Who doesn’t love scrolling through the GIFs on Instagram Stories?
In fact we love them so much, we’ve created our very own set of Eat Marketing GIPHY stickers. Our set of 15 Instagram stickers are now available to use when uploading your Stories.
To find and use our stickers when uploading an Instagram Story, you’ll just need to swipe up, press ‘GIF’ and search for one of the hashtags listed below. You can also search ‘#EatMarketing’ to view our complete set.
Get ready to enjoy being creative with your stories with Eat Marketing.
It just wouldn’t be right if we didn’t have any stickers focused on our love of food. To find one of our foodie-related stickers, just search for the below hashtags.
In this selection of stickers, you’ll see scooting motorbikes and excitable takeaway boxes along with other food service related ideas.
Takeaway
Delivery
From app ordering or online scrolling, these stickers show our techy-side and industry ordering behaviours.
Contactless payment
Website ordering
App ordering
These stickers are focused around a few industry keywords we know people will be talking about.
Design
Ideas
Tasty
Vegan
This collection is full of designs we just couldn’t resist throwing into the mix. Created to work well across a range of social content, discover our miscellaneous Instagram sticker designs.
It’s emotional
Thumbs up
Shining star
Get ready to see the Eat Marketing Instagram stickers popping up on a Story near you soon.
Have you heard about Instagram’s latest feature Instagram Reels?
Instagram Reels gives users the ability to create short videos using a series of clips, to rival competitor social platform TikTok.
Instagram Reels is “a new way to create and discover short, entertaining videos on Instagram.”
Its launch, which follows around a year in development, has seen Reels land in 50 countries with thousands of users already creating new video content within the app.
Using Reels allows you to record and edit 15-second multi-clip videos and add audio, effects and stickers.
These short videos are then able to be shared to followers and the wider community using ‘Explore’, if you have a public account.
Similar to the launch of Instagram Stories back in August 2016, Reels has already seen a huge intake of users creating, watching and sharing video content.
By creating engaging videos on Reels, your food brand would not only continue to connect with current followers but also reach new audiences. When uploading a Reel from a ‘public’ account, content will be accessible to anyone in the world.
Instagram Reels allows brands a platform to be creative, entertain and engage with followers. However it does mean you’ll need time to create dedicated content for Reels and as with any social media posting, there should be a strategy behind any content published.
As with Instagram Stories, Instagram Reels requires fresh content to be uploaded. You won’t get the maximum impact if you upload images used previously for posts and expect your video to go viral.
Looking at TikTok, there has been a huge amount of viral content created within the past two years and it’s important to consider what has worked well in this format, before translating this to your own brand voice for Reels.
Unlike more spontaneous Instagram Stories, Reels requires more creative input, time and analysis to be executed well. Viral trends change almost as quickly as they started and it can be a tiring process trying to keep up.
Looking for ideas on where to start with creating content for Instagram Reels for your food brand? We’ve pulled together three basic content pillars to include in your strategy:
1. Publish content that’s on-brand and suits your audience
Instagram Reels is designed to be fast, fun and creative using special effects and audio to capture an audience’s attention.
It offers food brands an opportunity to show more of a human side, presenting information in a more digestible format.
From showing behind the scenes video clips of a food photoshoot to short vox pops with customers in your restaurant or teaming up with foodie influencers, there is huge scope for what content you could create.
2. Share relevant, engaging content
As mentioned earlier, purely reposting or resharing content created for Instagram posts or Stories is unlikely to work as well on Reels. Content needs to be relevant to the culture and best practice of Reels users who are seeking out short videos.
Think of how you could promote your food service in short engaging bursts. For example you could show the preparation of a portion of chips where clips could include: cutting potatoes, frying, adding salt, serving and a customer’s happy face.
3. Creatively promote your products
Instagram Reels offers brands a huge opportunity to drive awareness and sales from the platform. As with usual Instagram posts, it’s a good idea to include hashtags and descriptive captions to help boost your reach.
The Knot Churros has already started using Reels to creatively promote their new sweet treats, churros and ice creams with videos receiving an average of 27,000 views.
How could your food brand integrate Instagram Reels into your social media content strategy?
