Food and Beverage marketing tips: How to grow your social media presence

When it comes to food and beverage marketing, a great place to start is social media. Using platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok can be the deciding factor when people are looking to eat out. Social media marketing can be used for more than just taking pictures of food or promoting sales and new menu items. Posting pictures that showcase the look of your brewery or winery creates a specific vibe that people are attracted to. If done correctly, a single post on a social media platform can reach thousands of potential customers and create widespread brand awareness.

There are two main ways to navigate food and beverage marketing on social media. One is to use a media agency to traffic paid ads, and the second is to generate organic leads. In this article, we’ll focus on organic leads.

Oftentimes, the tips for posting on each site may seem to overlap – but there are also different nuances to each that cater to specific customer bases and target different demographics. Here are some ways to increase your organic traffic.

Food and Beverage Marketing Tips for Instagram:

1. Create a restaurant hashtag like: #foundersbrewery or #blackstarfarms

2. Add some color by spotlighting fun holidays (national beer day, etc.).

3. Make sure to have evergreen information/content in your story highlights. Examples of these are hours, locations, how reservations work, stories about employees who have worked there a while, who you (owners) are, and how your brewery or winery came to be. Where to buy your products.

4. Partner with influencers and food bloggers (local celebrities). Their reach will amplify your restaurant name.

5. Run competitions and giveaways. These can be things like gift cards or merchandise and can coincide with holidays or anniversaries. Before you dive in, make sure you understand the rules of hosting giveaways on social media.

6. Invest in quality photography. Make sure your pictures keep to a high standard and have a similar photographic vibe. Take advantage of angles, colors, and weather to keep your content clear and consistent.

Food and Beverage Marketing Tips for Facebook:

1. Have engaging content like voting and polls people can participate in (such as names for new drinks, best location, etc).

2. Respond to both positive and negative reviews.

3. Make sure your ads are mobile friendly. Many people use their phones to look up where to eat or stop on a road trip and check out your brewery or winery menu, reviews, drinks and more on their mobile phones.

4. Take advantage of seasonal opportunities. Are you hosting events for Christmas? Halloween drink specials? All of that can be advertised using different types of digital marketing.

5. Make sure your homepage delivers on the information in a picture or ad. When someone clicks on a post that leads them to your Facebook homepage, your page needs to have easily accessible and updated information. This includes hours, addresses, menu, website, phone number, a clear indication of the type of distillery/winery/brewery you are, etc.

6. Stories are perfect for displaying the most accurate and up-to-date information. Using static images or videos, or putting a reel in your Instagram or Facebook story, can show potential customers what is happening in the moment. Whether you have a live band performing, are out of a popular item, or are announcing a drink naming contest winner, updating stories shows the algorithm you are engaging.

Food and Beverage Marketing Tips for Tiktok:

1. Engage in TikTok challenges (or create your own!)

2. Be aware of trends. Make sure you convey that you know what is up to date. Are IPAs in this year or are wheat beers trending now?

3. Work with influencers and introduce your partners. If you have your product in a local store, work with them to attach their name to your product. Tag them, and work with one of their team members to widen your reach.

4. Show off merch. This could look like a wine basket you are putting together for a silent auction, or new sweatshirts you just got in for the winter.

5. Preview new menu items. New beers on tap or this season’s best bottle of wine are just two of the many ways to showcase what’s up and coming and popular items.

6. Show how it’s made. People are always interested in what goes on behind the scenes. Give them a little taste of all the work your employees go through to make great products. This could be a multi-step series, like showing the brewing or wine-making process. Opening the curtain to show what happens behind the scenes makes you more personable, especially to your local customers.

7. Answer FAQs and give updates. Have accurate holiday hours, promote events, give a tutorial on how reservations work, and show specialities you offer.

Being aware of the alcohol restrictions in your state is important to understand when posting about your products. It’s even more important to keep in mind as you traverse into the next step in the process, which is garnering paid media attention. Starting your food and beverage marketing journey with organic social media is a good way to build a base for your brewery, winery, or food and beverage business. These tips can ensure that people are getting the correct information about who you are and hitting that target audience.