5 Great Ways to Use Instagram For Restaurants

Your customers love instagram and you should too

Heard of instagram? If not you’re one of the few left on the planet. It’s a mobile based photo and short video sharing social network. And your customers are using it. In this post I’m going to show you how to use instagram for restaurants.

Have you seen diners at your restaurant either sneakily or proudly take out there phone and snap a pic of their meal or drink before even tasting it? If they are already using it, it means that you should be too. That way you can connect with them on their terms.

Also, follow us @avtes, we just started our account and would love to connect with you!

Get Your Instagram Account

So firstly if you don’t have an instagram account, get one now. Yes I mean right now. Get on your phone and go to the app store and download the free instagram app. Go on, I’ll wait…

How To Use Instagram

OK so I’ll assume you now have an instagram account for your business – awesome! Let’s talk about how to use instagram for restaurants before we go into what you should post.

Social media is all about building your brand. Not advertising. You can promote what you’re doing, but its more important that you create a narrative about your business – who you are, your values, and your uniqueness.

You’ll see when you check out the feed of a great account that all their photos go together and show in pictures who they are. An easy way to do this can be to use a similar aesthetic for all your pics – maybe stick to one or two filters (they are affects that you apply to your photos, and using the same ones all the time will create a consistent look).

Getting the most out of instagram for restaurants isn’t just about posting though – you need to interact. Like others’ pics, both businesses and individuals and respond when you’re tagged – customers love the recognition. Tagging happens when someone mentions your name, you will get an alert when this happens, so it’s easy to respond. A simple ‘thanks’ goes a long way to creating a loyal customer who will spruik your brand for you to their friends.

Importantly, to make sure your customers know how to tag you you need to put your handle up around – everywhere! Your handle is your account name, it will be @yourrestaurantname, put it on your website, other social media, marketing materials, and just around your restaurant if you can, it will make it that much easier for customers to find you and promote you in their posts.

It will take time to build up a following, start with your staff and promote your handle on your other social networks. As long as you’re consistent it will happen. Daily is great (you’ll need to do it a minimum of a few times a week), and it only takes a few minutes a day to post a pic and reply to any comments.

5 Great Ways To Use Instagram For Your Restaurant

There are lots of things you can post and I encourage you to be adventurous – try out a lot of different things and see what resonates best with your audience. Here’s my top pics on ways to use instagram for your restaurant.

1. Behind the scenes

customers love getting a glimpse of back of house, it makes them feel like their in an exclusive club. You could post pics of your food preparation, your kitchen, staff

2. Your Product

great looking dishes get a LOT of interaction, post pics of your plated up entrees, mains, desserts, and drinks. And encourage your customers to do the same.

3. Specials

post pics of your food and drink specials, whether raw ingredients, plated up, or just the menu board to drive business and showcase your products.

4. Your neighbourhood

show off the front of your shop, local landmarks, customers enjoying your venue, and participation in the community to connect with your local customers.

5. Reviews and feedback

Reposting customer pics, reviews, and feedback (if you don’t have a pic you can create one with a simple text app) is a great way to thank your customers and create a great reputation.

Intagram Inspiration

If you’re looking for some inspiration check out some of AVTES clients @switchlifestylerestaurant, @chinchinrestaurant, @smithstreetalimentari, and @stonesoftheyarravalley (all pictured above) for some examples of restaurants doing great stuff with instagram.

Also, follow us @avtes, we would love to connect with you!

If you’re looking for social media tips, you might like to check out our facebook for restaurants and database marketing for restaurants posts too.