How Food Bloggers, Facebook Food Groups and Instagram Influencers Can Help Promote Restaurants in the Unlock 2.0 Phase

 Instagram and Facebook has seen a 40% increase in usage in the wake of the Corona Virus. Restaurant owners can take advantage of this situation by collaborating with food bloggers, Instagram influencers and Facebook food groups.-Tuli Banerjee, Food Critic, Influencer and Co-admin at Biting Bowl

Covid-19 pandemic has brought with it a huge shift in the way restaurants and food delivery businesses are being run. The impact of Covid-19 has been so bad that many into the restaurant business have found it challenging to keep their restaurants afloat during the quarantine season.

Most of the restaurants have certainly seen some major swings in the way their day-to-day basis business operates. And most of us might have observed that social media has proved to be an essential part of keeping all kinds of business alive through this tough time.

A huge percentage of the Indian population have been forced to stay at home and are encouraged to work from home – and thus people’s screen-time have increased significantly. And what else can be the center of people’s attention other than participating in Facebook group discussions or following one’s favourite local influencers?

Online food ordering is one of the most important common uses of the internet by people. And almost 50 percent of these people choose their food delivery on the basis of what their favourite food blogger posts about, or friends on their Facebook Food Groups order. Influencer marketing can prove to be the most important part of a restaurant owner’s strategy to overcome the present situation.

Customers need to feel your presence right now and a great way to show them that you are back to business is by keeping yourself in their eye using the right means of social media. By tapping into local influencers with large social media followings, restaurants can promote their business via this modern ‘word-of-mouth’ (social media) marketing.

Restaurant owners can collaborate with food bloggers, Instagram influencers and Facebook food groups and get them to share content related to their restaurant and popularize your brand among their network. Posts about your food delivery services or the measures you have taken for ‘Safe Dine-In’ can go a mile in helping customers re-bond with your brand.

Why must restaurant owners leverage on the network of Instagram food bloggers, food influencers or Facebook food groups?
Many influencers, food bloggers and Facebook food groups have jointly confessed that they have received a crazily high number of views on their stories, posts and videos. The reason is a no brainer – it is because everyone has been on their phones, and they are finding ways to fill their time.

Why must restaurant owners rope in local influencers as a part of their marketing strategy?
Using famous personalities to endorse a product service has been a trend for big brands for long. A common man always notices what a celebrity or influencer endorses or promotes. And for the restaurant industry, whose target audience is very local, they need not use a celebrity to promote their restaurant. Social media users/groups with a relatively large following and a high engagement rate can be easily defined as ‘local influencers.’ Also, point to note is that those are not necessarily influencers who have the maximum number of followers. One must instead tap those influencers who have more engagement rates and personal experiences with their audience.

The good part of tapping social media influencers as a part of the restaurant’s marketing strategy is a sure shot winner because all of us are foodies, but we all are different people who want to see different food options. There is a huge percentage of people who are very interested in knowing about restaurants that offer takeaways, where they can order food from. Some people are completely bored by staying at home and would like to be dared to a dine-in. If a known food blogger makes a video of a restaurant providing hygienic dine-in services, that restaurant is surely going to see a hike in the percentage of walk-in customers.

Many influencers would vouch on instances where people order exactly the same menu that they might have ordered and shared on their social media feeds.

How long would it take for people to leave their fears and start dining in? Right from eating out almost every alternate day to becoming extremely cautious while getting takeaways and home deliveries – it all happened so quickly that it left most of us in limbo. Also, most of the influencers and Facebook Food Group owners faced another anxiety – what’s the right advice to offer their followers? Should they encourage people to start ordering in or eat out, because that is what is best for restaurants? Or must they encourage people to stay at home and cook their own food because that is what is best for everyone’s safety? Veteran influencers and food bloggers figured out the answer in a jiffy – do what is the best for all – provide all the restaurant=based options to the audience – the takeaway, the home delivery, the dine-in as well = and let their followers determine the best for themselves.

But this is exactly where the crucial role of a ‘seasoned’ food blogger or a reliable Facebook food group comes in. The audience observes its influencers really closely in times like this. The audience dissects what a food blogger is doing himself or herself, what the food blogger is conveying, and also notices how the food blogger is reacting. The audience looks up to the Facebook food groups or an influencer’s review to not just get entertained, but also for all the relevant information, and also to become aware about all the right things happening in the restaurants. The audience may not believe an advertisement by a restaurant because most believe that advertisements are exaggerations. But the audience mostly agrees to what their favourite influencer says or does, or what their peer is opting for – by observing the discussions happening in Facebook Food Groups.

We can take it as a lesson that in times of crisis, we all have to use our influence on one another for everyone’s good. Thus, during this Unlock 2.0 phase, local influencers, food bloggers and Facebook Food groups could be just the right source for a restaurant owner to promote their facilities and get maximum exposure.