How To Promote a Restaurant with Gleam

Promoting a restaurant is about more than just getting seen, it's about creating lasting engagement, growing your customer base, and converting interest into repeat visits.

With Gleam, you can launch high-impact campaigns that grow your audience, drive foot traffic, and generate valuable user content, all from one platform.

Gleam helps restaurants attract new diners and keep loyal customers engaged.

By running interactive campaigns that boost bookings, encourage social shares, and collect customer data, you can build visibility and long-term loyalty effortlessly.

In this guide, we’ll show you 9 effective ways to promote your restaurant using Gleam templates and tools.

Running a sweepstakes is one of the fastest ways to promote your restaurant and create a spike in bookings, online orders, and mailing list signups, all while building brand awareness.

By offering a simple incentive, like a free meal or gift voucher, you can drive highly targeted engagement through a range of entry actions that tie directly into your marketing goals.

Some of the most effective actions to include are:

• Booking a table
• Ordering online
• Following your social media accounts
• Signing up to your mailing list
• Referring a friend

Each entry helps grow your audience and bring potential customers closer to conversion. Campaigns like this work especially well for new menu launches, local awareness drives, or special occasions like holidays or anniversaries.

Photo submissions are one of the most effective ways to turn satisfied customers into active promoters of your brand. By offering a small reward, like a discount or free item, in exchange for a photo, you collect authentic content that builds social proof and can be reused in your marketing.

Use Gleam Rewards to create a low-barrier campaign that invites diners to share:

• Photos of their meals
• Interior ambiance or décor
• Behind-the-scenes shots of your staff
• Drinks, desserts, or signature items

These kinds of images not only boost engagement but give prospective customers a real sense of your venue’s vibe and quality. They're especially useful for enhancing your presence on Instagram, TripAdvisor, or Google Maps.

Referral campaigns are one of the most cost-effective ways to bring in new diners, because your best customers do the marketing for you. With Gleam, you can automate this process and reward both the person referring and the person being referred.

This not only incentivises return visits, but also builds loyalty and word-of-mouth momentum. For example, offer 10% off for both parties, or a free dessert on their next visit.

These campaigns work especially well for:

• New customer acquisition
• Encouraging group bookings
• Promoting loyalty programmes
• Driving traffic during slower periods

Photo contests are a powerful way to promote your restaurant by encouraging user participation, boosting visibility on social media, and collecting high-quality visual content that reflects your brand experience.

Ask customers to submit their best photos of your food, drinks, or atmosphere for a chance to win a prize. The competitive element drives higher engagement, and the submitted content becomes valuable marketing collateral you can repurpose across your channels.

These campaigns work especially well during seasonal promotions, themed nights, or when launching new menu items, giving diners a reason to engage and share.

Facebook check-ins help amplify your restaurant’s visibility to local audiences. When customers check in, their activity shows up on their profile, introducing your venue to friends and followers who may not have heard of you.

By offering a small incentive (like a free dessert, a percentage off their bill, or a drink upgrade), you encourage diners to share their visit, creating organic reach and social proof that feels genuine.

This works particularly well for dine-in venues looking to boost local awareness, increase footfall, and generate more user interactions on social platforms.

A virtual scavenger hunt is a playful way to engage your audience while encouraging exploration across your digital channels. By hiding secret codes on your website, social media, or even in email newsletters, you invite diners to interact more deeply with your content, all in exchange for a reward.

This gamified format is ideal for promoting seasonal campaigns, themed nights, or menu launches. It also helps drive more traffic to underused pages, highlight special items, and keep your audience actively engaged.

Comment-to-win giveaways are one of the easiest ways to boost social media engagement and attract new customers, fast. By asking users to comment, vote, or tag a friend on a post, you can increase reach, drive conversation, and surface your content in more feeds.

This format works especially well on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, where quick interaction is key. You can run simple prompts like “Tag who you'd bring to dinner” or “Vote for our next dessert special” to get attention and spark interest.

Giveaways like these are ideal for celebrating milestones, filling quieter nights, or launching new offers.

Building a strong mailing list is key to driving repeat business and promoting offers directly to your customers. With Gleam Capture, you can launch a targeted pop-up that collects email addresses and delivers instant value, like a coupon, discount, or free side with their next meal.

These pop-ups are ideal for turning website visitors into subscribers, especially when paired with a clear incentive. You can also tailor them to seasonal campaigns or daily specials, keeping your messaging relevant and timely.

Best of all, you’re building a channel you own, perfect for email-exclusive offers, loyalty perks, or re-engagement campaigns.

Questionnaires are a smart way to learn more about your customers while offering something in return. By asking a few quick questions, like how they heard about you, what they loved, or what they'd like to see, you can gather insights to improve service and tailor promotions.

With Gleam, you can reward completed surveys instantly with a discount, voucher, or free item. This makes feedback feel rewarding, not like a chore.

Use it to support menu development, gather event interest, or simply understand dining preferences, all while building goodwill and encouraging a return visit.

For best results, keep campaigns short (2–4 weeks) and prizes relevant to your menu or brand.

Promote online and in-venue with QR codes or signage, and always include clear entry rules, especially for alcohol-related offers.

Use Gleam to grow your audience, boost bookings, and generate content with campaigns built for restaurants.
Start creating your campaign now.