These days nearly every restaurant is on Instagram, but are they making the most of it? Usually, they play it safe, but that way they could be losing out on a lot of engagement opportunities. You need to mix it up and take a different path to get noticed. We’ve got some tricks to pave the path to your Insta-success!
Let Influencers Take Over
We know you’ve been reaching out to influencers for reviews and shoutouts, but that’s not all they’ve got to offer. You can ask them to takeover your instagram account and create a buzz in their own manner. You could amass a bunch of their followers in the process. This might give your handle a boost, but it’s still important for influencers to give you a push from their own accounts.
Use Insta-Stories to Give Diners a Sneak Peak
If you want to flaunt your chef’s or bartender’s skills, insta-stories are the way to go! You can show the chef preparing his signature dish, weaving a small story through various short videos, photos and boomerangs! You can also ask other brands to take over your Insta stories or maybe give a special offer that lasts till the story expires.
Create A Unique Hashtag Relevant to Your Restaurant
You might already have a basic hashtag as your restaurant’s name that you promote, but what might work better is a short catchy phrase that’s relevant to your restaurant or cuisine. For instance, Tamasha has created the hashtag #DekhTamasha, which they use to promote user generated content. You must use this hashtag in all posts and can ask people to use it to get featured on your page.
Find The Right Hashtags For Your Restaurant
You may already be familiar with commonly used hashtags like #foodporn, #foodlovers and #foodgasm but you can’t just rely on these to get you more traffic. Hashtags that are niche like those location based ones might help you tap into the right audience. You can search such hashtags and see what people are using them. For instance; the hashtag #delhifoodie has been used in 109,652 posts. You must use apps like Iconosquare to find the right hashtag.
Encouraging User Generated Content
It goes without saying that sharing food shots of enthusiastic diners works really well. But how can you get more out of them? The best way to go about this is hosting a contest, giving out a freebie. This way your food reaches their audience and you get free word of mouth marketing. Reposting this doesn’t just give you good Instagram content but also shows your diner that you value them.
Regular Contests Are A Must
Make sure you host contests regularly and reply to each and every comment – that way you don’t leave diners coming to your page high and dry. You must also give people a shout out by reposting or featuring their content and giving out free meals or some offer exclusively for them.
Avoid Dim Lighting & Take Photos in Sunlight
It’s best to click colourful pictures and get them in natural light to avoid shadows and bad quality images. You can then add various filters to beautify your masterpiece. If you’re preparing food only for Instagram purposes, make sure the food is undercooked so that your meat is still juicy and colours of the ingredient vibrant.
Timing Could Be A Gamechanger
If you’ve been trying to find the right time to post by hit and trial method, it may take you ages to hit the right chord. You can use apps like Preview to track when your posts get maximum engagement. Also, to make sure you don’t miss the right time, you must use apps like Schedugram or Hootesuite to plan, analyse and schedule your posts.
You may have tried some of these, but you’ll only see results when you’re doing everything right. Keep these pointers in mind while you chalk out your Instagram strategy next time.
