How can you use Artificial Intelligence to boost your restaurant's marketing?

We're hearing more and more about it: Artificial Intelligence. Whether it's the generation of images, texts or formulas, what is it all about? Can it be used in the catering sector?

Having identified the most important marketing tasks to follow in order to boost your online restaurant, these tasks also turn out to be the most time-consuming, and quickly neglected. These daily tasks are essential to attract and keep customers coming back, but also to keep the algorithms happy. We're talking here about: generating quality content to maintain a regular and engaging presence on Instagram and Facebook, creating optimized posts on Google and responding to its customer reviews to improve customer satisfaction and its positioning in search results, but also analyzing customer feedback.

What if we told you that Artificial Intelligence could respond to your reviews in the best possible way, create effective Instagram and Google posts, or provide you with detailed analytics of your operational performance, without any effort on your part?

That's right! To help you save time on your restaurant's marketing tasks, there are two Artificial Intelligence interfaces: ChatGPT and Dall-E. In this article, we explain when and how these two AIs will become your allies.

What is Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) aims to develop machines capable of simulating human intelligence. This involves creating computer systems and programs that can learn, reason, make decisions and solve problems autonomously, by mimicking certain human capabilities. AI relies on complex algorithms and mathematical models that enable machines toanalyze large quantities of data, extract patterns and meaningful information, and use these to perform specific tasks.

In the foodservice sector, time and efficiency are decisive factors. From managing orders, to personalizing the experience, optimizing operations, improving customer service and managing online communication: Artificial Intelligence offers solutions capable of changing the daily lives of restaurateurs in all these different aspects.

New opportunities for the success of your restaurant, particularly through more effective communication. With the ability to automatically generate text, visuals and analyze content and performance, depending on the given situation, Artificial Intelligence can now take the burden off your restaurant's marketing.

What are ChatGPT and Dall-e?

These two interfaces, developed by OpenAi, meet some of the online communication needs of restaurateurs. We present them to you:

• ChatGPT understands and generates text based on information learned online, according to your request. The software can answer a variety of questions, provide information, write text and help with various linguistic tasks. All using natural language.
• Dall-e creates images from text descriptions. It works by associating keywords and descriptions with creative images, producing unique illustrations in response to given queries. These images can be realistic, artistic, graphic... as you wish. Dall-e can then refine the generated images according to the requested modifications.

So how can you use Artificial Intelligence in your day-to-day business to improve your restaurant's online visibility and acquire more customers?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) helps your restaurant move up the search results for potential customers

Your restaurant's Google listing is its digital shop window. Creating a listing, then optimizing and maintaining it, allows you to make yourself known to a large number of Internet users in your area.

Appearing at the top of potential customers' search results for your keywords is an undeniable lever of visibility and traction. To achieve this, you need to work regularly on your Google listing. In addition to updating your restaurant's information on all platforms, and after defining your most relevant keywords, you need to keep your Google listing strategically active:

• Publish attractive, optimized content on your Google listing at least 2 times a week
• These posts represent strategic locations to include keywords and work on your local SEO.

Artificial Intelligence brings you relief!

→ No need to think about captions to describe your Google posts. Give ChatGPT the precise elements of the photo(s) that illustrate the post (visual content, name of dish, ingredient...), and the software writes your caption. Don't forget to specify the keywords you'd like to include in the post text, as well as the tone you'd like to use (friendly, corporate...).

→ Want to attract foreign tourists? Especially in view of the 2024 Olympics, we'd advise you to add to your posts written in French, the caption in English version. And for the translation, you can trust ChatGPT with your eyes closed! All you have to do is share the French text and ask ChatGPT to translate it into the language of your choice.

→ Finally, if you don't have/no longer have visual content to share or aren't a photo expert: don't panic. Generate images similar to your offer with Dall-e. Share with Dall-e the information to be transcribed into images, then once you've received the first version, ask Dall-e to make adjustments by providing more details. Even if these images don't really correspond to your restaurant, this is of less importance to Google, as these posts are mainly used to improve your SEO.

→ → → There are other steps to moving your restaurant up the search results that AI can't do for you today. We detail them for you HERE.

AI helps you maintain and improve your restaurant's e-reputation

Your restaurant's e-reputation: a reflection of customer satisfaction. When choosing a restaurant, Internet users rely on what they find online. This is particularly true of customer reviews left on the restaurant's Google, TripAdvisor or TheFork pages. It's these reviews that Internet users look to find out what kind of experience they can really expect in the restaurant concerned. E-reputation is therefore a crucial element in your digital communications strategy. To thank previous customers, convert new ones, and improve your local SEO. You need to :

• Respond to all your customer reviews, both positive and negative, as quickly as possible and in a personalized way for each one.
• These answers are strategic places to include keywords and work on your local SEO.
• Analyze customer feedback to improve on-site operations and future customer satisfaction

Artificial Intelligence brings you relief!

→ Don't have the time or inspiration to respond to your customer reviews? No more copying and pasting! Send your reviews to ChatGPT and ask them to formulate a grateful response, using the author's name, and not forgetting to include some of your keywords that you've specified. Beware of negative reviews: take the time to reply yourself, as these are generally more delicate situations.

