not be for you. Where a lot of people get stuck is, “Okay, who's the best influencer I can afford on a budget?” If he doesn't have $20,000 to afford this big influencer, should he buy one that's half the size since he has half the money, or should he buy one that's a quarter size? ”You can't think like that. What you should think about is who is big in your area. You can literally look it up. A lot of these different third-party tools and his TikTok creators' marketplaces are telling us, “This person is posting from Dallas, and 70% of his traffic is coming from Texas.'' Masu. If you're a chain store operating in Texas and the other two contiguous states, that's exactly what you want to focus on.
Another thing to look at is the average number of video views. It doesn't matter if he has 100,000 followers or not. If he has 3,000 video views, he probably has 3,000 followers. Looking at the number of views on your videos will tell you how many people are actually watching your content on a regular basis.
“Likes” can be purchased, so many people see comments. Another thing to note is who watches his videos for 3 seconds, 6 seconds, all the way to the end, and then repeats. Because the people watching after 6 seconds are probably engaged to some degree and are getting the message you're trying to convey. Those who watch till the end are investing. What you want to do is display a message at the top that says “On Monday he is 20% off.” So someone who is only there for his first 3 seconds will figure it out before scrolling. But ideally, if it stays there for six seconds, you've really got it. So you want to look for influencers who can do that consistently and who are local and can work with your customers.
What is the standard price for an influencer? Is there a map of how much it costs to post?
For every influencer with 1 million followers and an offer of $25,000, next to a quarter of them are influencers who create nearly the same content with no or fewer replies. We guarantee that there are influencers who are charging for. That happens in every campaign for me. Even now, in every campaign, we find influencers who may have between 200,000 and 300,000 followers who have never been paid before.
If you say, “Oh, I'll just hire a micro-influencer,” you don't have to. Just keep digging and the algorithm will keep showing you people it thinks you like because you've seen past that girlfriend's 6 second mark. And you're going to end up with people who don't have any representation, like former waitresses or bartenders or whatever, who are posting regionally in their local cities, just quietly building a following. If you offer them $500 for a post or $1,000 for a post, or offer to come as a regular content creator, if they come a few times a month, you'll pay them a retainer. can do. That's their dream. That's all they want.
What kind of restaurant content do you think is resonating the most today?
I think what really attracts users and patrons is menu changes, secret menus, little inside information, or things like, “Here's a quick way to fix the food and make it better.” Here's how to order off-menu items to feel like you're having a special experience. ” These types of content can usually gain some traction without having to do well or become negative, dangerous, or weird. We've all seen the jingle. There was a girl who became very famous by playing the Starbucks jingle, right? So everyone tended to sing their Starbucks order or sing it at the drive-thru window. That's great, but as a brand you shouldn't imitate it.
Rather than just trying to maximize reach, restaurants now need to zero in on their core demographic and find influencers who connect with them.
You don't need to think too much. Many successful influencer marketing programs are run by restaurant chains. They're taking a very simple, boilerplate approach of, “Okay, he's going to look for people in this range, let's say he's between 50,000 and 100,000 followers. Then he'll get 25,000 followers.” only. The number of views per video is 6% and the engagement rate is 6%. They are in this age group and similar to our customers. The next step is to see if they have already posted about us. Ideally, that person has already said compliments about your restaurant. Make a list of them, reach out to those people, and get them into your program. It's simple yet somewhat effective.
The problem is when viewers start to feel like, “I can't relate to this person.'' They don't lead regular lives. They just get talked down to and lo and behold, they went to a restaurant when she was there and she was horrible. 'Once that starts happening, people just start having negative associations and it becomes less effective, mainly because influencers don't think anything about restaurants. So I think the solution is to find someone you can relate to, someone who isn't necessarily ambitious, but who you hang out with and have a similar vibe. It doesn't necessarily have to be the person who had the perfect blowjob, pedicure, etc. like they did five years ago.
Please contact Sam Oches. [email protected].