Social media advertising…have you tried it yet? As well as being one of the best ways for making conversions, social media advertising is a great way to gain better brand recognition.
After all, millions use social media platforms every day. If you get your social media advertising right, you’ll soon see those likes, comments and conversions rolling in.
The Advantages of Social Media Advertising
Before we get to the most effective social media platforms and methods you can use to gain the most from using social media advertising, let’s take a look at the advantages. In this age of mass social media consummation, you’d think that every business out there would be using it, yet there is still some reluctance from even well-known brands to really embrace social media advertising. Why? The advantages may not seem to be fully evident, but there are so many, including:
It’s easy on your budget – posting social ads is not as expensive as other, more traditional advertising methods. When you see the return that small portion of your marketing budget brings in, you’ll wonder why you didn’t start years ago!
It reaches people – and when we say a lot, we mean, a lot! Statista, a leading provider of market and consumer data, put the total number of social users at the beginning of 2017 as being over 39 million, with estimates going up to 42 million users! And, back in 2016, Facebook took the number one spot of recently visited social networks with 67% of adults logging on for a scroll. Now, in 2019, those numbers have grown, and will continue to do so.
It lets you target people – one of the brilliant things about social media advertising is you can learn more about, and target, the right audience. You can specify and advertise according to your exact target audience such as age, sex, socioeconomic situation, location and even factors such as what websites people use or the language they speak. Such specific targeting can be a great advantage. It means you’ll definitely reach your desired audience.
It makes you known – with so many people on social media your brand visibility will increase. This is a great way to reach new customers, connect with ones that haven’t used your brand in a while or convert customers who currently prefer your competitor!
It generates a user experience – having a social media presence gives you the opportunity to not only communicate your message to established and potential clients, it lets you communicate with them as well as connect, thus generating that user experience. This also helps with your image (how you’re seen), whilst creating leads, signups and increases sales.
Where you choose to post your social ads will largely depend on your business and target audience. YouTube can be an effective place to post video generated content, otherwise there are four main social media platforms. These all offer social advertising with their own effective methods for successful conversion:
Facebook is usually the first place most businesses look to when it comes to social media advertising, as it allows you to reach so many people. Worldwide, it is estimated, that at this very moment there are approximately 1.5 billion active Facebook profiles and in all those users, your target audience is bound to be amongst them.
Take a peek on Facebook and you’ll see a lot of ads, but some are more effective than others. As well as targeting your market audience, it’s imperative that you can actually capture their attention in the first place. For Facebook, various studies have shown that there is an ideal length for Facebook posts in terms of the headline, main text and description. There’s even factors such as image-to-text limitations and the best way to use hashtags.
We’ve definitely found this to be true in our own work with so many companies who rely on us to create engaging social media ads that work such as Zan Fish promoting their new restaurant and Simpsons Fish and Chips attracting customers to their Mother Christmas events.
Twitter is a great social media platform for businesses, especially as there is a ‘cost per interaction’ (CPI) system that allows users to tweet and only be billed if a user interacts with them effectively – through a retweet, a like, a share, etc. Again, there are more effective ways to tweet, including using effective hashtags.
Instagram has around 600 million users (and counting!). It’s a great way to be seen when it comes to social media advertising as it’s not only instant, but eye-catching. And, by using paid advertising to reach your audience, they have the opportunity to learn more by clicking the ‘call to action’ option. You can also target and segment groups of people by making your ad more visible to certain audiences.
LinkedIn is another great way to reach new audiences and be seen as an industry leader or influencer. Operating in a slightly different way to the the social platforms, it is used in a more professional, business to business manner by most people. It’s also a great way to say more about your business. To stand out on this platform, you’ll want to make sure you have a solid title and interesting content.
Would you like to learn more about social media advertising and how it can help your business connect to your audience and generate revenue for your business? Talk to us today and discover more about effective social media advertising.
Marketing your business is about using a variety of methods that help get your brand out there, and tap into as wide an audience as possible. Ever considered social media? Well, over 2 billion people use social media worldwide, and it’s one method that is easy to access and gives you and your brand the ability to communicate with existing customers and new customers alike. To help, we’ve put together a few handy tips, that will arm you with the tools you need to take on the world of social.
