Hoping to be Shared: How Restaurants can Encourage Unpaid Social Media Posts by Food Influencers

Restaurants benefit significantly from being promoted by influencers on social media. Research has shown that unpaid influencer posts, where an influencer genuinely recommends a product or service, have the greatest potential to attract new guests to restaurants. The purpose of this study is to identify the specific aspects of a restaurant that play the most significant role in inspiring influencers to create unpaid posts about them. By examining these aspects, we can provide strategies that restaurants can use to increase the likelihood of being promoted by influencers without buying advertisement from them. The study is based on qualitative research and includes semi-structured interviews with six individual food influencers. The findings revealed that personalized service and demonstrating transparency and a passion for craftsmanship are the two most important factors for influencers at restaurants. The study therefore suggests that restaurants should focus on implementing strategies to enhance these aspects if their goal is to become more attractive to influencers.