TikTok Content Ideas to Make Your Restaurant Go Viral

In this day and age, having no online presence makes business growth almost impossible. Having an official website was once an adequate (and the only) way to promote your business online but with the fast-evolving technology developments and consumer preferences, social media platforms became more essential than ever.

Social media may seem like a faster route to brand awareness, but understanding how to effectively use it comes first. In this post, we’ll explore the TikTok app–the global’s go-to app to consume content–and how to effectively market your restaurant or cafe through creative content ideas. Get ready to be inspired!

Getting started

You will first need to sign up on the app and switch to a business account. Now, the app allows you to post video content up to 10 minutes long with various on-trend audio files. However, you’ll find that the most popular videos are just about 40 seconds long. The average consumer’s attention span is shorter than you think. They want information to be delivered fast and digested easily, so summarize them into bite-sized content. The app recommends you post 1 to 4 times a day to get the best outcome, so start filming!

Now, you may think investing in TikTok is tedious work and Instagram or Facebook is enough to market online, but it’s worth noting that the engagement rate on the platform is significantly higher than the two—TikTok being 5.96%, Instagram 0.83%, and Facebook 0.13%. Plus, the high engagement rate translates to a lot more customers. According to a survey, 55% of TikTok users have dined in or ordered from a restaurant after seeing its video on the platform.

5 TikTok content ideas—no fancy equipment necessary!

To start filming, you pretty much need two things—a phone with a good quality camera and your staff’s enthusiasm. You can also learn how to trim and add effects to your videos with the app’s editing tools. 

Try out these simple ideas that can help you garner engagement on the app!

#1 Short how-to videos

Some of the most viral TikTok videos that are popular and garner millions of views are short tutorials to do… Just things. People are always curious about something, and providing them with a how-to lets them try and explore. 

Some examples you can try out with your kitchen staff are;

• How to make a quenelle

• How to make the perfect ice cream scoop

• How to cook a simple steak

#2 New dish launch

Forget ‘thirst traps’, get people feeling excited about your new dish instead with a mouth-watering video—slow-motion sequences of its ingredients and ending the video with a full picture. 

Other fun ways to introduce the new dish can be a short video of your staff trying and rating it or your chef explaining the idea behind it.

#3 Feature influencers

Like on any other social media platform, collaborating with a well-known food influencer can really help your content and account gain visibility and engagement. Partner up with a local food influencer or blogger that shares your values. You can also try having a local celebrity over to try your food for more visibility!

#4 Customer POV (point-of-view)

Show potential customers how your restaurant can provide them with a good dining experience. Shoot a video from your customer’s POV and highlight important moments such as walking into the restaurant’s decor, the hospitality from your waiters, to how good the food looks and tastes.

#5 Take part in current TikTok trends

Keep an active eye on how other restaurants promote their place with the current trends which are usually effects and sounds on the platform. 

There are various TikTok challenges you can create with hashtags as well. Start the video with a catchy line like ‘I bet you can’t do this’ before showing a kitchen trick. You’ll see engagement spark with stitched videos of other users trying to do the same trick.

Before taking part in the trends or challenges, make sure the niche relates to your restaurant, dishes, or other content!

There are numerous benefits you can get from making TikTok content to promote your restaurant and food. You’ll attract new customers, have your business’s name pop up more frequently on local servers, garner more engagement from both new and existing customers, and get to connect with small influencers which will broaden your customer horizon. It may be tricky at first, but patience and knowledge are keys!