Should I Hire An Influencer?

Maybe.

An influencer is just one tool in your marketing toolbelt. The problem is that restaurant owners often treat influencers like they're some sort of magical marketing unicorn that's going to gallop into town and instantly fill every seat in the dining room.

They're not.

There are generally two types of influencers: macro influencers and micro influencers.

Macro influencers have large followings and can expose your restaurant to a lot of people. That can make sense if you have multiple locations spread across a large geographic area and a healthy marketing budget.

But if you're a single-location restaurant in say Orange County, let's use a little common sense here.

Who cares if an influencer's post gets 2,000 likes if less than 1% of their 100,000 followers live within seven miles of your restaurant?

Congratulations. Your chicken wings are now famous in Brazil.

Unfortunately, nobody from São Paulo is hopping on a flight to Fullerton because OC Foodie posted a reel of your garlic parmesan wings.

This is where restaurant owners get distracted by vanity metrics.

Likes don't pay rent.

Views don't cover payroll.

Comments don't buy cases of Tito's.

Customers do.

For most independent restaurants, I'd rather see you work with several local micro influencers who actually have followers in your market. Better yet, work on trade. Invite them in. Feed them. Build relationships.

Personally, I have a hard time writing a check for $800 so someone can post one photo or video and disappear into the Instagram sunset.

If you've got $800 to spend, there's a strong argument for putting that money into Meta or Google Ads where you can actually track results, target local customers, retarget website visitors, and measure whether your marketing dollars are doing anything besides boosting someone's ego.

That doesn't mean influencer marketing is bad.

It just means influencer marketing should be part of the plan, not the entire plan.

The best restaurant marketing strategy is usually pretty boring:

Good food. Good service. Good Value. Great reviews. Strong local advertising. Consistent social media. Email marketing. Community involvement. Then sprinkle in some influencer marketing when it makes sense.

Remember, you're not hiring an influencer to impress other restaurant owners with vanity numbers. 

You're hiring them to bring you in new business.