4 ways to boost your hospitality business’ Instagram game
9th August, 2017
If your business is hospitality you already know that social media can either make or break you – so best to have your Instagram game on point.
With 5 million monthly users in Australia, Instagram is also a busy place, and getting in front of your customers is increasingly competitive.
Recent changes to the platform’s algorithm mean that popular content gets served to users first.
Here are some ways that you can help make your content count and get your company in front of peoples’ eyeballs:
1. Cut through the chatter
Instagram is full of perfectly plated dishes, worthy of a MasterChef finale.
Instead of adding an extra ring of flowers to your scrambled egg special, take your audience behind the scenes and show them what goes into making your cafe special.
Give them a taste of the late nights and early mornings, and show them the unsuccessful trial versions, and the next thing you’re thinking of.
Put some thought into your captions too- engage with your audience, ask them questions about what they’re enjoying when they come in, and respond to their answers.
2. Keep an eye out for trends
While there’s not a lot of be gained from jumping onto a bandwagon when a trend is in full swing, being an ‘early adopter’ can win you eyeballs.
Recent trends have included rainbow lattes (#rainbowlatte), poke bowls (#pokebowl), and the now ubiquitous ‘freak-shake’ (#freakshake).
Keep your eyes peeled, and if you spot something on the rise, it may well be worth a post.
Oh, and the days of loading up each post with hundreds of hashtags are definitely through. Aim for no more than ten tags per post and make sure they’re actually relevant to the content of the photo.
Here’s where you can learn more about the mysterious Instagram algorithm.
3. Turn to your suppliers
If you chose your suppliers because of the quality of their products, chances are they’re talking about how their products are made.
Just like you, customers are very interested in transparency and knowing where their food comes from.
Using an app like Repost that allows you to ‘re-gram’ content with attribution is a great way to help spread their message.
Share the content, with a note explaining why you’ve chosen your supplier, which dishes your customers can enjoy their products in, and how happy you are that your customers share your beliefs in quality!
4. Choose smart software to save time
Unlike other social sites and platforms, Instagram doesn’t let outside apps post to your accounts. But you can still use smart automation to schedule posts and save you time.
Buffer is a platform that will let you create and program your posts, then send you a notification when it’s time to send them live.
Once you’ve posted, you can use Buffer for key analytics and track your success over time.
Of course, one of the key ways you can use software to your advantage is to take your accounting online – making your bookwork more straightforward.
This will give you more time to spend marketing and growing your audience, to build a relationship with some of those 5 million potential customers.