If you want to promote your catering business social media will probably be relevant. Love it or hate it, in today’s world social media is one of your essential brand awareness tools. It’s swapped out the hard sell for a genuine chat and making connections and emphasised the real importance of conversation and networking. And when it comes to promoting your catering business it’s something you need to understand.
Why you should promote your catering business on social media
Before we talk about ways to promote your catering business through social media, let’s first establish why being on social media is so important in the first place. Social media can optimise every aspect of your catering company. Not only is it a great way of promoting your catering business, but businesses are already expanding their social strategy beyond just marketing. Customer service, corporate communications, investor relations, product, research and development, and human resources are all joining in and becoming more relevant. It’s a brilliant way to find local partnerships and suppliers, too.
So let's talk about the big social media players on the scene and go over some tips that are specifically useful for each platform. You’ll be promoting your catering business like a true social media professional in no time!
How to promote your catering business on Twitter/X
Twitter/X is a bit like marmite and it’s the channel people struggle with the most as it’s fast and to the point. Content moves quickly, and hashtags are very popular. Twitter is very simple at its heart; it’s just conversations. It’s quite normal for Twitter users to post multiple times an hour, and joining in with others’ conversations is standard practice. A great way to get free PR and press coverage for your business is by following #JournoRequest.
Tip 1. Local hashtags
Hashtags link topics together. Two ‘tweets’ with the same hashtag will appear in their own ‘timeline’ and that gives you a great opportunity to appear in timelines where people you aren’t connected with will see it.
Search Twitter for your local area and try to work out what hashtag the locals use. Maybe there’s a council run one, or a buy local initiative? Search and seek the best one(s) and then add those to any tweets you send out about local news or even just when you’re working in the area.
Running an event? Share photos or videos from the event from set-up to clear down with the local hashtag.
Tip 2. Storytelling
Twitter is ideal for storytelling, but this doesn’t have to be a full-on Jackanory Storytime! Storytelling on Twitter can be as simple as sharing updates throughout your day to the people who follow you and the hashtags that you’re using.
People love BTS (Behind The Scenes) content. From loading up for an event to laying tables, cutting the beef, or pouring the champagne for the arrival of the bride and groom, Twitter allows you to share little snippets from your event day in real time… and followers love it.
Tip 3. Networking and brand awareness
Conversation is the lifeblood of Twitter, so you’re free to reply to anything you read.
This gives you endless opportunities to connect with those in your industry and potential future clients as well as maintaining relationships with your existing clients. It also allows you to listen and learn from the very people whose attention you want to attract. Polls will tell you what they’re interested in and help you decide your future strategy.
Twitter is very social and a great way to get your business seen. Share videos and images from events to really stand out or maybe tell them where you’ll be heading this coming weekend. Plenty of industries use hashtags to stay connected with other businesses in the same industry or geographical location. Here are some catering hashtags you might want to check out.
How to promote your catering business on Instagram
Instagram is clearly a very visual channel, and it gives you a great way to share beautiful photos of your final product. If Twitter is the gearbox, then Instagram is the shiny, polished paintwork.
Tip 4. Instagram feed
The main area of Instagram is the feed or wall, and these are often referred to as Instagram tiles on the grid. These are the photos or videos you share that stay on your profile forever and you can get really creative here.
Some accounts choose to theme these tiles, so they all tell a story one after another. Others stick to one style, while other accounts share all sorts of content with their followers. With food, it’s a given to share plated starters, mains, and desserts from events and those elaborate canapes and drinks receptions. Fill your feed with some mouth-watering creations and then encourage your enquiries and new leads to follow you to give them a ‘taste’ of what you can do.
Tip 5. Instagram stories
Stories are what’s known as disappearing content. An image or 15-second video can be uploaded to your ‘story’ and it will stay there for 24 hours before being deleted. Stories give you creative license to share your day on Instagram in a real-life, real-time way, and the most popular way to use stories is to give people that Behind-The-Scenes stuff they all love.
From staff birthdays to loading the van and setting up, and – yes – even mistakes, give your followers an insight into your life. It’s a powerful relationship-building tool and you’ll find that a lot of people watch stories but never reply or comment. You’d never even know they were there, but they’re consuming your content every day. These lurkers are the ones to keep track of!
Tip 6. Local hashtags
Just like Twitter, Instagram loves a good hashtag. Research the right ones for your posts and then find the local hashtags and also the best local GPS tag. You can add a location to your feed and your stories with tags.
Tip 7. Instagram reels
Instagram reels have been inspired by TikTok and allow you to share longer, more professional videos and put them on your stories to drive views to your videos.
You can share some longer video content like food tips, set-up advice, or some really great event tips that would show you as an expert in your field. Anything you make for Instagram can be used as TikTok content, or the other way around, too! Work smarter; not harder! Try to remove watermarks if you’re doing this, as the platform prefers content to be where it was created.
Tip 8. Use Instagram to network
If you want to grow your network on Instagram, you must stay up to date with conversations, trending topics, and industry news. By following relevant accounts, this will become easier, and you'll find more interesting content ideas to share with your followers.
How to promote your catering business on TikTok
TikTok may be the newer kid on the block, but it’s making some SERIOUS waves! In fact, it’s now rivalling Instagram and Facebook – and no, it’s not all about weird challenges and silly dances.
