30 tips to promote your restaurant!

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Being invisible on the Internet is no longer an option! Today, promoting your restaurant is a matter of digital communication. Are you aware of this, but don't know where to start? Good news: at Malou, we've got a whole host of articles on digital marketing tips for your restaurant. Find our top tips in this comprehensive guide to promoting your restaurant. Follow the 30 steps based on our experience, or skip to the conclusion ;)

How to promote a restaurant online: our top 30 tips!

1. Create a Google My Business page to promote your digital storefront

The first step for restaurateurs is to create a Google My Business listing, in which they can provide all the information about their establishment so as to reflect a positive image to the algorithm. Address, opening hours, menu, special features, telephone number, delivery and reservation platform, description of the concept... Everything must appear!

Nb: this form is now called "Google Business Profile".

2. Publish regular content on your Google business listing to improve your ranking

Google favors active business listings. It makes sense: it shows the algorithm that you're active!

Have you heard of Google posts? Located under your reviews, these posts are real SEO boosters. They are used to publish news (new dishes, events), promotions, etc. Composed of an image and text, they allow you to drag keywords related to your restaurant up the search results.

Start with one Google post a week (ideally 3).

‍AGoogle post only stays visible for 7 days in search results so it's important to publish regularly. These posts must have a clear purpose, high image quality and engaging text to generate traffic.

3. List your restaurant in all relevant directories

Numerous directories, platforms and guides list restaurants. Registering on the most relevant and the giants such as TripAdvisor, Yellow Pages, TheFork... is essential for your visibility for two reasons:

• They improve your restaurant's position in search engines (local SEO) because they signal to the algorithm that you have a strong online presence;
• They enable a wider range of customers to find you, especially international ones.

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At Malou, we list our customers on over 60 platforms and applications around the world to maximize their visibility. Take advantage of our list of the best platforms on which to list your restaurant!

4. Promote your restaurant on foreign tourism platforms

Foreign directories differ from country to country. To reach a wider audience, be sure to register and translate the content of your page into the relevant language, so that when tourists return, they'll visit you!

Here are the main directories by country👇

5. Ensure that opening hours are identical on all platforms where the restaurant is present.

A very important point! Your establishment's opening hours must be consistent from one platform to another, down to the minute. Because the Google algorithm detects inconsistencies and penalizes you in your ranking.

If your opening/closing times change exceptionally, be sure to modify them on all the platforms where you appear!

Finally, think about your potential customers who might visit your restaurant and find the door closed. There's nothing worse than a negative review!

6. Respond to all your customer reviews, positive and negative

Maybe you know, responding to a restaurant's customer reviews is excellent for SEO. But why?

Please note that your average Google rating does not correspond to the weighted average of your reviews! If you respond to a negative review, the algorithm will give it a higher rating. In other words: the more you respond to your reviews, the better your rating will be.

What's more, each time a response is received, the user receives an email notification. Take advantage of this contact point to promote your restaurant, your new offers, the opening of a terrace...

Finally, responding quickly (ideally in less than 72 hours) will promote your restaurant to Google by indicating that you're active.

7. Define and use keywords for your restaurant

Select about ten keywords related to your establishment.

To do this, think about: your specialties (brunch, cocktails...), the style or origins of your cuisine (Indian, bistronomic), your location (city, neighborhood, arrondissement, nearby monument).

‍Be sure tochoose them according to how often they're used by Internet users, and beware of the competition that exists on some of them. For example, you'll have more difficulty positioning yourself on "restaurant paris" than on "restaurant paris 6" (respective search volumes of 22.9k and 2.6k).

Once you've chosen your keywords, use them wisely:

• in the description of your establishment file;
• in your Google posts;
• in your responses to customer reviews... all while maintaining consistency in content.

8. Create a Facebook page

Facebook remains a popular interface for restaurant owners to publish practical content about their establishment.

‍Makeyour Facebook page a place for information, like at Take Otac below. You can also join the many restaurant groups to relay your publications, ask for advice, an extra...

9. Create an Instagram page

Nearly 21 million French people use Instagram every month, and the food sector is king. It's an essential place to promote your restaurant. But optimizing a restaurant's Instagram requires certain steps.