It goes without saying that Facebook is the most widely used social media out there, but what about Instagram and Twitter? And if you’re busy running your business, and just want to focus on one social media platform, how do you decide? Always consider your audience before deciding and here are some other top tips on choosing the right platform for you.
Facebook - with nearly 2 billion users worldwide, Facebook is a phenomenon that if used well can help you to raise your brand profile, interact with customers and improve engagement.
Instagram - a great way to simply market your brand through images and video. Giving users a teaser of what’s on the menu is one sure fire way of getting them queuing at your door.
Twitter - Businesses that successfully use Twitter as a marketing platform can improve customer service, communicate better with customers, increase traffic to website, follow trends and competitors closely and connect with their local community.
Snapchat - the new kid on the block and definitely one aimed at the younger audience, this is one fun platform worth keeping an eye on!
- Set up your profile and brand it. Really think about your thumbnail image and what you put in it. That’s how the world of social media will identify your business.
- Put together a 6 month plan and work a week ahead of schedule. It sounds like hard work, but it will pay off if you have a plan of what you can talk about ahead of time.
- Seasonal offers, local events or new products can be worked into a plan well in advance. This doesn’t mean you can’t stray from the plan, as you should always try and keep your social posting fresh and relevant. Everyone loves a photo of a funny shaped potato!
- Too busy to post? Get a member of staff on board to help run your social media and make your story feel like a team effort.
Try to inject a little personality into your posts by, introducing a selection of images, copy, competitions and offers, as well as video content to help you stand out from the crowd.
Customers love to see what goes into making your products. Don’t give it all away, just enough to keep your audience engaged and interested enough to keep following and liking you.
This can be about topics related to your products, food in general or local issues. Use it as a platform to inform, educate and above all engage. Your customers will love you for telling them about the produce you carefully source for them - so shout about it.
Keep a check on what’s trending and select the best hashtags to use based on your business. This will give you the opportunity to engage with more potential customers.
Social media is like a hungry customer, it needs feeding on a regular basis. Many start out strong but then lose momentum and there is nothing worse than a business with a social media profile that isn’t updated. It indicates a feeling of neglect, which is the last impression a food business wants to give. Two to three posts a week is more than enough activity, but remember: portion control is important. Quality over quantity.
Boosting your posts really doesn’t have to be expensive and it’s far cheaper and more targeted than traditional forms of print advertising. Facebook advertising allows you to set the profile of the audience you want to reach via age, gender, geography and even hobbies. And for as little as a fiver a day, you can reach thousands of people who will be interested in your posts and importantly your business.
Want to get even more creative with your social media and marketing? Get in touch with a member of the Eat Marketing team today, and let's start feeding your business with brilliant ideas!
Do you Lean In? If you’re an Instagram fan, you’ve probably heard of Joe Wicks, creator of the #thebodycoach and the #LeanIn15 healthy eating programme. What started as 15-second videos on social media platforms such as Instagram, showing healthy meals that can be whizzed up in 15 minutes or less, and examples of HIIT (high intensity interval training) fitness programmes, has grown into a global empire for Wicks. This includes two books (and counting), a million plus Instagram followers and 500+ people a day signing up for his programme. Not bad for a guy who simply wanted to show people that healthy eating can be quick and easy.
Food and Instagram works well. As Wicks has demonstrated, it’s so easy to record and upload a clip of food cooking, as well as tempting images of food. But it’s not just amateur foodies who are showing off their best ‘Insta’ pics; seasoned chefs such as Jamie Oliver (with over 4.5 million followers at present) regularly uploads food shots, which are often accompanied by his favourite hashtag #Recipeoftheday. Jamie is also behind Food Tube, the fun, fast-paced food channel that features pre-recorded and live food demonstrations. And with over 600,000 subscribers, it’s been a recipe for success!
In fact, it seems that everywhere you look, people are snapping or filming their food and putting it online. Forget selfies for likes, that’s so old hat - food snaps for likes is the new black – and it could make you famous.
