How to promote restaurant through Instagram campaign

Creating an engaging social media profile comes with a set of unique challenges. Finding the right balance between memes and food photography can become mundane after a while. For consumers, following a brand on social media is a conscious decision that is revocable at any time. Therefore, restaurants need to implement strategies that capitalize on engagement and instill a fear of missing out (FOMO) on relevant deals and offers for their food items. The false idea that restaurant owners need to spend exorbitant amounts of money to create engaging events prevents experimentation with multiple effective strategies. Figuring out the right plan without compromising the bottom line might sound impossible, but restaurants can use the following to increase engagement and create events to promote restaurant through Instagram  campaigns.

Holidays

Social media posts can be more than just wishing your followers on national or cultural holidays but having a dedicated discount on a particular item can result in higher sales. Using a unique discount code in the post or caption will increase sales and engagement. Generic posts will limit you to just wishing your followers often garnering zero interactions. Thus, increased social media activity during festive periods can be a tremendous advantage for your brand and promote your restaurant through Instagram.

Examples: Wish your customers on Diwali and hide a coupon code inside the post or caption. Advertise free delivery on national holidays like Independence Day and promote with a catchy caption.

Calendar Events 

Running campaigns on world-renowned calendar days with fun and engaging content that stands out is usually not an easy task. You can create fun campaigns like “Give your bro a broasted chicken!” on National Sibling Day or “No Cooking” on Mother’s Day and add a unique touch to your restaurant’s campaign. This strategy will also create user-generated content and increase engagement which will ultimately help to promote restaurant through Instagram.

Examples: Run a Mother’s Day campaign encouraging your followers to share their favorite photos with their Moms. Pick a few winners at random from the participants to increase engagement on upcoming posts.

Sports Events

People are more inclined than ever to order on the eve of a big sporting event. Be it with friends or for themselves. It’s no surprise that restaurants generate huge order volumes regularly during the IPL season regardless of discounts. Restaurants shouldn’t rely on third-party apps to create campaigns for sporting events. They can promote unique offers and discounts to attract customers to order directly from them.

Examples: Pista House ran a campaign encouraging customers to predict the winners of the Euros Semi-Finals and tag them in a story with their new menu item. This activity generated interest in their new dish and resulted in engagement on their social media.

Happy Hours

Promoting happy hours or limited-time offers is a strategy often used by restaurants to increase their orders. Using social media to let customers know about available offers during specific hours can be a great strategy and make customers feel they are getting a deal that’s only available to them. Hence, making customers aware of ongoing promotions is the first step in generating orders or getting them inside the doors.

Examples: Running timed exclusive offers using unique discount codes on days that usually see comparatively fewer orders. Start a special offer on one item for a specific day of the week, like Biryani Monday.

Charity & Philanthropy

Customers go out of their way to support brands that abide by good values and support their local community. Now more than ever, social media is a tool to advocate for better social awareness especially if you want customers to support your recovery from COVID19. Brands that promote sustainability including wooden cutlery instead of plastic or brands that undertake philanthropic endeavors are more likely to see a positive brand image and receive recurring orders.

Examples: You can add an option in your menu to opt-out of cutlery. You can also promote charitable endeavors or support a local charity and promote it on your social media. You can also give one free dish after nine orders from your restaurant.

Loyalty Programs

Brands that expect customers to remain loyal go above and beyond in their efforts to make them feel valued. Launching a loyalty program can result in repeat customers and increase your average order value. Nowadays, having a loyalty program is the bare minimum, but some brands take pride in the value proposition they extend to their customers. A good strategy for loyal program would be to promote restaurant through Instagram campaign.

Examples: Different prices for members of the loyalty program. Introduce menu items exclusively for loyal customers. Offer free delivery on direct orders or Offer cashback on every alternate order.

Launching A New Menu Item

Creating a buzz around a new menu item is imperative whenever you are reinventing your menu. Engaging followers in a poll or posting teaser images of the dish are all innovative ideas to create hype about the launch of a new item. This initial hype will result in building anticipation for the launch of the new dish.

Examples: Create hype around a new menu item at least a few weeks before launch to create excitement about trying out the new dish. Initially, you can offer a limited period discount on the newly launched item exclusively for people who view your Instagram stories and reward your followers.

Combos/Buffets

Create unique combos for your social media followers that can only be availed on direct orders and make them see the value advantage in placing larger orders directly from your portal. Launch an “all you can eat” deal for your customers, or create delivery offers where customers can get free delivery for a week if they order a high-margin item.

Examples: Create unique combos only available on direct orders, allowing you to sway customers from other apps to you. Pair hot ticket items with low volume generators to increase sales of both due to this unique pairing.

Giveaways

Running giveaways is a guaranteed way of increasing your followers. Having rules and guidelines in place before you start the campaign is imperative. Encouraging people to like, comment, and share a post/story to be eligible for prizes is one way to increase followers. Hosting a giveaway with wallet money as a reward will also result in increased orders from your customers.

Examples: Run a simple giveaway with a low entry barrier that allows more people to participate. Create a giveaway post to give a lucky customer three free meals in a week if they like, comment, and share a post.

Photography Contest

Instagram is the perfect platform for restaurants to run a photography contest and incentive winners for generating content. You can create user-generated content and allow your followers to interact with your brand uniquely. As a result, brands can get customers talking about their brands, encouraging their friends to try out the food, and give food bloggers a run for their money with minimal cost. You can also run trivia contests, food eating contests, and other similar ideas to create fun content.

Examples: Starting a photography contest for the entire menu is a great way to generate images for your social media while keeping it fun. Asking customers to post a selfie with your food and reposting the same story on your Instagram is also a great way to generate positive brand recognition.

In conclusion, these are just some of the many ways you can promote restaurant through Instagram campaign. The key to figuring out which strategy will work best for your restaurant is knowing your audience. You should experiment with a few different ideas and gauge the reactions of your followers. Additionally, it’s important to keep refreshing social media campaigns after a few months to keep up with changing trends.

Instagram promotions must not always be paid or boring. Adding your brand’s touch to even a simple campaign will make it resonate with your audience. We have written a detailed guide on shooting professional photos for your Instagram account and how user-generated content helps your brand. YumzyX can help you reach new customers and take your social presence to greater heights. Learn more about our services or start taking direct orders by signing up today.