Instagram, a social media platform noted for its use by celebrities, fitness fanatics and predominantly food lovers.
We’re all guilty of it, posting that delicious smoked salmon breakfast, sizzling tapas dish and super charged smoothie. The Instagram likes soon add up and you’re left with the satisfaction of a full belly and knowledge that your dish has received worldwide recognition.
It’s a real case of the cliché ‘eating with our eyes first’ and it’s working. Instagram has helped food products and brands build themselves from the ground upwards, whether it be through posting regular and consistent content, celebrity endorsement, competitions or good and relevant use of hash tagging. Instagram is a platform with power that doesn’t cost a thing and can be invaluable if you have the time and know how to use it.
Here are four simple things to consider when using Instagram that can really boost your food industry brand:
- Consistency
Marketing visually is best done in a consistent fashion – you need to find a balance that works to draw attention to your brand. If it’s product images, recipe ideas, competitions, reposts etc, ensure you put together a schedule which allocates equal exposure to areas of your brand you want recognised whilst keeping each post related to the brand identity.
- Relatability
Keeping it real is what it’s all about – ensure that you have lifestyle images as well as product images, seeing a product in a realistic setting such as a dinner table or being enjoyed as part of a leisurely activity eg. icecream on the beach, will resonate more deeply with the rest of the human race.
- Use hashtags
Hashtags when used properly are very beneficial to your brand, and keeping a close eye on trending subjects ensures if used – your posts can hit the busiest streams of traffic. For example, calendar holidays such as #NationalBurritoDay and #Strawberryicecreamday – if you produce Mexican cuisine or icecream, using these will be positive in raising the profile of your Instagram account and in doing so boosting your business profile resulting in more potential interest.
- Competitions
As long as you don’t overload your account with them, competitions can be an excellent way of drawing engagement to your brand and will increase your chances of being regrammed. Comment-to-win and repost-to-win are just some of the competition types that insight good levels of engagement and coupled with an attractive giveaway, competitions like these are often memorable and increase followers and the likelihood of Instagrammers revisiting your page.