Just look at Ella Woodward – creator of the phenomenally successful Deliciously Ella blog which led to best-selling cookbooks, a popular Instagram account and a legion of fans. After being diagnosed with Postural Tachycardia Syndrome, Ella started the blog detailing her interest in healthy eating and how using her own specially devised recipes was a way of successfully dealing with the devastating side effects of her illness, which included constant headaches, heart palpitations and stomach issues.
What makes Ella’s blog so refreshing is that her enthusiasm feels so authentic. Like Wicks, Ella started her online posts because she was passionate about sharing her love for food – and especially the type of foods and recipes that have helped her – with others. In contrast to so many celebrity chefs who seem to push out book after book and show after show, these are real, everyday people who simply want to share their thoughts and knowledge with others. This really resonates with us and we want to know more.
Using a love for food to amass loyal followers seems easy now, doesn’t it? It can be, with the right images, clips and a desire to share a passion for food. Other Instagrammers who have attracted attention online include leesamantha, who likes to cook food that tells a story, or how about the artful plates of idafrosk who also has a book available on Amazon. If you have a sweet tooth, be careful if you look at the delicious snaps from Joy Wilson who posts under the name joythebaker. She's a real life baker who has turned her love of desserts into a successful business, which includes a web series, podcast, blog and even a cookbook. Instagram (as well as other, similar social media platforms), work. They feel intimate; have a scroll through your own Instagram account and see. Brands know this too, and big or small, they can reach you straight away on Instagram and make you feel as if they’re posting just for you.
Take Wholefoods; they’re a big brand, right? But they keep their posts intimate, only dabbling with posts that promote beautiful food shots and copy that speaks right to you. Or how about NYC based retailer Food 52 who disguise themselves as a food blog? Now that’s clever! Their Instagram account is full of tempting food posts that should tempt followers to delve further and purchase a tempting array of goods from their online shop. And yet, not every food and drink product focuses on the actual product they sell - just look at Red Bull. We all know their drink ‘gives you wings’ and that’s the focus when they post – they use fast-paced videos and action shots to further emphasise the ‘gives you wings’ statement, and it works.
How about you? Do you have a food brand you would like to promote on social media? Instagram, Facebook and Twitter (to name a few) can work so well for food brands – if it’s done right. If you’d like to know more about how we help food businesses create social media that works, talk to us today and discover more when it comes to posting online.
Social media has created one of the biggest shifts in how we discover, read and share information. For brands, social media marketing creates wonderful opportunities to connect with existing and new customers, and regular social media interaction can make a big difference to sales and popularity.
As a brand one of your main aims with social media marketing should be to strengthen customer loyalty. We’ve created 6 top tips on how you can get your customers attention and reap the benefits.
1. Write engaging posts with eye-grabbing images
Social media has made it easier for people to access and consume media at any given time, often causing us to have shorter attention spans as time has gone on. This means that when gearing your social media marketing towards your customers, you have to think from their perspective and create both engaging posts and images that stop their thumbs scrolling. You may have an important brand message you’d like to get across but if this doesn’t stand out to your intended audience it will fall flat. An important tip to keep in mind is that your brand's message, mission, and values can be just as important as the product itself, driving customer loyalty as well as sales.
The plant-based brand, Oatly, is a great example of a brand that has mastered the art of creating engaging content for their social media channels and developed a community that supports them. Rather than the predictable messaging around why you should drink oat milk, which they do occasionally refer to, their social media marketing places particular emphasis on why you shouldn’t drink cow’s milk. Incorporating veganism, animal rights and plant-based discourse into their online content, thus promoting their plant-based alternative products. Through active and engaging content, Oatly has built a community that are passionate about the brand and about oat milk.
2. Knowing when to post and understanding why timing is important
It’s no secret that there are certain times of the day or week that are considered ‘better’ to post on your social media channels in order to capture the most engagement. For food brands it’s often recommended that you post about your food early in the day to plant the seed of your brand in your customers mind. Perhaps they’ll plan their weekend around visiting your restaurant or ordering a takeaway.
By using social media management tools such as Hootsuite, you’ll receive recommended days and times for you to post based on the data they hold, ensuring your social media marketing reaches more people and boosts sales.
