How to promote your restaurant on Instagram

Picture this: food has just been served at your restaurant, but instead of reaching for their forks, everyone at the table swiftly pulls out their phones to start taking pictures. Soon enough, these photos will be shared and used to feed followers hungry for something else — content. Sound familiar? With the rise of Instagram, photo sharing has become a mainstay of the best restaurant social media campaigns, and it makes sense — we eat first with our eyes. Learn how to promote your restaurant on Instagram and get your customers working for you by harnessing the power of social media marketing content!

Why use Instagram for restaurant marketing?

As more customers increasingly turn to social media when searching for new places to eat, Instagram marketing for your restaurant business could serve as a powerful tool for enhancing visibility, driving people through the doors, and ultimately ensuring the success of the business. As the second most downloaded app in the world, and the fourth most used, the 1.22 billion people who use the platform every month certainly make for a convincing argument that including Instagram in your restaurant marketing strategy is more important now than ever.* Is your restaurant Metaverse compliant yet?

What to post on Instagram for your restaurant

With the rise of social media marketing, the visually-driven nature of Instagram’s content has turned the platform into the perfect marketing tool for restaurants, allowing them to showcase their best dishes and dining room ambience by uploading high-quality images and videos, helping to build brand recognition. Instagram marketing for restaurants should both attract new customers to a growing profile, while also retaining a loyal contingent of followers who feel privy to regular updates, and behind-the-scenes information and are the first to receive promotions.
 

How can you introduce your restaurant on Instagram?

Getting started with how to promote a restaurant on Instagram may seem daunting, but with good organisation and a coherent strategy, you can take your first steps to success:

1. Define the essence and identity of your restaurant. Know what image you want to transmit and the differential trait you want to highlight for your restaurant. Do you have the best healthy food? Or do you offer international cuisine? After that, you’ll need to define a style, look and feel for the brand to keep your Instagram page attractive and coherent.
2. Define clear content lines based on what you want to promote. Analyse and define the target of your restaurant. Remember images need to be visually appealing, but most importantly, the content should be interesting for your followers. Try to make sure that your feed tells a story. That way, you’ll be able to engage with them and maintain their interest. Finally, establish a content schedule to make sure you are releasing posts regularly and often. 
3. Add extra features to your feed, like creating story highlights or a unique restaurant hashtag. Let everyone know you are open to partnering with small influencers, and ask your closest circle to share your account. 
    
   

How to promote your restaurant on Instagram

🤳 Create beautiful content

Visual content is the main attraction of Instagram. Make sure that you capture your restaurant and dishes in the best possible light. Dedicate time to plan, prepare and photograph your gastronomic creations most appealingly. Make sure you also provide a caption that is both original and descriptive for the user. Keep your feed creative by mixing it up with pictures of the restaurant’s interior, kitchen, and staff to keep your food looking the best it can. 

🕐Use stories to interact with followers

With 500 million accounts using Instagram stories daily, 58% of users report that they’re more interested in a brand after seeing it in a Story.** For keeping your content fresh and new, Stories are your closest ally. Use the 24-hour lifespan of this simple-to-use feature to launch polls, ask questions, or broach new topics with the community. As well as boosting engagement, you will benefit from the new ideas generated that can be incorporated into your menus or promotions.  Stories provide a backstage pass into the day-to-day life of the restaurant and let your customers know how the team works.

⏩ Boost videos and reels

Videos are a key format on Instagram because they retain user retention for longer and, as such, are preferred by most algorithms. This means that your account will be better positioned, and you’ll be able to present the content more entertainingly and originally. Film the preparation of your dishes or take a tour of the restaurant, then add some music to the background, and away you go!

 

💬 Engage with your community

Don’t only use your Instagram account to showcase your restaurant, but also take it as an opportunity to get to know more of your diners and get insights from them. Do this by replying to comments, sharing user-generated content and reposting stories. 

💶 Social media paid

Sponsored content or paid advertising on Instagram are ways to reach more people via the platform. Due to the high-traffic nature of Instagram, competition is fierce, and although there are lots of profiles, it has become difficult to acquire more growth.  One way to speed up this process is to invest in paid posts.

Collaborate with influencers

To gain a strategic edge over the competition, restaurants can opt to invest in leveraging the established audiences of influencers to increase visibility. Food bloggers, local personalities or lifestyle influencers can reach a larger, but also targeted demographic of likely customers, through authentic content like reviews, stories and Reels. By collaborating with influencers, this unusual form of marketing should increase your restaurant’s footfall, but will also generate buzz online and help grow your online reputation. 

Promote online ordering and reservations

Integrating marketing materials, online ordering platforms, and reservation systems is a great way to streamline customer experiences, boosting sales by mitigating drop-off rates. To use Instagram for restaurant marketing to its fullest, try turning your Stories and Reels into shoppable posts with eye-catching call-to-action buttons like ‘Order Now’ and ‘Reserve’. Furthermore, use the available link in the bio to direct interested users straight to your website. 

As you can see, there are many marketing opportunities to be had on Instagram, one of the world’s largest social media platforms. Don’t miss out. Grab your camera, capture some amazing pictures, and start creating the perfect free advertisement for your restaurant. As they say - lights, camera, action!

To benefit from more helpful guidance for growing your brand and business, check out TheFork Manager for an industry-leading platform that will help your restaurant thrive every step of the way.

🕐Use stories to interact with your followers. Did you know that 500 million accounts use Instagram stories daily and 58% of users say they’re more interested in a brand after seeing it in a Story?** Hence, stories will become your best ally to provide complementing content to the one in your feed. For example, use it to launch polls, open questions or new topics to the community and it is probably that you get new ideas that you can use to incorporate to your menus or your local. Last but not least, you can also use them to show the day to day life of the restaurant and let the customers know how your team works while preparing the dishes! 

⏩ Boost videos and reels. Videos are a key format on Instagram because it performs best with most algorithms as it retains the user’s attention for longer. This means that your account will be better positioned and you’ll be able to present the content in a more entertaining and original way. Put some music in the background, film the preparation of your dishes or take a tour of the restaurant.

💬 Engage with your community. Don’t only use your Instagram account to showcase your restaurant but also take it as an opportunity to get to know more of your diners and get insights from them. Do this by replying to comments, sharing user-generated content and reposting on stories. 

💶 Social media paid. Sponsored or advertising content is a way to reach more people on Instagram or any other social media platform. Due to the high amount of profiles and competition to have more followers, it has become more difficult to acquire more reach. Therefore, one way to achieve this is to invest on paid posts or have collaborations with micro or macro influencers. 

As you can see, you can’t miss the opportunity to be present in one of the most powerful social media platforms. Then, prepare your camera, take the most amazing pictures and videos of your culinary creations and build the perfect showcase on Instagram! 📸

*Hootsuite. 35 Instagram Stats That Matter to Marketers in 2022 

**Omnicore. Instagram by the Numbers: Stats, Demographics & Fun Facts

***Later. Why Video is Hottest Growth Hack Right Now