How beneficial is social media influencer marketing on Chicago businesses?

CHICAGO (WLS) — Keeping his family business going was difficult for Alfio Sciacca, the owner of Amici, a restaurant that specializes in globally flavored arancini, located in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood.

But that all changed thanks to a TikTok video by content creator Keith Lee.

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“I saw that video. So, right away, I was freaking out, came to the restaurant. My DoorDash was off the hook,” Sciacca said.

Sciacca’s daughter contacted Lee over several months to come to Amici, and it paid off.

Lee’s TikTok video garnered over 16 million views. He wasn’t paid by Amici, but the video paid off for the small family-run restaurant.

After Lee’s visit, Amici sold out every day for a month. Two months later, despite a slight decrease in business, the restaurant is still feeling the impact of the viral video.

Amici is one of many restaurants that has seen an increase in business thanks to influencer marketing, an ongoing trend that has helped restaurants gain more customers.

At 2D restaurant in Lakeview, a family-owned mochi donuts and fried chicken restaurant that opened in 2022, social media also wasn’t on owner Kevin Yu’s mind.

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But, with more than 72,000 followers on Instagram, social media has been a big part of their success.

Renee Koontz, content creator behind Instagram account “Chicago by Ren,” posted a video for 2D restaurant that gained millions of views. Koontz charges up to $1,000 per post, depending on the client.

“It really just depends on what the company or the restaurant has for a budget. But, I do try to be flexible because I do want to work with people who need the social media exposure,” Koontz said.

Despite the popularity of Yu’s 2D restaurant, he still is figuring out how to attract repeat customers.

“That’s a question we’re still really exploring ourselves in the restaurant of how to create a business model, a product and of a channel of marketing that we could get the customer to come back in again and again and provide a value to them like nothing else,” Yu said.

Jacqueline Babb, director of the Integrated Marketing Communications program at Northwestern University, suggests businesses first figure out their social media goals.

“It’s really important to start with the goals, determine how social media will help you achieve the goals and then make sure you’re measuring it to know that you are getting that strong return on investment,” Babb said.

And for smaller businesses like Amici, partnering with influencers is one way to get customers to the door.

“You don’t have to do it every week or every month, but social media is becoming very important for a restaurant to survive,” Sciacca said.