Restaurant: 10 secrets to make your digital marketing explode

For a long time, the restaurant and catering industry has been on the sidelines of digitalization, but today it has no choice but to embrace it. The customer journey has evolved, with consumers now being won over online, and orders being taken on tablet or mobile devices. Simply put: digital marketing is inevitable! And what if these changes were an opportunity to attract more customers and generate new revenues? Digital isn't just an inevitability, it's an opportunity for restaurateurs. With a few simple techniques, you can boost your online restaurant and expand your customer base. Zoom in 10 steps!

Restaurants: why get into digital marketing?

Digital communication is now at the heart of restaurateurs' concerns for two reasons:

• Increasing digital usage among your potential customers;

Today, 8 out of 10 people choose a restaurant online. That is to say, they look at the restaurant's reviews and ratings on the Google listing, consult the Facebook or Instagram page, come across a TheFork ranking... Even if word-of-mouth and the media still have a major influence, the first reflex when hearing about an establishment is to check if it's legitimate online.

• Increasing online opportunities ;

We're not telling you anything new: in the space of a decade, digital technology has revolutionized the industry. Some restaurants have exploded thanks to their presence on social media, like Big Mamma or PNY. Others have made their mark by ranking first on search engines (e.g. Kafkaf for "brunch Paris 11").

Good news: in our latest Malou study on Google Business Profile trends, we found that restaurants working on their online presence are seeing fast, measurable results.

What if you were one of them?

In this article, we've summarized the 10 essential steps to a successful digital marketing strategy done fast, done right 💫

Step 1: Local referencing

You've probably heard of it: SEO is the lifeblood of any restaurant!

💡Local SEO refers to a set of techniques for appearing as high as possible in search results.

For example, if a potential customer searches for "Indian restaurant Lyon" or "brunch paris 8". The aim is to attract customers by being as visible as possible.

First thing to do: create a Google My Business listing (Google Business Profile in 2024) and optimize it.

The vast majority of restaurants have a GMB page, but few use it as a strategic tool due to a lack of time or knowledge.

Yet Google My Business is the gateway to your digital marketing, the ultimate way to make yourself known. Like a business card, the My Business page contains all the information a customer needs. Google then uses geolocation to make you appear in search results by zone.

Example of a Google business listing for Mama Nissa :

To be favored by the Google algorithm, your business listing must offer consumers as much coherent information as possible.

Add your website link, your exact opening hours, your menu, photos of your dishes, drinks, restaurant atmosphere and redirect the customer to the online reservation or ordering platform, directions, phone number...

This page also allows customers to leave reviewsa key element in Google's algorithm (see step 5).

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🚀 Turn your Google business listing into a customer magnet! Malou's experts explain how to create, optimize and maintain it in this guide 👇

Step 2: Identify your keywords

Make a list of all the words that characterize your establishment and select the most relevant (around 5 to 10 maximum).

Our advice: put yourself in the shoes of the consumer conducting the search.

Take into account: your specialties ("couscous", "brunch", "wine bar"), the origins of your cuisine, your city or district...

Identify the monuments or strategic locations around your restaurant that could be searched for your keywords (e.g. "Louvres", "Place de la République").

‍Yourkeywords, like your information, need to be adapted to the circumstances and times of year. In winter, the word "terrace" won't be searched for, unlike "click and collect" "takeaway" or "delivery".

Use them in your content. In response to customer reviews, in your Google posts, on your website or blog... It's important to use them subtly to boost your restaurant's SEO.

With Malou's expertise, the Bibimerie restaurant appeared in the top 3 results after 3 months of work on its SEO. How did we do it? Key words were decisive!

Finally, for the more zealous, you can look at the volume of your keywords (the number of times they're searched for on Google per month).

There are a number of different software programs available to find out how often a word or phrase is searched for on Google (SEranking or GoogleAds).

For example, the term "Pizzeria" has a search volume of 368k, while "Pizza Restaurant" has 2.4k. You therefore need to define the keywords that correspond to your establishment and that are requested by users.

Watch out for competition on words that are too generic, which can make your work seem insignificant (e.g. "pizzeria" on its own).

Step 3: List your restaurant on the right platforms

The more your establishment appears on directories, platforms and guides, the larger your audience (potential customers), the more traffic you generate to your booking site, and the higher your ranking in search results (SEO). This is because traffic is taken into account by Google, which considers you active and attractive. On the other hand, being invisible on directories such as Yelp and TripAdvisor greatly penalizes your establishment.

When it comes to tourism, international directories are a must! They allow you to be listed anywhere in the world.

💡 Take advantage of our list of the most important platforms!

