Restaurant Content Strategy: How to Get Noticed and Attract Customers

In today’s competitive landscape, restaurant content is a battlefield. From small street-side stalls to elegant city-center establishments, every business is vying for customer attention, aiming to get them in the door and turn them into regulars through creative and well-planned content.

If you’re a new restaurant owner or looking to get serious about using content to attract customers, you’re in the right place. Today, we’ll explore various ideas for creating effective restaurant content. We’ll look at different formats, what they are, their pros and cons, and when to use them. By the end of this guide, you’ll have a clearer roadmap for your restaurant’s content strategy.

Winning Restaurant Content Strategies to Boost Recognition and Sales

1. Awareness-Focused Content: The Key to Going Viral

This type of content is designed to be easily understood and shared by a general audience. It often relies on humor, drama, heartwarming stories, or inspirational themes. Because the content is relatable, it has a high potential for sharing and going viral. Many restaurants start with awareness content to build name recognition before diving deep into promoting their food.

Most commonly, this content comes in the form of short video clips featuring staff telling jokes, creating funny skits, or sharing touching customer stories. The focus is on authenticity and relatability, which makes it highly effective for building brand awareness.

Pros:

• Helps people remember your restaurant’s name, even if they’ve never visited.
• Can rapidly increase your social media following.
• Allows your brand to engage with current trends in a fun way.

Cons:

• It has little to no focus on the food itself, so it may not immediately drive customers to your door.
• If not planned carefully, it can backfire and create negative drama for your brand. Always consider the appropriateness of your content before publishing.

2. Food-Focused Content: Showcasing Your Culinary Craft

Think about it: when you choose a restaurant, you’re often swayed by mouth-watering photos of food, generous portions, or the appearance of fresh ingredients. This is where food-focused content shines. It allows you to showcase your dishes and highlight what makes your restaurant special. Think juicy, glistening meat, a perfectly runny egg yolk, or the sizzling sound of food being stir-fried. Both visuals and sounds can create a “taste with your eyes” experience that triggers hunger.

This form of restaurant content builds trust in your food’s quality and can create an immediate craving, compelling viewers to visit right away.

Pros:

• Demonstrates quality, deliciousness, cleanliness, and attention to detail.
• Effectively stimulates hunger and can lead to immediate bookings.
• Builds a professional and trustworthy brand image.

Cons:

• May only appeal to audiences specifically interested in food.
• If the photo or video quality is poor, it can be unappealing.
• Often requires a team, proper staging, lighting, cameras, and editing to produce high-quality, enticing visuals.

3. Using Influencers for Your Restaurant Marketing in Thailand

In an age where consumers trust recommendations from people they follow more than direct advertising, influencer marketing has become one of the most powerful tools. This is especially true if you choose an influencer whose followers match your target audience.

Influencers can create authentic-looking restaurant content that gives their audience a genuine feel for your quality. This could be an unedited “first bite” video of a new menu item or a vlog that takes viewers through the entire experience—from walking in the door to seeing the ambiance, service, and menu. Having an influencer recommend your restaurant is like having a trusted friend vouch that “this place is worth a try.”

Pros:

• Builds both awareness and credibility simultaneously.
• Can deliver fast results, with customers potentially flocking to your restaurant within days.
• Helps create a positive brand image on a wider scale.

Cons:

• Can be expensive, especially with well-known influencers.
• Often provides a short-term boost. The hype may die down, so it should be part of a larger, ongoing strategy.
• Choosing the wrong influencer means you’ll reach the wrong target audience.

4. User-Generated Content (UGC): The Power of Authentic Customer Voices

Many happy customers are willing to take photos, share their experiences, or write reviews for a restaurant they love. This is called User-Generated Content (UGC), and it’s a powerful source of credibility because it comes from real, paying customers—not paid advertisements.

You can encourage customers to create UGC by running contests (e.g., “Review our restaurant with #YourRestaurantName for a chance to win a gift voucher”) or by offering a free appetizer to customers who share your post.

Pros:

• Highly trustworthy because it’s based on genuine experiences.
• Expands your restaurant’s visibility to the social circles of your customers.
• Cost-effective, as you don’t have to create the content yourself.

Cons:

• You can’t control the narrative. Negative reviews can also be shared, potentially harming your reputation.
• Requires a system for professionally monitoring and responding to feedback.

5. Promotional and Event Content: A Direct Boost to Sales

Nothing grabs attention quite like the words “discount” or “free.” Promotional content, such as flash sales, daily specials, or a “Bring Mom for a Mother’s Day Discount” event, is an excellent way to drive sales.

However, promotions should be planned carefully to avoid conditioning customers to only visit during sales periods.

Pros:

• Creates a sense of urgency that encourages immediate purchases.
• Helps boost sales during slow periods or the low season.
• Can be combined with other content types for greater impact (e.g., have an influencer announce your upcoming promotion).

Cons:

• Customers might start expecting constant promotions and avoid paying full price.
• If the promotion isn’t compelling enough, it may fail to attract customers.

Conclusion: A Strategic Mix of Restaurant Content is Key!

Effective restaurant marketing in Thailand doesn’t mean choosing just one type of content. The best approach is to use a strategic mix of all these formats to keep your audience engaged and interested. For instance, you might start with awareness-focused clips to build recognition, then alternate with high-quality food content. You can hire influencers based on your budget and run special promotions during key holidays.

With good planning, consistent measurement, and continuous improvement, the right restaurant content will help your business grow and become widely known. And remember, great content always starts with sincerity, care, and consistency.

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Originally in Thai. Translated to English with the help of Gemini.