→ ChatGPT also helps you analyze customer feedback to draw general conclusions. Such as removing a dish from the menu, changing the cooking time of a dish, congratulating a much-appreciated employee... The manipulation is simple: copy the reviews that have been left for you recently (in their entirety, without worrying about the images, dates etc. that your mouse selects with them) and share them with ChatGPT, asking it to "draw conclusions about my restaurant based on the reviews below". The software then summarizes the content of the reviews, enabling you to adapt your actions to your customers!

→ → There are other steps to improving your e-reputation that AI can't do for you today. We detail them HERE.

AI helps you gain notoriety on the social media

Instagram's success is unquestionable. Today, this social network is essential for maximizing the online visibility of your establishment. To make a name for themselves and win new customers, restaurants need to exist on on social media and, above all, in an active, dynamic and attractive way. This is all the more important as network algorithms focus on different criteria before highlighting your account. The regular frequency of your posts, the quality of your content, the use of available features and hashtags, the engagement of your subscribers... To become visible in the eyes of socionauts, you need to :

• Create and regularly post varied, high-quality content, photos and videos, showcasing your offer.
• Write powerful captions for each publication

Artificial Intelligence brings you relief!

→ To create content aimed at social media, you can use Dall-e software, as we've seen for Google posts. However, it proves more effective and attractive to share authentic, trend-specific visuals of your restaurant on Instagram. We recommend using a professional photographer. But you can also use the images generated by Dall-e for inspiration, and as dedicated content for your stories!

→ To help you create your Reels videos, very much in vogue on social media, there are other Artificial Intelligence software. Discover them here https://www.blogdumoderateur.com/tools/design/generateur-video-ia/

→ ChatGPT has a lot of inspiration! Don't hesitate to call on him to write the captions for your posts. If you're used to using a "fun" or rather sober tone, add it in your query. The same goes for the use of emojis, whether you like them or not.

→ → → There are other steps to explode your restaurant's notoriety on social media, that AI can't do for you today. We detail them HERE.

The limits of Artificial Intelligence

The use of AI for marketing purposes nevertheless has certain limitations, such as :

• No knowledge of your restaurant and its world, so you need to tell him every time how you would have said it / imagined it
• When AI is not in your restaurant, always check
• The current version of ChatGPT has collected its data until 2021, so some information may not be in line with today's expectations.
• Dall-e performs better when spoken to in English
• ChatGPT's analysis of customer reviews does not specify in what proportions these returns were made, so they should be taken "with a grain of salt". Don't remove a dish from your menu after only 1 negative review, for example.
• The number of requests for the free version is limited

While it can create visual content, write captions for social media and Google, and respond to and summarize customer reviews, it's more difficult to get it to transcribe your restaurant into images, then convey your voice, message, identity and specific tone, as well as integrate your keywords or hashtags. To get the best results from Artificial Intelligence, you need to brief and train it to match your restaurant. This requires expertise and can quickly become time-consuming.

How does Malou AI meet the specific needs of restaurateurs?

We've worked long and hard on this dimension of Malou, training the Artificial Intelligence so that today it becomes particularly powerful for your restaurant. We explain how Malou AI meets your text generation needs , while reducing ChatGPT's limitations!

With Malou,

🎤 You'll be able to generate SEO posts in less than 20 seconds, optimized for Google, with your keywords and more.

Directly integrated into the Malou all-in-one solution, our Artificial Intelligence knows your restaurant's SEO strategy. The Google post captions provided by Malou's AI are then optimized to bring your Google listing to the very top of your potential customers' search results. All you have to do is indicate the key elements of the photo, and your keyword-rich caption is written automatically.

💌 You'll be able to generate responses to all your reviews in under 5 seconds with your usual tone, keywords etc.

Trained to generate automatic responses to your reviews based on the author's emotions and feelings, Malou's Artificial Intelligence enables you to guarantee consistent responses that contribute to customer satisfaction. But also optimized according to your own keyword strategy to move you up in the search results. All without doing a thing! With a 100% response rate on all platforms and in record time, you improve your restaurant's reputation with web users, and with the algorithms.

🖼️ You'll be able to generate social media posts in less than 20 seconds, with your usual tone, the subject of your choice, and so on.

We've trained the Artificial Intelligence so that the content automatically created respects and adapts to your world, the tone used in your previous posts, and always meets the algorithm's expectations. Result: all you have to do is provide a few key details about the photo/video to be published. The Malou AI writes the best possible caption for you, one that's impactful and engaging, with the most relevant hashtags. It's as if you'd written it yourself, but without spending the time!

📊 Improve your restaurant's performance with detailed customer feedback analysis

Malou's integrated semantic analysis identifies, for each sentence in each review, the main categories referred to by the author: cuisine, ambience, service, price... Then, for each category, the algorithm associates the customer's feeling: positive or negative. All the feelings expressed in each review are then grouped together in detailed reports provided by MalouApp, to give the restaurant an overall view of its activity. In this way, restaurateurs can keep track of their customers' feelings.

(1) For each category ("cuisine", "prix", "atmsophère"...) find out the proportion of positive and negative feelings perceived by your customers, as well as the overall proportion of feelings across all categories.(2) In each category, find out the details of what your customers liked and disliked. For a brunch restaurant, for example, if the term "pancake" in the "cuisine" category was reported many times as positive, then you should keep it on the menu! (3) Discover the evolution of positive and negative feedback for each category over time. You can deduce, for example, when the "Service" category received the most positive reviews, or vice versa.