Ever taken a pic of your food while you’re out at a cafe or restaurant? Captured a colourful mural on the side of a building housing a small business? What about getting a friend (or passerby if you’re shameless) to snap you amongst the surroundings of a garden centre or in front of an LED sign spelling out a slogan?

Posting this kind of content on social media, as is so normal in 2020, is priceless PR for the businesses that you’re photographing (whether you realise it or not). Simply adding a geotag of your location could bring more people to the area of the snappable spot and increase the local economy at the same time. And the brands and businesses haven’t paid a cent for advertising.

Sharing culture has allowed businesses like restaurants to wind their publicity tactics right back to word of mouth, which everyone knows is the best form of PR. Ironically, this person-to-person marketing has made its way online so that photo or video uploads-- often in Stories functions which can end up being multiple segments-- are saving these businesses thousands in marketing efforts.

To create an Instagrammable location that often simply draws people in primarily for the photo, brands and businesses still need to invest some money. The investment is in the details: colourful signs with pun-ny slogans, patterned wallpaper or murals, geometric or mosaic-like tiled floors, and of course the obvious necessities such as how menus, priceboards, and signs are designed; as well as food and drink styling. 

According to a study, 69% of people take a photo of their food before they eat it, and very interestingly, 30% of millennial diners judge a destination’s social media presence prior to going and avoid those with weak content. Admit it— you’ve done this! The explore tab on Instagram has become a go-to map of new places to eat, shop and drink at.

The above is why you will see chefs and staff during the day whipping up dishes to visual perfection so that the content drives in more diners, which in turn means more money for one, more posts about them and more eyeballs on their own social media as a result. While businesses can still create their own ads and sponsored posts, the ease and financial benefit of creating a dish and photographing it can influence new diners or customers to do the same.

A top tip for these kinds of industries that could benefit from this sharing culture and free PR is being a strong point of difference. What is something new that you can do? Everyone has seen the neon light signs, smashed avocado and cotton candy-adorned brunches. Something starkly different is what is going to get attention on social media. Think something like newly-opened restaurant, Pink, which is entirely pink inside.

Maintaining hype in your business is also key. Like a menu changes seasonally (an easy option for maintenance of social media presence), invest in changes of decor and interior styling to.

Create an experience for the customer and you’ll be rewarded with unsolicited (but well-received) promotion.

Info sourced here.