Digital Trends
Ségolène Gonguet
Publié le 7 May 2019
Eating well is obviously a priority, but if you can also share a great photo and some great stories on your Instagram account, it’s even better! Even if you have to pay a little more for your food…
Instagram has become one of the most used social networks in the world:
If a restaurant has an Instagram account, it must be ” professional ” that is to say, up to date, with a real editorial line, if not, it could cause the opposite effect to the one sought and push away the future customer.
In general, the future customer will go directly to the hashtag of the restaurant’s name and/or location to see the publications of other users or the owner.
We have seen coffee cups blooming with heart-shaped cream or hyper creative plates with the sole aim of provoking the viral cliché and marking the reputation of the place.
Once served, the customer will take the best possible picture of his dish, with maybe a small video of the place, the decoration and the atmosphere to share directly on Instagram a publication and a story. He will then add the appropriate hashtags, geolocation and identification of the restaurant on the picture.
In this way, the customer is no longer just a consumer: he becomes a micro-influencer of the brand within his own community, however small. And if the publication is well referenced (hashtag, location, restaurant tag), it will reach people outside its circle of subscribers.
The dishes must therefore be photogenic. A beautiful salad, a smoothie, a dessert, or any other dish… The restaurateur has to think about the detail that twists and turns and that will cause the cliché and the virality that goes with it.
But that’s not all, the decor, the background, the atmosphere also play a lot. If diving shots remain classics that require very little decor (editor’s note: a table in good condition is enough), we quickly reach saturation with tons of identical photos: it’s time to get off the beaten track.
That’s why we see new restaurants taking advantage of this trend, they imagine, right from the design stage, an ideal decor for Instagram: bright colours, a luminous space, a priority for wood and other natural materials, small decorative details, etc. Nothing should be left to chance, non-decorative elements of the restaurant also become decorative, for example the lists of dishes displayed at the counter.
A few examples of restaurants that can be set up in Belgium: in Brussels, the CoCo Donuts, Crème Espresso and Eatery, the Avocado Show whose concept comes from our Dutch neighbours, Baogo or Tich which is 100% vegan. In Antwerp, the Mooy in pink is worth a visit, the Murni, Cereal Heaven or the Goodie Foodie. The south of the country is not to be outdone either: you will find the Get Your Mug or Ma Ferme En Ville in Liège, Oggi Coffee or the Sweet Corner in Charleroi etc…
Of course, other places have long been photogenic and effortlessly take advantage of the trend, such as Fika Brussels, Mok Café, Café de la Presse and the So Tasty Loung Coffee Corner.
What’s the next step? Pay for a meal in a restaurant with likes on Instagram? This concept already exists at This Is Not A Sushi Bar in Milan. If you have a minimum of 1000 followers, pay for a dish and a drink by posting a photo on Instagram, you will get a free dish. The offers are more and more attractive depending on the number of followers. Some restaurants give their bill to middle-influenced users, specifically users with a minimum of 100,000 subscribers on Instagram.
Instagram is growing every year. Is that a good thing? Beauty is good, style is good… but we may lose a little bit of spontaneity sometimes… to be continued 🙂
Headerpop observes new uses from here and elsewhere to propose a trendy, spontaneous and engaging lifestyle communication. The idea? To define a brand according to its character, enhance its universe and enrich its seductive power with details that make the difference and inspire the public.
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