How to Attract Foodies With Restaurant Social Media Campaigns On Instagram

Is your restaurant social media campaign bringing in customers? Or could it use a little hot sauce?

It’s Saturday morning. You have a full night of reservations, including a private party. You check messages and find out your biggest customer needs to move their catering order up and would like it today. Your produce delivery is running late because their truck broke down, and the credit card processor is on the fritz. How do you and your team handle this?

If you’re Blue Dog Bakery and Cafe in Louisville, Kentucky, you hide in the kitchen and post a picture to Instagram. Seems like a silly way to run a restaurant social media campaign, right? It turns out, a little realness on Instagram goes a long way. Over 300 people liked that post.

Why? The savvy use of hashtags is undoubtedly one reason they get so much interaction. #keeplouisvillewierd is a nod to locals, while #bakerylife attracts the attention of bakers from across the country. And the overall vibe of their posts is very personal and down to earth.

That’s just one way to run a restaurant social media campaign, but there are other ways to approach Instagram that can get your restaurant noticed.

Want to spread the word of your restaurant without lifting a finger? Use Everwall to create monthly contests that incentivize customers to snap photos of your food and share them on social media! Then, display them in your restaurant using Everwall’s Social Media Digital Signage solution!

3 Ways to get your restaurant social media campaigns working doubles

Instagram might be one of the best social media platforms for restaurants. It’s a forum for you to show off all your hard work, and for guests to learn more about you and your values as a business.

But if you want to get the most out of it, it’s best to go in with a strategy. And if your goal is to attract more foodies to your restaurant, you’ll need a plan.

Let’s back up a second, though. What exactly are foodies? There are some competing definitions, but in essence, they are the nerds of the food world. They love trying new foods, and appreciate the cultural traditions around different cuisines. There’s a good chance they will take a few photos of their meal and post it on Instagram, and that’s a critical point in thinking about your restaurant social media campaign: Your Instagram account doesn’t belong to only you. That’s a good thing.

Make friends with your customers

Home Slice Pizza, in Austin, Texas, offers a perfect example. When Instagrammer @atasteofkoko posted a picture of herself with one of their pizzas, they reposted the image (with credit), and so they reached both their own audience, and they have another chance to reach her audience. Because of that, this particular post received substantially more interaction than average, thanks in part to @atasteofkoko’s 59,000 followers.

Where can you find out who’s posted pictures of your restaurant? Click on the “Tagged” button on your home page, right near the top of your images. Additionally, Home Slice also made good use of locally-oriented hashtags like: #austinfoodie, #atxeats, and #austinfoodstagram.

Post beautiful photos

Instagram is a visual medium, so it can be helpful to enlist the services of a professional photographer. Gracie’s, in Providence, Rhode Island, is a study in beautiful food and drink photography. The images highlight the care and precision that is part of every dish that leaves the kitchen and every drink that crosses the bar.

Gracie’s is well-known locally as one of the best restaurants in the region, and their customer service is world-class. And while their Instagram feed is a testament to that aspect of the business, they also don’t hold back on showing what goes on behind the scenes. There are plenty of pictures of chefs hard at work or the team enjoying dinner together.

Don’t get hung up on the “right” photos

A professional photographer is great, but sometimes all you have handy is your smartphone. And guess what? That’s okay. Tasty Treat Food Truck, in New Orleans, Louisiana, got over 800 “likes” on a quick snapshot of teriyaki ribs. It’s true that New Orleans is a town known for great food, but the simplicity and accessibility of Tasty Treat’s post is a draw all its own.

Tasty Treat has one more secret, too. This is pure comfort food. Beautiful dishes and getting tagged is great, but sometimes you want a simple, home-cooked meal, and Tasty Treat is where it’s at. Don’t feel like you have to have the perfect lighting, the ideal setting, or a fancy camera to make your restaurant social media campaign a success. Ultimately, it’s about you and your audience. Are you giving them what they want?