Running a social media page on top of running a food business is a lot of work, but it’s practically essential to getting new customers and keeping them coming back. We completely get this can feel frustrating or daunting – this was even true for us when we started Hotplate!
Even if your page isn’t perfect or polished like some big brands, we still think it’s worth it to maintain a digital presence that your customers can find. The purpose of this article is to list some easy, quick improvements and low maintenance best practices to keep your Instagram active and professional. Basically, the bare minimum we think you should implement if you choose to start an IG for your food business.
Why even have an Instagram?
In today’s market, almost all successful food businesses have an Instagram page – some even owe their success to a viral post or two! Instagram pages also allow you to:
- Show off examples of your work
- Communicate with customers
- Drive traffic to your website
- Grow your following of loyal customers
- Engage or collaborate with other businesses
Set up your page with the essentials
1. Use a descriptive name
The name field is the biggest and boldest piece of text on your profile – use it to your advantage. Since your Instagram handle likely already communicates your business name, we recommend that you use a short description of your offerings. For example, if you own a pizza shop and your handle is @ThePiePalace. In the name field, you could write “Fresh Pizza in Philadelphia” – this will immediately communicate more information about your business to anyone that comes across your page.
2. Write a clear, simple bio
Your bio should be descriptive and easy to read at a glance. Consider using only one simple sentence or breaking up the text into bullet points. Emojis are encouraged here!
Examples of ones we love:
3. Include links
You can add up to 5 links to your Instagram page. This is a great place to put your Hotplate storefront and SMS subscriber link, website, affiliate links, etc.
If you have more than 5 links, you can consider using a service like Linktree or bio.site. These allow you to create a tiny webpage of links, often with your own branding and clear link organization. One advantage of these services is that they’ll often provide you with insights into the about the number of clicks and page visits you get.
Develop regular posting habits
4. Grid post regularly
Customers quickly lose trust in your business if they show up to your Instagram page and see that you haven’t posted in months. Pages that are trying to grow are recommended to post every day, but at the minimum we recommend posting something once a week.
5. Post stories
Stories are a great tool because they’re an easy way to get your customers to think about you regularly. We also love that they disappear after 24 hours, so you can choose to show content that might not fit in with the rest of the grid posts on your page. They’re also a great place to show your customers a behind the scenes look at your operation, tell them about yourself, tease new products, or ask for feedback.
Try and get into the habit of sharing a story – even by uploading an older photo from your device – a few times a week.
6. Create story highlights
You can also save stories into collections called “highlights” that permanently appear at the top of your profile. Having highlights available for visitors to tap through creates more opportunities for new customers to engage and learn about your business. You can group these into categories your regularly post about like “Behind the Scenes”, “New items”, “Customer Reviews”, etc .
These are some examples of highlights we love:
The Bottom Line
An Instagram page can help bring a lot of exposure and new customers to your business even if you can’t dedicate a lot of time for upkeep. It’s all about developing habits that are easy to keep up with and realistically fit into the workday of your business.
