16 digital communication tips to attract customers to your restaurant

It's essential for a restaurant to make itself visible online on all the media likely to win customers. To improve your e-reputation, attract new customers and become a destination, you need to adopt an optimal digital communications strategy!

8 out of 10 people choose their restaurant online. Simply put: the path to selecting a restaurant today is through digital. Here are 16 very concrete tips to help restaurateurs improve their digital communication 💪

1) Optimize your Google My Business listing for better referencing

Too many restaurateurs neglect it, mostly for lack of time, sometimes for lack of interest. Yet it's essential to have an optimized Google My Business listing to appear at the top of search results. This is what we call local SEO for restaurants.

Google has recently renamed the business listing, which is now officially called the Google Business Profile.

An optimized listing means: complete, accurate spelling of the restaurant, up-to-date opening hours and details of exceptional closures and special events, with plenty of photos and regular posts.

‍Example ofa well-done Google My Business listing at our customer Kafkaf below👇

Why do you want to do this? Because the Google algorithm wants to offer Internet users the best possible results. It therefore has certain criteria that enable it to consider whether an establishment is reliable or not.

These criteria include :

• Google business listing (formerly Google My Business, now Google Business Profile)

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To fill it in correctly, pay attention to the accuracy of the information entered on the form, but also to the quantity of information.

The more specific the restaurant owner's attributes, the more likely it is that visitors will find what they're looking for. So if Google considers the establishment to be reliable, it will bring it up in the search results for its keywords.

Want to understand how to climb to the top of Google searches? Discover the Malou SEO guide below!👇

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With the right information at the top of the search results, your restaurant's Google My Business listing will help you acquire and convert customers. Example: our client Arty became 1st in Google search results for its keywords in just a few months!

• Average Google rating and customer reviews

Customer reviews have become a must for restaurateurs. Today, 92% of customers read reviews before choosing a restaurant (Source: Bloom Intelligence). They help to reassure and attract potential customers. But that's not all!

👉 Gathering as many customer reviews as possible allows you to :

• Improve average Google rating;
• Boosting search engine optimization (SEO);
• Directly increase your sales.

💡Conclusion: responding to all your customer reviews is the best way to move your restaurant up the search results and convince web users to choose you.

How to collect your first 1,000 reviews? Find out more in the Malou webinar replay below👇

2) Ensure that schedules are consistent and up to date wherever your business exists 

Google's algorithm penalizes establishments whose opening times are inconsistent between different online platforms. As part of your digital communications strategy, it's important to ensure that your opening times are consistent and regularly updated, especially on public holidays!

An establishment whose opening hours differ by the minute between Google, TheFork, Tripadvisor, Yellow Pages, etc., will not show up on its keywords.

Why? Google compares the restaurant's hours on all the platforms where it exists. ‍

If the timetables don't match, the establishment will be seen as unreliable, and web surfers will have doubts and risk not coming or being faced with a closed establishment.

3) Reference your establishment in all relevant directories and platforms to maximize your digital communication 

You need to register your restaurant in as many directories, platforms, blogs and guides as possible. This not only multiplies booking and visibility channels to attract more customers, but also sends inbound links to the restaurant's website. The more links a site receives from other Google-trusted sites (Tripadvisor, Guide Michelin...), the more its natural referencing improves.

‍Therestaurant then gains positions in search results!

👉 Ready to list your restaurant? Malou has put together all the essential platforms here!

4) Be listed in directories used by tourists  

If you want to make yourself known to foreign customers, you have to start by ensuring that your restaurant is present where tourists do their research. In France, Tripadvisor and TheFork are the most popular directories, but they differ from country to country.

Americans search on Yelp and Foursquare, while Chinese search on Dianping or Kekanto in Brazil.

5) For optimal digital communication, respond to ALL customer comments

On all platforms where customers express themselves, leaving a positive or negative review, it's essential to respond to everyone, without exception.

👉 And this, in order to build customer loyalty, show appreciation, gather feedback and improve service, reflect a positive image to Internet users who don't yet know you, but also improve the restaurant's natural referencing.

👉 You'll also improve your average rating on Google! And yes: the platforms' algorithms reduce the weighting of bad ratings, when the restaurateur has taken the trouble to respond!

Ready to collect 10X more positive customer reviews? We'll show you how!

6) Publish high-quality photos

"Eat with your eyes": more relevant than ever! Sharing photos of your dishes, the dining room and your staff on your restaurant's social media site is a great way to get Internet users excited about your restaurant, make them salivate and arouse their curiosity.

Not a photo expert? No problem!

👉 For 30 days, Malou invites you to win a free photo shoot worth €500 📸 Take advantage!

7) Create an Instagram account and share engaging content on it

Instagram Instagram: one of the most effective ways of making yourself known social media . The Kafkaf, BonBouquet Café and Santa Lyna brunches, which are all the rage in Paris, have understood this! With nearly 60,000 followers on their respective Instagram pages in a short space of time, their publications are bringing in customers from all 4 corners of the capital. Every day, queues form in front of these 3 brunch restaurants.

