Social media outlets undoubtedly present a huge opportunity for restauranteurs and small business owners to reach out to customers. Whether it be Facebook or Twitter, Google Plus or Pinterest, these burgeoning hubs present simple and engaging ways of connecting with customers and promoting your brand. Instagram, the Facebook owned photo sharing service, has been one of the more popular outlets for years. Recently, brands have begun to realize the social network's potential as a host for creative advertising, as well as word of mouth promotion by consumers. When Instagram added video capabilities sometime ago, the real potential of the creative sharing service opened up. Now brands can create short, witty and engaging short videos to attract customers.
The real value of Instagram, however, is the
content posted by restaurant goers, and the proof is in the numbers. The latest research, reported by Nations Restaurant News and provided by MomentFeed, a company that tracks brand engagement over social networks, shows that customers are taking and uploading more photos at restaurants than ever before. The survey counted over 500,000 photographs that were not only shared, but tagged to a restaurants location. That means that consumers are essentially advertising for restaurants, by showing off pictures of menu items as well as interiors, and promoting the eateries amongst their friends. Starbucks came out on top of the results, with nearly 130,000 photos shared from it's locations, followed by the Cheesecake Factory. These brands are gaining an incredible amount of mindshare, without having to do anything, outside of providing their usual services. For example, if each of photos tagged at Starbucks was uploaded by a unique user, and each of those users has, on average, 100 friends, there are potentially more than 13 million people to reach! That is an extraordinary example, so a small business is not likely to gain 13 million new customers from Instagram. However, it is still incredible, considering that all those potentials are generated by "word-of-mouth" advertising. Also, now that Instagram has just been
released for Windows Phone, there is a whole new batch of consumers to reach.
MomentFeed's results are really interesting for restauranteurs, because it provides a way to look at the relationship between user engagement on social networks, and actual sales. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, Instagram's focus purely on visual media makes it especially entertaining for users and gives small businesses a great option for creating dynamic content that consumers want to view. Your restaurant or small business can get started by creating an Instagram account, and even encourage patrons to post by offering competitions or raffles, allowing visitors to earn loyalty perks such as discounts or branded merchandise. Check out Nation's Restaurant New's report by clicking the source link below, and be sure to read the
Tablebases.com blog for more information on how to effectively utilize social media.
Source:
Nations Restaurant News,
MomentFeed Results
Tablebases.com