Starting with the biography, the main element for describing your offer, like the "pitch" of your establishment. Write a short, clear and punchy bio to keep prospects on your page. In just a few lines, the type of cuisine, opening hours, atmosphere and identity of the restaurant should make people want to visit. Don't forget to include a link to your website.

Instagram allows only one link per bio. The solution: LinktreeLinktree, a platform for hosting several links in one. Guide potential customers to the tab that interests them: lunch menu, dinner menu, reservation, order, your story... Example in the Non Solo Pizze bio.

10. Define your restaurant's image and tone

Instagram is first and foremost a visual platform. The image returned by the page corresponds to your identity.

Before getting started, you need to define the values you want to convey, which will become the common thread running through your page.

Create a graphic charter to be respected with colors, tones and filters specific to your establishment. There are thousands of restaurateurs on Instagram today, so stand out from the crowd! Make your feed an element of differentiation, as Dalmata has done.

11. Animate your restaurant's Instagram page

The quality of your publications is a key success factor. Crisp, aesthetic photos and videos, with varied content, attract the interest of Internet users. Share your food offering, the atmosphere of the dining room and the landscapes behind the restaurant, but also a human aspect with your suppliers, the team, and satisfied customers. Take the opportunity to share your ethical, ecological and other values.

12. Create content that appeals to the Instagram algorithm

Many restaurateurs exhaust themselves by posting classic publications several times a week, then give up. This is normal: a classic publication is no longer enough to meet the platform's requirements!

Use the Instagram options valued by the algorithm and subscribers: Reels, videos, carousel and the Stories feature!

Share your daily life, create a close bond with your community. A quick story/actual of your teams having fun or working will take much less time and appeal much more to Internet users and the algorithm than a blurry photo of a dish. (More examples in our article 35 real ideas for your restaurant).

Other quick ideas: ask questions and include "call to actions" to engage them (an "answer" insert in a story, a voting insert, etc.).

Good examples to follow: Poketerie and Mama Nissa.

Finally, publish content regularly!

13. Publish at the right time

The peak hours on Instagram depend on your target clientele. A subscriber still in school won't interact on the platform at the same forks in the road as an employee. So to reach a larger, well-targeted audience, publish at the right time!

‍Testdifferent schedules and research statistics, to maximize the visibility of your posts!

Organize your publications in a schedule. It's better to be regular over time (one post a week) than to start off strong and then give up.

14. Use hashtags wisely

Associating a hashtag with your publication allows anyone interested in this # to discover your post. However, the large number of publications per hashtag reduces the effectiveness of this conversion technique.

As with keywords, it's best to choose consistent terms. Once you've managed to build up a sizeable community, you can go so far as to create your own hashtag to promote your restaurant!

‍Exampleof the Big Mamma group and its NapoliGang delivery brand.

15. Specify your geolocation on your posts

This gives potential customers direct access to your location via the map available on Instagram. They know right away where you are, which has a decisive influence on their choice.

What's more, all the publications located at your address are available when you look at the geolocation.

16. Organize contests to engage your subscribers

Highly interactive, contests increase subscriber engagement and help animate your community.

The format works as long as it's well-targeted.

To engage web users, the rules of the game and the reward must be aligned with your target audience's interests.

An example from O'Tacos: a competition that considerably increased the number of subscribers to the page.

17. Use influencers and micro-influencers to relay your content to their audience.

With a large and loyal community, influencers and micro-influencers are at the forefront of today's marketing scene. Each post/story generates the engagement and trust of thousands of Internet users. So to promote your restaurant, call on the best influencers !

Invite them to try your specialties for free. If they're satisfied, they'll pass on your address to their audience! You can then go even further by combining competitions with influencer awareness. Influencers can share a great deal with their audience: win a meal at your restaurant, for example, as long as they follow your page.

18. Encourage customers to share content from your site

A customer's content about their experience in your restaurant has as much impact as a Google review.
Indirectly invite them to share their experience with you.

The best tip: use "Instagrammable" elements, whether on the plate or in the room, like the neon at Pizzou or the toilets at PNY.