Tip 9. Go niche
It’s best not to cast your net too wide; instead you want to focus on your niche and attract the right potential customers to your page. Of course, your niche will vary depending on your business, but if you’re a catering business that mainly just does weddings for example, then that’s what you want to focus on and promote. Ensure your content is crafted around this idea and make sure you include relevant hashtags.
Tip 10. Get to the point
TikTok is all about short snappy videos that come in easy to digest chunks – in other words, no one wants to hear you ramble on. Identify a clear point to your video, use a catchy hook, and make it about that one topic. Don’t try to cram 10 points in; if the video is too long people won’t stick around to engage with it. Just make 10 shorter snappy videos instead!
How to promote your catering business on YouTube
YouTube is the world’s second-largest search engine and if you’ve been paying attention when you’re Googling, you’ll have noticed that YouTube videos appear on the first-page search results.
The best thing about this for you is that you have a great way to great found online for the keywords you’re trying to rank for. Not many people realise this, but YouTube will rank your videos based on the titles you use, and it will ‘index them’ (add them to Google) very quickly in comparison to Google.
Tip 11. Get some great videos online for the key things your customers ask you about
All those key questions can be answered on video, and you’ll win twice:
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You can send the videos to your clients when they ask – they’ll love you for this
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You’ll get found on YouTube when others search.
Add a link to your website in the YouTube descriptions for some extra Google love!
How to promote your catering business on Facebook
The big boy in social media is still very much working for businesses. There are always going to be new ways to make Facebook work, but here’s what works to help you promote your catering company now.
Tip 12. Facebook groups
Facebook Groups are a great place to find work as well as promote your catering business. Take some time to find and join relevant (often local) groups, and make sure you familiarise yourself with each groups rule as they do vary. Groups are searchable and our top tip for groups is to head there and network whilst searching for ‘events’ ‘weddings’ ‘parties’ ‘50th party’ and so on.
Tip 13. Facebook Live
Video is the channel to use on any social media, so it makes sense to use their ‘Live’ platform on Facebook. Live streaming on Facebook could work the same as Twitter or Instagram, sharing cooking lessons, or maybe ‘How to sharpen a knife’ or ‘Silver service tips. You get the idea, right?
Tip 14. Facebook Pages and Ads, and the Meta Pixel
Facebook is ‘pay to play’ now and if you’re not running the odd advert then you’ll no doubt be struggling to get people to see your posts. The good news is, Facebook ads are relatively cheap in comparison to other channels, so running some ads shouldn’t break the bank.
The best way seems to be using the clever re-marketing tools that Facebook has. Adding a Meta Pixel to your website gives you the chance to run ads or promote everyday posts to the people who visit your website. This is very powerful when you consider how many people research caterers for an event and then leave the websites without contacting the company.
How to promote your catering business on LinkedIn
LinkedIn has changed a lot and it’s far from the online CV site that it used to be. Now it’s more about content and most of the marketers we follow are raving about LinkedIn.
Tip 15. Content
Just like the other social media channels, hashtags, media (photos and video), and then straightforward text posts work well on LinkedIn. With promoting your catering business, you could take some of the content from the other channels that has done well and make your LinkedIn an expert feed or include food and beverage tips, or simply share updates from events like weddings and parties.
Tip 16. Connecting
LinkedIn is, at its heart, a people-to-people business connection tool, so use it that way. Work out whom you need to connect with and then search and connect with them. Set up your profile to attract them (LinkedIn is searchable so think about the words you have in your bio) and then connect.
Tip 17. Video
Video is a very powerful force on LinkedIn and thanks to the way LinkedIn works, videos play automatically and most comments and likes to share your videos with your connections’ followers. If you’re sharing a video from another channel to LinkedIn, remove the logo or it won’t be shown as much by the algorithm.
Tip 18. Search and comment
This is the key to LinkedIn. Work out who you need to connect with in your business and then go and find them on LinkedIn. Even with the free version of LinkedIn you can find people in the businesses you’d like to work with and connect with them. Which partnerships are useful for you? Who organises events? Who books caterers? They’re the ones to make connections with.
How to promote your catering business on Pinterest
Pinterest is built for beautiful things, and that includes food photos. Catering creates a wealth of content for a site like Pinterest and it’s also the best place to put things like recipes, event tips, or lists like “Things to ask your wedding caterer”.
Tip 19. Build boards
Pinterest is built around ‘Boards’. Boards are like an old-fashioned scrapbook where users ‘pin’ content they find from the web. A great way to get found and interacted with on Pinterest is to share great images, tips, and advice for certain topics, for example weddings, birthday parties, and more.
Tip 20. Search and SEO
Pinterest is searchable and that means you’ll get found… if you name your ‘pins’ carefully. Naming your images (pins) with search-friendly titles is important. Avoid jargon or in-house terms and instead, stick to the language your customers use instead. It’s a really effective way to promote your catering company in a natural way. And you know how much people love gorgeous food images!
Plato is an award-winning catering equipment hire business covering Birmingham, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire. We offer a range of services including equipment hire, crockery hire, glass hire, linen hire, and furniture hire.
We’re also a member of the SafeHire Certification Scheme, which means we have a proven competence in safety, health, environment, and quality. This ensures you’ll receive the highest possible quality of service and catering equipment hire. Contact us today to find out how working with us can take your event to the next level.