Marketing on social media is a key part of any business, but especially so for restaurants.

The untapped potential of reaching more customers and establishing a brand presence on any social platform is integral to driving sales and getting more customers in your seats, savouring each bite of the delicious food you offer.

To get started on all things social media, we have already created a guide on four key marketing tips for restaurants 

For the first part of our series of marketing tips and tricks for restaurants, we will focus on imagery.

Imagery has the power to make your restaurant and its offering go ‘viral’ and, with a large number of audiences on social media, restaurants can achieve massive brand awareness and reach.

Image quality 

• Capturing images of your restaurant does not always require a fancy DSLR camera (but it would be awesome if you can access one). With the extensive camera quality now available on many smartphones, capturing clear and high-quality imagery is a breeze.
• Ensure that your phone’s lens is clean – this can be done by gently wiping the camera with a cotton-based cloth or even your T-shirt. No one likes a blurry image and even the simplest of adjustments can make a world of difference
• Be sure to activate the HDR camera quality in 4K. This can be found in the settings section on many smartphones
• Lighting is key! Be sure to capture images in good lighting, additional lighting can be sourced but the easiest way is to make use of ‘golden hour’ when the natural light is at its best.
• It’s all about the angles – capture images of the dishes, drinks and atmosphere. Shoot from above, close-ups, set tables and more.
• Image quality can be enhanced with free editing tools such as Adobe Lightroom.
  

  The types of images 

  – Capture a range of images of the food, drinks and restaurant atmosphere. Create a balance of imagery so that potential customers can see what the restaurant is all about
  – Feature ‘best-selling’ dishes and drinks; this will entice your customers and is a great way of getting their attention.
  – Create a setting instead of just snapping a picture of a plated dish: create an atmosphere by adding cutlery and plate the food in a styled manner. An easy hack to creating an affordable backdrop is by purchasing wallpaper or wrapping paper and creating a backdrop that suits the restaurant.
  – Tell a story: what the restaurant is about, what it offers, what makes it so special and why people would want to dine at the spot.
  – Create personality by capturing behind-the-scenes images of the kitchen and provide insight into those who create the dishes by sharing pictures of the chefs, etc.
  – Share reviews from your customers by using free tools such as Canva to edit images and overlay review text onto an image of a dish or the seating area.
  – It’s important to capture and share images of the restaurant monthly to keep your social presence up to date so that customers can see the latest imagery.

Things to avoid 

• Avoid heavy branding on your images, such as placing the logo on the image. This makes the image look like an ad. If you want to include your logo, do so in subtle ways by using a branded plate, serviette or a small sign showing the establishment’s name in the back of the image.
• Not every dish needs to be captured or photographed unless it is visually appealing and has been set up for an image.

Tools to use

Canva, www.canva.com

Lightroom is available for download on iOs and Android and is free but additional features are available on the paid-for version.

A tripod stand for either phones or a camera ensures the stability of images and content captured.

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