8 Ways to Get Your Fast Casual Restaurant Noticed on Instagram

NEXTEP SYSTEMS
Jul 25, 2017 · 4 min read
Being on the fastest growing social network isn’t enough. You want to turn heads while you’re there.

With more than 300 million monthly active users, Instagram is the fastest growing social network. It’s proven to be worth adding to the restaurant marketing mix because that’s where your guests — future and present — live (55% of online adults ages 18 to 29 use Instagram, and more than half use it daily). Food, of course, is one of Instagram’s most popular subjects. At the time of this writing, there were 97 million #foodporn and 16 million #foodstagram posts on Instagram.

How will your fast casual concept stand out?

Food Photography 101

or, The Basics of Appetizing Photos

1. Play with Angles
Get overhead — stand on a chair or use a tripod because there’s nothing like a #flatlay to get mouths watering. Or, get eye-level with the dish and draw attention to its details. Or else, as in this example, hold the food in your hand to give your audience a vicarious dining experience.

Learn more about how Moxie’s and NEXTEP have partnered here.

2. Frame Intentionally
Filling the frame with plenty of interest — and dishes that extend beyond the frame — works beautifully when you want to give the impression of a feast. Otherwise, a minimalist composition draws all the attention to a particular dish or detail and can be the perfect way to single out a new offering.

3. Edit
Make sure your brightness, saturation, contrast and exposure levels look good! Vibrant colors often make your food photography look especially appetizing. Try using apps like VSCOcam or A Color Story.

Learn about how Mollie + Ollie and NEXTEP work together here.

Variations on the Still

or, The Virtues of Video

4. Video
While a full blown production can be very expensive, creating short clips for Instagram certainly doesn’t have to be. Showing the ‘making of’ a popular offering is a surefire way to engage your audience, and it doesn’t need to have high production value to get your point across. Using apps like Boomerang or Hyperlapse can make for eye-catching posts, as well.

Learn about how Wow Bao and NEXTEP work together here.

5. GIFs or Stop Motion Videos
These arrested movements certainly catch the eye mid-scroll, and could be the difference between your post getting liked or ignored. And with an app like Party Party, it doesn’t have to be hard to produce.

Don’t Always DIY

or, How to Get Your Guests and Bloggers to Participate

6. Feature Your Guests
Joining Instagram means becoming a member of an enormous, worldwide community. It’s a natural place to interact with your customers, present and future. Why not take it a step further and spotlight their experiences? Apart from keeping an eye on your tags, create a hashtag that guests can use to submit their posts of your dishes, drinks, or décor. Host a contest that offers a discount or free meal to the best submission(s) of the week. Regram the content to add a splash of diversity (and authenticity) to your own feed.

Learn about how Burgerfi and NEXTEP have partnered here.

7. Make Food Bloggers Welcome
There’s a whole universe of food enthusiasts — both amateur and professional — whose opinions carry quite a lot of weight. Connect with foodies, bloggers and critics on Instagram, get a feel for their aesthetic, and partner with them. Reaching their audience and understanding their perspective could go a very long way.

Learn how Roll Play Grill and NEXTEP work together here.

Curate Your Feed (Almost) As Carefully As Your Menu

or, How to Use Your Feed for Branding

8. The Aesthetic of Your Feed

When an Instagrammer discovers your post and is drawn in by its beautiful execution, they’ll tap into your profile. There, with a zoomed out view of your feed, they’ll get their first clues to your brand. Make sure it tells the story you want it to tell.

NEXTEP SYSTEMS

Meet the Self-Order POS solution that delights customers whether they’re at your counter or on their couch.

NEXTEP SYSTEMS

Written by

Meet the Self Order POS solution that delights customers whether they’re at your counter or on their couch.

NEXTEP SYSTEMS

Meet the Self-Order POS solution that delights customers whether they’re at your counter or on their couch.

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