3. Use different formats but keep brand consistency
Showcasing your brand across a range of different social formats is a great way to drive customer sales and loyalty. You’re able to market yourself in different ways depending on the platform and reach a wider target audience who become fans of your brand as you create content suitable for whichever platforms you choose to use. In doing this, you have to ensure your brand consistency remains intact. You may have TikTok followers who love your behind the scenes videos and Instagram followers who love your food photography, but the one thing all your followers and customers have in coming is that they love your brand. You don’t want to verge too far off your overall brand or tone.
Establishing the right balance between catering for your target audience and ensuring brand consistency within your social media marketing can be tricky. American fast food chain, Chipotle, has mastered Gen-Z marketing on TikTok. They rolled out the #GuacDance Challenge in celebration of National Avocado Day, and in 6 days racked up 50,000 video submissions and 430 million video starts. The well-known brand managed to make a name for themselves on TikTok with their younger generation of customers and keep on-brand at the same time, never losing their sense of self or tone of voice.
4. Interact and respond to customers
Another way to achieve greater customer loyalty is by showing the human side of your food business. Whether that’s interacting with customers in some way through a competition or poll or even responding to customers when they’ve left comments or questions. When thinking about your social media marketing strategy it’s important to factor this human element in and ensuring your brand comes across as friendly, responsive and kind is essential to gaining customer loyalty.
5. Offer new media strategies to keep users interested
Keeping your social media marketing ideas fresh and inclusive is an easy way to increase customer loyalty to your brand. Customers love it when you reward them for their loyalty and they’ll keep coming back for more and more. This is something Portuguese inspired food chain, Nandos, cottoned onto quickly during their online marketing escapades. For years they’ve offered a ‘High Five’ card given to celebrities who get to use the card for free Nandos whenever and wherever for 12 months. They then later branched out to a customer reward card, which works on a 3-staged colour system that enables consumers to get something back in return after 3, 6 or 10 visits.
6. Audit social media campaigns to address what does and doesn’t work
If you’re looking to improve your social media marketing, but don’t know where to start a marketing audit is your best bet. An audit can help you address what is and isn’t working for your brand, regarding socials, and an online campaign can be created based on these key findings, ensuring you get the best results, maximise customer engagement and loyalty.
Food and Instagram photography go together like mac ‘n cheese, fish and chips, or avocado and eggs. In today’s social media savvy world, if you don’t use Instagram, it’s almost as if you didn’t eat it!
The craze for photographing food and Instabragging about it seemed to start with ‘foodies’ who wanted to show just how serious they were about their food, as well as healthy food bloggers such as Ella Woodward who has a huge following on Instagram, a phenomenally successful Naturally Ella website and various cook books available to buy.
Although now, more and more people are joining in and flashing their food online. Whether it’s to brag about their top restaurant dish, show off their culinary skills or to let people know they’re eating a super healthy bowl of acai and quinoa; food displays on Instagram are here to stay.
If you fancy joining in, stop for a minute before you click and take a look at our top tips for taking food photos that look good enough to eat. After all, if you want to have a little Instabrag, you may as well do it right! Here’s our advice on how to make your Instagram photography look as tasty as possible…
1. Compose before you click
How you arrange – or compose - your food can make a real difference to how it looks once you click. Try using the rule of thirds (where food is arranged ‘off centre’ according to a grid-like calculation so it stands out more) or if you prefer a more symmetrical look, consider natural framing around your food so that everything looks beautifully centered.
Both ways work well, depending on your food. For example, a rice salad with large chunks of chargrilled cauliflower as the main focus would work better using the rule of thirds, whereas a lightly dusted and already cut sponge cake would catch the eye better if it were centered on a delicate cake stand.
2. Crop it
If you’re going for high impact, go for the chop. In fact, cropping the edges of your subject is a tried and tested professional technique, and it works as it adds that extra bit of emphasis for a finished, polished look.
3. Guide the eyes
Get viewer’s eyes moving with clever visual techniques such as flowing, where you capture food pouring into a bowl, or how about scattering your food for an abundant look? If you have more than one of the same food ( muffins or pies for example) consider using a geometric pattern in your Instagram image but if you do, use the grid lines on your phone to ensure lines are parallel for a beautifully composed shot. Guide those eyes to your images!
4. Colour, colour, colour!
Think about the colour of your image. For example, if you start with a neutral background you can add a pop of colour with your food.