But successful digital communication on Instagram doesn't just happen. You have to regularly share quality, aesthetic, engaging content. You have to use the network's many features !

You need to interact with your audience, understand which post formats work best, which post themes are relevant, how to choose between Real or Stories...

Some tips from the Malou experts in the infographic below👇

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Want to take off on Instagram? Discover the 7 steps to become the restaurant to follow on the networks 👇

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How did the brunch group manage to explode their visibility on social media ? Find out how Kafkaf, BonBouquet Café and Santa Lyna made a name for themselves on the networks, and succeeded in their digital communications.

8) Organize contests to raise awareness and mobilize subscribers

Competitions: a great way to increase your audience tenfold on social media and drive traffic to your establishment. Provided they're well executed. Before launching a contest, it's important to identify who you're targeting and what you want them to remember about your restaurant.

Here we explain in detail the competition mechanics that enabled us to multiply O'Tacos Vavin's audience by 10.

9) Create and maintain a Facebook page with restaurant news 

Today, despite the arrival of social media such as Instagram, you shouldn't leave Facebook to one side. The platform remains important for maintaining a daily link with customers, sharing news about the establishment, the menu of the day, a new menu and so on. Authentic content above all. And, above all, Facebook now makes it possible to launch paid campaigns to increase your restaurant's visibility!

10) Collaborate with food influencers, a real boost for your digital communication

The food influencer is now at the forefront of the marketing scene. This strategy, which has become an undeniable lever for visibility, should not be overlooked by restaurateurs. 

4 out of 5 Internet users consume a product recommended by a content creator. Influencer marketing today has significant, even viral, traffic-generating power. 

So viral that a restaurant's rise in footfall after calling on @leguideultime and his 155k followers, led to its administrative closure in March 2020. The influencer had shared with his community the good deal: kebabs offered by the Chich restaurant, which created a mob and caused the police to intervene in a sanitary context. The reach of these players on social media is thus very strong, instantaneous and reaches a large audience.

But why is influencer marketing gaining so much momentum? Who are these content creators that everyone follows? Who should you contact? How do you approach them? Our answers and our selection of the capital's 20 food influencers in this in this article.

11) Encourage customers to share content from your site

A restaurant's customers are its first ambassadors, and it's from them that the buzz can come, so we need to provide them with the tools to create it. At Paris New York, thousands of bathroom selfies have already been shared on social media. Why is this?

Founder Rudy Guénaire explains: " One day, a customer posted a selfie of himself in our toilets, which had a nice effect with the pink and green neon lights. I re-scheduled it and it just kept on going, with more and more customers coming to take their photos in our toilets. We even had people coming in just to take a selfie! Since then, we've put up a photo wall with the best selfies". Although the operation was not premeditated, it succeeded in disseminating branded content for Paris New York and confirms that originality and quality of decoration or a detail encourage customers to take photos and publish them on their social media.

PNY's social media communication is explained in greater detail here.

12) Launch paid campaigns on Instagram and Facebook

So-called sponsored campaigns on Instagram and Facebook enable prospects to be targeted fairly precisely: age, interests and location in particular. It's essential to launch campaigns with quality photos and to feature a relevant "call to action" such as "get delivered", "order" or to offer promotions.

13) Create a responsive website suitable for all screens, the basis of good digital communication

A website is the best way to present your restaurant, entice visitors to visit and encourage them to book or order online. Since the end of 2024, mobile searches have surpassed those on computers, so it's vital that the website design adapts to the screen on which it's consulted. What's more, 70% of people who own a smartphone will look at the menu on their phone screen.

14) Regularly update your site for maximum digital communication

Having a responsive website with pretty pictures isn't enough. You also need to keep it up to date, and regularly publish special events and menus. A website that presents a special menu for New Year's Eve after January loses its meaning. We also recommend delegating maintenance so that a technical failure never goes unresolved.

15) Install an online booking system on your website

It's inevitable to install a reservation module on your website to generate bookings without going through third parties such as La Fourchette, who charge commissions. Reservation software is available that allows your customers to book directly on your website, Facebook page, Google My Business, etc., commission-free and in just a few clicks!

If you want to increase your takeaway sales: we also recommend offering an online ordering service on your website, or evena Click & Collect system to allow your customers to make their selection in advance and save time!

16) Add a suggested route to the restaurant on your site

Adding a "how to get there" or "directions" button to the website itself makes it easier for web users - most of whom connect from their cell phones - to find their way to the restaurant. Citymapper's plugin is particularly well suited to Parisian restaurants.

Want to go further? Here are our 30 practical tips for promoting your restaurant online!

A final suggestion: don't hesitate to use AI (artificial intelligence) to automate and improve your restaurant's digital communications.

Most restaurateurs already have a lot to do in their establishment: managing suppliers, the kitchen, stock, the team, customers ... if you can't find the time to apply all our tips for successful digital communication, drop us a line, we can help! 💪

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