For delivery or takeaway, use the packaging, with a little written attention that specifies your Instagram handle... to encourage them to generate content.

19. Reply to comments on Facebook and Instagram

Responding to comments on social media doesn't work on your SEO, but it does build customer loyalty. It's very important to show your appreciation, and to nurture a close bond with them. Follow your page notifications regularly so you don't miss a comment!

20. Share recipes on social media

In recent years, recipes have invaded social media. Many Michelin-starred chefs have followed this trend. So take a little time with your chef and share the making of certain dishes in the form of short videos like Micho by Julien Sebbag, IGTV with Juan Arbalez or a simple post with the restaurant Unica, to delight Internet users and arouse their commitment and attachment.

21. Sponsor posts suggested by Instagram and Facebook

We mentioned sponsorship above, and the networks' algorithms will suggest that you sponsor the posts that have done best. Just do it!

Instagram and Facebook offer businesses the opportunity to promote certain publications to reach a wider, targeted audience, in a short space of time and at a reasonable price. A few clicks are all it takes to make your posts visible to thousands of Internet users. Combine this approach with your influencer strategy, which requires more organization!

22. Targeting young people with TikTok

Are your potential customers young? (If you're a pizzeria, a burger joint or a Bubble Tea). In that case, expand your audience even further and create buzz with TikTok. The platform represents a differentiationopportunity for restaurateurs.‍

The appeal of a TikTok page: targeting a younger, connected generation, but above all, being able to get millions of views with a single video without having many subscribers. Anyone can explode on TikTok for the duration of a video, no matter how famous they are.

23. Create a website

Having a website is becoming almost an obligation when it comes to converting new prospects. Without a site, many Internet users won't continue their search for your establishment. Don't miss out on these clicks and build your restaurant's website to put all the information, menus and photos online, with the help of free software.

24. Make your site "responsive" to all screens

Creating a responsive website means adapting your site to all media, including smartphones. Because digital media are multiplying. The design and layout of your site must be able to be viewed on all types of screens: smartphones, computers, tablets... What's more, the Google algorithm values websites that exist in a mobile version.

Don't worry, the majority of free solutions offer responsive templates.

25. Set up a direct booking system

Your ultimate goal: to get the customer to come to you. So encourage them to book with you. Facilitate the process with a reservation system included in your website. Many prospects are put off by phone-only bookings.

26. Add a route proposal

This helps your prospects locate where you are. This valuable time-saver may just convince them!

27. Set up a press relations campaign

A restaurant's identity and consistency are the very first key to a successful launch and press relations (PR) campaign. While PR can boost an establishment's visibility, for food critics, the most important thing is the food and service. In-depth press relations work serves to support the concept and make the most of it, whatever it may be. Build a network of influencers, but also of culinary journalists!

28. Join your local chamber of commerce

And yes, it also helps promote your online restaurant.

The CCI in your region will support, guide and advise you, provide information on a wide range of subjects, and communicate about your business.

29. Measure your online actions and their return on investment

Implementing all the above actions within your restaurant is a big step, but how do you know if they're really effective? A digital marketing strategy doesn't reach perfection overnight.

‍You need to measure your actions to understand what has worked and what hasn't, what can be improved or what represents little use. At Malou, for example, our Earnings feature allows you to calculate the revenue directly brought in by digital marketing.

30. Adapt your actions and content according to your past performance

Analyzing your performance helps you adapt your actions and refine your strategy. This step may be repeated several times before you reach your objectives.

If you find that one action works less well than another (Facebook less than Instagram, for example), don't waste time! Cut out what doesn't work and save your energy by applying what does. 

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Conclusion: promoting a restaurant can take time...

These 30 steps take time to put in place, and even more time to maintain in order to improve your strategy and adapt it to trends. Promoting your restaurant is almost a job in itself.

If you don't have the budget to hire someone and want to keep control of your restaurant's marketing, call on us! At Malou, we've automated most of these steps and brought them together in an all-in-one solution dedicated to restaurateurs: the MalouApp. If you're interested, don't hesitate to contact us for a MalouApp demo at contact@malou.io :)