Restaurant marketing on Instagram
Effective restaurant marketing on Instagram is all about the visuals. Your chain might serve great food and have an unbeatable atmosphere, but in order for this to translate on social media’s most aesthetically driven platform, you will need top-notch photography.
But where do you start if you’re a business with multiple locations, especially if you’re country-wide?
At YesMore we’ve worked with chains such as Carluccio’s and on brand partnership campaigns across locations, so we’ve learnt a thing or ten about how to successfully drive bookings through social media and create a buzz. Here’s a breakdown of how to get started with your restaurant Instagram marketing and keep growing your account once you’ve learnt what makes your customers tick.
Collaborating with content creators in local markets is a great way to grow your reach and keep your content package varied
Instagram Restaurant Marketing Tips
A varied content package of enticing imagery is essential for your restaurant marketing on Instagram. However, before deciding what to shoot where and when to post about your restaurants, it’s important to understand the most efficient and effective way to operate accounts for a scaled business. In our experience of working with restaurant chains, it’s best to have just one centralised team operating a single account for your chain for the following reasons:
It saves time and money: Multiple accounts require more time spent on scheduling and community management, meaning as a business you’d have to employ, or up-skill more members of staff – which is no doubt costly
The account will be populated with higher quality content: Multiple accounts require more individualised content in order for the accounts to serve a purpose. This means you’d need to commission different shoots at different locations, which can lead both to inconsistency in both quality and regularity of posting.
Growing your following will be easier: By using a centralised account for your restaurant marketing on Instagram, you’re targeting a much wider customer-base of followers and your content will be less niche, so growing your following will be easier
You can still appeal to local markets: Collaborating with content creators is a great way to grow your reach and keep your content package varied. It’s also a great way to tap local markets by choosing people who live there and are relatable to its specific demographic. If you use paid marketing on Instagram, you can use dark posts and geo target them to specific regions. This will allow you to measure results for individual areas and content creators – so it’s a strategic move all-round.
Posting a content package with a varied mix of image styles will help you to learn what engages your followers
Content For Restaurant Marketing
If you do settle on a centralised model for content production then the next phase of your content planning process is to decide on your content pillars – which you can learn more about in our social media content pillars blog. As an example from the restaurant world, when working with Carluccio’s, our pillars were:
Food shots: new and favourite dishes from your menu
Deli product shots: prep of dishes and deli products
Atmosphere: staff pictures or stories, new restaurants and the history of Carluccio’s
Posting a content package with a varied mix of image styles will help you to learn what engages your followers. To create this we recommend sourcing:
Professional photography in your branches
User generated content from customers found via relevant hashtags – and posted with their permission
Commissioned images shot by content creators at various sites
As well as using your restaurant marketing on Instagram to learn what customers love about their experience in store, staff feedback on their experience on-site can be invaluable in informing your content
