There is just something about online videos that make a person engage. A study from Animoto found that Facebook videos generate 10 times more comments than other kinds of posts. A separate study found that Instagram videos receive 38 percent more engagement than image posts. (This likely explains why Instagram, which originated as a place to share photos, has somewhat controversially been trying to reinvent itself as a video platform in recent years.) And every platform wants to be TikTok right now for its ability to motivate people to not only watch entertaining content but also share it with friends. Video should be a key part of your marketing strategy because it can help you build stronger connections between the people who prepare your food and those who enjoy eating it. And they can be very brief – Animoto suggests small businesses post a good number of videos that are 15 seconds in length – with a hook within the first few seconds. Consider the talents on your team and how you can showcase them in ways that connect with people. Have a creative chef? Have him share his favorite cooking hacks, or interesting takes on how to work with a food item in different ways (the #TortillaTrend on TikTok is one example). Do you have a dish that can be customized in dozens of ways? Share some diverse examples – or better yet, ask your viewers to vote for their favorite or share their own concoction. Do you plate your dishes in visually striking ways? Create a contest in which you challenge your viewers to share their own outrageous platings. Who knows? You might just become a viral sensation and give your restaurant a valuable boost in traffic. Your guests – and sudden boosts in sales – can come from unexpected places. That’s especially true at a time when a restaurant can be observed from afar in a range of online channels, unbeknownst to an operator. Take the recent example of the struggling Las Vegas restaurant Frankensons suddenly becoming a viral sensation after it emailed out a plea for visitors. It caught the attention of a social media influencer who visited the restaurant, loved the food and posted a glowing TikTok review. Now, the owner of Frankensons has a better problem – trying to meet the steep rise in demand for his food. An MGH survey published in late 2022 found that 53 percent of millennial TikTok users had visited a restaurant after seeing it on the social media platform. Research from TouchBistro about the state of the restaurant industry this year indicated that while Facebook is the most popular platform for social media promotion for restaurants (62 percent of operators report using it for marketing) and Twitter isn’t far behind at 59 percent, only 40 percent of restaurant operators report using TikTok for promotion. When you consider your marketing efforts for the year, think about the stories you can tell, what makes your brand special, and how you can translate it using videos, photos and words through a mix of channels – including but not limited to social media. Your most loyal new guests might find you where you least expect it. We have reported before about how the social media platform TikTok has helped elevate restaurant brands – and restaurant bloggers – during the pandemic. Now the platform is proving its value as a recruitment tool for restaurants as well. Its new “Résumés” feature encourages applicants to record a brief video résumé showcasing their skills, then post it with the hashtag #TikTokResumes. The feature encourages more creative, authentic sharing of skills than a traditional résumé would – and it might help a restaurant get a little bit of extra attention in the labor market at a time when restaurants are vying for workers. Chipotle recently began accepting TikTok résumés. |
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