Try and stick to no more than three colours for a beautiful balance and think about those textures too. An avocado tinged with green can look even better if you cut it into thick pieces with rough edges that show off its creamy consistency. Place them on a wedge of multi-grain toast, scatter a few plump red cherry tomatoes, set the whole look off against a black plate and you have a really sophisticated Instagram food look!
5. Shapes and stories
You could also arrange food in shapes and even tell a story; perfectly popped pomegranates made into a heart for a Valentine’s Day meal or how about blocks of different coloured cheeses arranged Jenga style for kid’s party?! The possibilities are endless, and fun too!
6. Filter
The way you frame, focus and control the brightness will also affect your image and don’t forget the different range of filters, alignment tools and colour editing options you can get on apps and Instagram itself.
So, what are you waiting for? Get cooking and watch the likes come in when you Instagram your next meal!
Social Media is everywhere, it’s a big part of so many people’s lives and savvy businesses know that utilising this easy to use network is the way forward when it comes to spreading the word about what they have to offer. For food businesses, there is the distinct advantage of being able to whet people’s appetites with their food products; food social media is interactive, personal, interesting and instant.
A perfect example of food social media at its best is Coconut Bliss; this relatively small company (which makes and markets organic, soy/gluten/dairy free coconut milk ice cream) actively engage in food social media on a regular basis by using promotions, awards, giveaways, updates and sound bites about their products. They also use the strategic power of partnerships to their advantage; their facebook page, (which incidentally, has over 15,000 likes, a fantastic achievement for such a small business) is crammed with posts and updates about their partnerships. Using partnerships is an interesting part of their food social media strategy as these relationships help them take their products to even more people - and they make the company seem personal, friendly and supportive of other businesses and local projects.
Have you thought of using social media as a way of reaching potential customers? By adopting a food social media strategy, you are actively letting people know about your business and setting up a dialogue between your company and your customers. People like to know that they can reach you; if you look on facebook, twitter and instagram, you will notice numerous food businesses (big and small) using social media – not only as a way to let people know about their products, but also as a way to interact with customers. It is also useful for marketing strategies as you can use social media to analyse online reviews, feedback, search engine optimisation or even target certain groups of people for different products.
If you would like to know more about how to conduct an effective food social media plan, including ways to improve your likes on facebook and other social media outlets, contact us today. Here at Eat Marketing, we can help you put together a strategy that is right for you and your food business. To arrange a no obligation meeting, call us on 0845 8354661 we look forward to hearing from you.
Social Media is everywhere, it’s a big part of so many people’s lives and savvy businesses know that utilising this easy to use network is the way forward when it comes to spreading the word about what they have to offer. For food businesses, there is the distinct advantage of being able to whet people’s appetites with their food products; food social media is interactive, personal, interesting and instant.
A perfect example of food social media at its best is Coconut Bliss; this relatively small company (which makes and markets organic, soy/gluten/dairy free coconut milk ice cream) actively engage in food social media on a regular basis by using promotions, awards, giveaways, updates and sound bites about their products. They also use the strategic power of partnerships to their advantage; their facebook page, (which incidentally, has over 15,000 likes, a fantastic achievement for such a small business) is crammed with posts and updates about their partnerships. Using partnerships is an interesting part of their food social media strategy as these relationships help them take their products to even more people - and they make the company seem personal, friendly and supportive of other businesses and local projects.
Have you thought of using social media as a way of reaching potential customers? By adopting a food social media strategy, you are actively letting people know about your business and setting up a dialogue between your company and your customers. People like to know that they can reach you; if you look on facebook, twitter and instagram, you will notice numerous food businesses (big and small) using social media – not only as a way to let people know about their products, but also as a way to interact with customers. It is also useful for marketing strategies as you can use social media to analyse online reviews, feedback, search engine optimisation or even target certain groups of people for different products.
If you would like to know more about how to conduct an effective food social media plan, including ways to improve your likes on facebook and other social media outlets, contact us today. Here at Eat Marketing, we can help you put together a strategy that is right for you and your food business. To arrange a no obligation meeting, call us on 0845 8354661 we look forward to hearing from you.