Step 4: Update your information

Did you know? If your hours are not the same on your Google listing, your website and TheFort, you'll be penalized!

The same goes for your address and all the information specific to your restaurant.

This is important for two reasons:

• By updating your information, you send positive signals to Google and platform algorithms, which favor establishments with strong, positive activity.

This is because Google's objective is to offer the best possible experience to Internet users. If a restaurant's information is not identical on all the platforms where it is present, such as uniform opening hours, its positioning may be compromised.

• By keeping your information up to date, you can prevent customers from ending up in front of your closed door!

So, once you've created your pages, especially your GMB page, the most important thing is to feed them and keep them up to date.

Step 5: Respond to all your customer reviews

Your customer reviews are worth their weight in gold!

• First reason: your average Google rating and reviews (the famous stars) have become a veritable online showcase.

‍81%of consumers think a company has good customer reviews from 4 stars out of 5 , and 77% consider customer feedback unreliable below 20 customer reviews.

Conclusion: you need around 50 to 100 customer reviews and more than 4/5 to give potential customers confidence.

⭐⭐⭐ Enjoy our webinar replay "how to reach your first 1000 Google reviews"! 👇

• Second reason: reviews have an impact on your local referencing.

The Google algorithm interprets your reviews. The more reviews you have, the more positive they are, the more it thinks "this restaurant is popular"!

And that's not all.

Few restaurateurs are aware of this, but systematically responding to all reviews and answering them promptly helps to improve the average rating on Google.

Collecting and responding to reviews boosts your rating and online visibility.

It's better not to ignore them, even if they're negative!

Many restaurateurs fear negative reviews and don't always know what to do with them (how to remove them? Or mitigate their effects?).

👉 In 12 tips, we explain how to respond to Google customer reviews for your restaurant and how to deal with negative reviews.

Step 6: social media (community management strategy)

1.3 million new users join social media every day, and food is one of the most important themes.

As a result, social media have become indispensable tools for restaurateurs, with Instagram and Facebook coming first.

To make these levers effective, you can adopt certain digital marketing tricks:

• Choose a guideline for your content, consistent with your restaurant's image;
• Communicate your world. Share your menus, recipes, opening hours, special offers, the atmosphere of your restaurant. Tip: get inspired by the 20 best restaurant Instagram accounts;

• Optimize your Instagram ; Publish at the right time, choose the most effective post formats...Spend more time on real Instagramfor example.

‍Thereare many statistics gathered to know the optimal day and time to be visible by the greatest number of Internet users. Define your moment and maintain your publication frequency (once or twice a week is enough).

Step 7: Monitor the algorithm

Google, Facebook and Instagram algorithms are constantly changing. The right reflex for a busy restaurateur: keep an eye on what's new every six months.

At Malou, we monitor the market every day and regularly inform our customers about what's working and what's not. Watch our webinars!

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Step 8: Use influencers

Between restaurateurs and influencers, it's often "je t'aime - moi non plus." Yet they're a great way to get the word out about your establishment on social media.

Get in touch with them and give them the chance to discover your world by visiting our list of the best food influencers.

Another option: send a delivery of your most popular dishes direct to you.

In exchange, these influencers will post about you, mentioning your establishment and spreading the word to their community.

So choose an influencer carefully: shared values, love of the same cuisine...

You can also take advantage of our top 20 food journalists, a great way to get the word out.

Step 9: Sponsor your publications

Sponsoring your Instagram or Facebook posts can be a great way to get yourself in front of a new audience.

Favor formats that have a high potential for being watched/liked: videos (featuring your teams), carousels, content that calls for action...

Budget-wise, these micro-adverts require little investment.

Step 10: Create a website

Creating a website is important for your online legitimacy (you're telling Google that your business is serious) and for providing information to potential customers (your values, your history, your products, your teams, etc.).

The advantage of this tool: it's low-maintenance! Once you've created it, it's important to update your timetable and menu; the rest doesn't need to be changed.

Make sure your site can be viewed on any type of screen.

Digital marketing for restaurants

If you've made it to the end of this article, restaurant digital marketing has no secrets for you!

It's up to you to estimate the time and resources you can devote to it. If you're very busy, prioritize local referencing (platforms, establishment listings and reviews) as well as a page on Facebook or Instagram (depending on your target audience). You can also call on the services of a community manager or Malou!

At Malou, our customers create, automate and program all their content via the MalouApp (includingsocial media ). They respond to all their reviews via a single platform and generate responses in less than 3 seconds thanks to our AI. With an average of 2.3 times more reviews than other restaurants, they can also calculate the return on investment of their digital marketing actions thanks to the app's "Earnings" feature. Save yourself some time: contact us! 🔥