Last month, Meta hosted its "Restaurants Summit" in Chicago, gathering more than 100 food industry marketers for an update on the latest ad and creative tips for improving promotion efforts in Meta's apps.

Meta also shared some pretty fascinating data points on the most effective and engaging ways to use its tools, relevant not only to restaurant marketers but really all businesses using Meta ads.

Here are a few key takeaways:

"Webrooming," or researching online before buying in person, grew 1.95x over the last four years. That's a reflection, said Meta, of the broader shift in consumer approaches: consumers are looking for more information online to help guide their choices.
Meta says that 74% of online adults would like to be able to communicate with businesses in the same way that they communicate with friends and family via messaging. That's a lot, but the larger shift toward DM engagement rather than public posting has resulted in a massive change in how people use social apps to stay in touch; therefore, brands need to think about how they would be able to align themselves to that.
In fact, a study of over 12,000 adults across 12 countries found that more shopping journeys that lead to purchases begin on Meta technologies than on any other platform. I mean this is also reflective of scale, as Meta reaches billions more users than any other company, but it's still a potentially relevant consideration in your marketing approach.
It also provided insights into the performance of its AI-powered Advantage+ campaigns, which appear to be a winner, though that does water down somewhat the effect of ad managers focused on humancentric ad management.
Meta claims its more than 1 million ad campaigns study reveals for every dollar a business spends in the Facebook/IG ads, it brings average revenue of $3.71; with advertisers using Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns, this increases to an average ROAS of $4.52.

Meta further adds that nearly a million advertisers now use its Gen AI tools on a monthly basis and that those ads, when used in conjunction with Advantage+, post an 11% higher click-through rate and a 7.6% higher conversion rate for non-AI ads.

Although handing over your ad process to AI might feel counterintuitive, data shows that a good majority of the brands are performing well by automating parts of their approach.

For restaurant brands in particular, Meta also shared some key takeaways that will help drive audience response to restaurant campaigns:.

Restaurant ads placing emphasis on human interaction with close-up framing and eye contact will be 81% more effective than spots without. Showing people in addition to food could get a person's attention as well as interest.
"The brand/packaging in situation also matters: 'Don't be afraid to show a close up of your packaging early in video content to create the crave and deliver your brand message.'
Keeps flowing with fast-paced passages, transitional movements to keep people glued.
These are some very important tips and insights from Meta's ad team, which, as noted, would apply to brands other than food and restaurants as well.
Worth considering in your holiday planning process.