How We Helped a Local Restaurant Go Viral

When Salina's Pizza approached me, they were facing a common challenge: great food, loyal local customers, but zero social media presence. Their Instagram had 200 followers and hadn't been updated in months.

Three months later, they had over 15,000 followers, a viral TikTok with 2.3 million views, and most importantly - a noticeable increase in foot traffic from new customers who discovered them online.

Here's exactly how we did it.

The Results at a Glance

The Challenge

Salina's Pizza had been a neighborhood staple for 12 years, but they were invisible online. Their competition - chain restaurants with marketing budgets - dominated local search results and social feeds.

The owner, Moe, knew he needed to get on social media but had no idea where to start. He'd tried posting photos of pizzas, but they got minimal engagement.

The Strategy

Instead of just showcasing the food, we decided to showcase the story. Moe had spent years perfecting his craft, and that passion was the content gold we needed.

• Behind-the-scenes content: Showing the dough-making process, the wood-fired oven, the family recipes
• Customer reactions: Capturing genuine moments of people trying the pizza for the first time
• Educational content: Quick tips on what makes great pizza, cheese pulls, ingredient spotlights
• Trend participation: Adapting viral sounds and formats to fit the restaurant context

The Viral Moment

Our third TikTok - a simple 15-second video of Moe stretching dough set to a trending sound - hit the algorithm just right. Within 48 hours, it had over a million views.

"The phone didn't stop ringing. People were driving 30 minutes to try our pizza because they saw us on TikTok. It was surreal." - Moe, Owner

But going viral wasn't the goal - it was a bonus. The real success was building a sustainable content engine that continued to drive engagement and new customers week after week.

Key Takeaways

If you're a local business looking to replicate this success, here's what mattered most:

• Authenticity wins: People connect with real stories, not polished ads
• Consistency compounds: We posted 4-5 times per week for three months
• Video quality matters less than you think: Many top performers were shot on an iPhone
• Engage with your community: Responding to comments and featuring customer content built loyalty