MARKETING BLOG

Sweet Success: 3 Social Media Tips for Your Food Business

09/5/2016

Food is all over the internet and a quick peruse of social media, from Facebook to Pinterest, will have you ogling at a variety of tempting culinary creations. As a food business owner, whether you run a cafe, restaurant, or catering company, it is well worth your while to maximise your exposure by getting in on social media. But amongst all this content, how do you make sure that your profiles get noticed? Let us show you three simple strategies that will help make social media work for you.

1. Be Bizarre

Be bold with your product. Simple classics will always sell well but what will spread like wild fire on social media are things that are a little bit crazy - the 'Freakshake' is a perfect example of this. The Canberra cafe, Patissez, started serving gargantuan milkshakes, piled high with cake, cream, and chocolate and when their Facebook coverage of this product was shared by The Canberra Times, the internet exploded with thousands of commenters planning to hit the road to try one. Now the Freakshake has arrived in London with its own social media fanfare and those cafes and restaurant's that are offering this item are receiving huge public interest. This interest from the consumer then becomes key in your digital marketing as they begin to do their own blogging, sharing, tagging, and re-tweeting of your product on their own accounts.

2. Be Picture Perfect

Imagery is everything for social media. With so much content floating around the internet, using beautiful, vibrant and well taken photographs is incredibly important if you want your content to catch people's eye. However, while the big brands have their in-house marketing teams and professional photographers, how can a small independent business have eye popping imagery with limited time and equipment?

That's where image based social media platforms and image editing applications become your best friend! These allow you to quickly edit your photo in a way that can improve lighting, make colours pop and increase sharpness. In short, within about a minute, you can have a professional looking image to publish on any platform you use for your marketing. Here are some pictures I have published using Instagram and you can see the improvement you can achieve using that format. These images can then be used on your other social media platforms very easily!

 

Without photo editing

 

 

With photo editing 

 

 

These images can then be used on your other social media platforms very easily!

 

3. Participate

 

The social media universe is not just about you. It is about you, your customers and your local community and business environment. Encourage visitors to tweet pictures, make your customers aware of your Twitter handle or hashtag they can use, participate in local chat about your area and if you are joining in a local event, make it known!

 

Within this, remember that your local area will mostly likely have a number of influential tweeters and bloggers. If you are premièring a new menu, or you are opening after a re-furbishment, find out who the local online influencers are and invite them to try out your new products. Within this, remember your social media is an excellent way to advertise special deals and to perhaps offer give-aways. This will encourage people to like and keep an eye on your profile, meaning that they will see more of your content and become more aware of your products and events.

 

These three tips will help you become a noticeable brand on social media, making both locals and possible visitors to your location aware of you. If you would like more advice on how to make social media work for you, please contact us at Cambridge Marketing Consultancy for a chat!