5 valuable tips for your restaurant Instagram!

Just like many people maintaining a ‘personal Instagram’, many restaurants nowadays have their own ‘restaurant Instagram’ (Emerce, 2020). A well running Instagram account of a restaurant can deliver a lot of value: more brand awareness and a positive image for example. In the long run, this can impact the revenue substantially. In fact, 65% of consumers still abandon their first choice after having a look at one or more restaurants online (Floyd et al., 2014).

However, we still observe big differences in how delivery restaurants maintain their restaurant Instagram. Many restaurants have little time, are unfamiliar with social media or do not know where to start. As a result, restaurants are inconsistent, post photos that lack quality or are not active on their restaurant Instagram at all.. How do you turn your restaurant Instagram into a large account with a few thousand followers? CashDesk provides you with some valuable tips.

 

1. What do I post on my restaurant Instagram?

Instagram has a strong focus on images. Textual, informative messages are generally less appealing to its users. Therefore, it is important that you post high quality, relevant images. Moreover, the use of hashtags is very popular on Instagram. Find out which relevant hashtags are frequently used and add them to your posts. This way, even users who don’t follow you will be able to find your Instagram page. The majority of the uses of Instagram are young people and young adults. Adjust your tone of voice to the audience you’re dealing with.

 

2. How often should I post something on my restaurant Instagram?

This is an ongoing discussion, partly because of the constantly changing algorithms of Instagram and other social media platforms. However, the internet seems to agree that a possible ‘overkill’ only occurs by posting more than one message a day on your restaurant Instagram. As long as you stick to a few posts per week, you shouldn’t be afraid to post too much content. At the same time, it is important that your messages are relevant. Irrelevant and sloppy messages should be avoided at all times.

Additionally, you can also post Instagram stories. An Instagram story is a message that is only visible for 24 hours and therefore suitable for short updates, previews or announcements. If you have extra ideas next to your regular posts, feel free to post something extra once in a while. However, you can often save these ideas and spread them out over a longer period of time. If you want to do more, try to increase the frequency step by step.

 

3. Engage with your followers!

User-generated content is media created by users of, for example, Instagram itself. Because users of Instagram generally like to share pictures of their food, many opportunities regarding user-generated content arises for restaurants. Encourage your followers to tag your restaurant Instagram, repost pictures of good quality and tag the creator of the picture.

This way, user-generated content gives you the opportunity to communicate directly with your customers. By placing this content on your own channel, you can give them the feeling that sharing a meal from your restaurant is appreciated. Consequently, customers will do this more often, which increases the reach of your restaurant Instagram and improves your brand awareness. Liking and/or responding to messages from your followers can also have a positive effect on the engagement of your followers. Try to stand between your followers instead of above them!

 

4. Influencer marketing for your restaurant Instagram?

Social influencers are people with a large reach on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Influencer marketing means starting a partnership with one or several of these social influencers. This can be an effective way to appeal to your target group, if you manage to choose the right influencers. In a partnership, agreements are made about the number of messages in which the social influencer promotes your products, as well as about the compensation for these messages. It inspires confidence among potential customers when they see that their favorite influencer is enjoying an order from your restaurant. As a result, they will be more likely to order a meal at that same restaurant.

Compared to ads, influencer marketing is often cheaper and the results are easier to measure. Moreover, a large part of the work is done for you, as long as you deliver the products on time. We advise you to not start approaching the most famous influencer there are, the so-called mega-influencer. Multiple collaborations with less-known social influencers (micro-influencers) is often cheaper. In addition, micro-influencers are generally more loyal and easier to approach.

 

 

5. The quality of your images

Instagram is a platform on which images are essential. Therefore, try to avoid posting long informative texts on your restaurant Instagram. Use your website or other platforms to inform or educate your customers. Your restaurant Instagram is more suitable for sharing short messages and news supported by matching images. It can also be worthwhile to spend some time on the quality of your photos. For example, set up one place with soft daylight to take pictures of your dishes. Optionally, you can start experimenting with styling your dishes and editing pictures.

 

Thank you for reading,

CashDesk

 

References:

Emerce. (2020, 25 januari). De groei van Instagram in Nederland vlakt af. Geraadpleegd op 17 september 2020, van https://www.emerce.nl/nieuws/groei-instagram-nederland-vlakt-af

Floyd, K., Freling, R., Alhoqail, S., Cho, H. Y., & Freling, T. (2014). How Online Product Reviews Affect Retail Sales: A Meta-analysis. Journal of Retailing, 90(2), 217–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretai.2014.04.004

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