How to Create Behind-the-Scenes Content to Promote Your Venue
Why do customers choose to follow restaurants or venues on social media? Well first, they probably like the brand. But second, they most likely want to hear about new products, special deals or events, noteworthy news, and behind-the-scenes content that others who do not follow the account would miss out on. Most of this content can be shared as photos and videos on social media, making visual content an important way to connect your customers with behind the scenes moments.
As a restaurant or unique venue, there are many interesting aspects of your daily operations that may be of interest to your audience. When diners come to your restaurant, they are looking for a taste of the experience you have to offer, even beyond the food and drink they order. That’s what hospitality is all about, right? Why not try to emulate that experience to a degree on social media?
We’ve got four types of content your restaurant or venue can create to give your customers a great behind-the-scenes experience that will motivate them to book with you and grow your revenue.
1. Behind the scenes: The kitchen
Everyone loves beautiful food photos, and they are often the go-to post shown on a restaurant Instagram account. But what about taking it a step further and trying food videos that show what goes into creating the food? When deciding on content to create, try filming behind-the-scenes moments of your top chef making the food or setting the finishing touches on a gorgeous entree. If you work closely with your farmers and suppliers, share the process that it takes for the ingredients you use in the kitchen to get to your restaurant. Customers who dine at your restaurant may be interested in seeing how exactly their favorite dishes are put together before they are placed in front of them.
2. Behind the scenes: The bar
Similarly to how someone who appreciates the dining experience would enjoy food content, they would probably also enjoy seeing behind-the-scenes content from the perspective of your bar. There are many creative routes to show off your bar experience, but simply taping your bartender as he or she makes your specialty cocktail and posting it as an Instagram or Facebook story is a great place to start. Some restaurants will even create IGTV (Instagram television) video posts with the bartender teaching the audience how to create the beverage, with step-by-step instructions. While enjoying a cocktail from a bar stool is an irreplaceable experience, sharing what exactly goes into creating the drink enables customers to emulate the experience at home. Customers often take photos of the cocktails they love while in a restaurant, or potentially the cocktail they created inspired by your bartender, and then tag the restaurant on social media, creating the perfect opportunity for obtaining user-generated content that you can repost. Make sure you tag the original creator of the image when you do this!
3. Behind the scenes: Meet the team
If customers love your service, they probably love your team. Show off your team throughout their workday to show customers what the restaurant employees do throughout their shift. An employee could “take over” the Instagram account for the day, and simply record a video of themselves going about their day and what the jobs entails. Highlight your team with employee spotlight photos and posts on your feed so that customers get to know your staff as well. If a customer recognizes a server or bartender from your social media posts, it will only make the customer feel even more at home while at your venue. Use social media to create the atmosphere that their customers are part of the restaurant’s community.
4. Behind the scenes: Events
As an event management software company, we understand the intricacies that go into planning and conducting an event. Let your followers know what events look like at your venue! Use photos and videos to show off the event spaces, employees prepping for events, event room setup, and guests arriving at the event. There are many steps that go into preparing for the event that everyone sees as the finished product, but followers may be interested to see how exactly the dining room is transformed into an unrecognizable party setting. This type of behind the scenes content is not only interesting but also promotes the fact that you offer events in many different capacities.
Expand your social media knowledge
Now that you have ideas on what kind of behind the scenes content to post, check out this blog post about optimizing your business’ Instagram account to ensure your venue is setting yourself up for success on the app overall. And download our Events Industry Handbook, The Event Professional’s Guide to Creating a Marketing Plan, to help you figure out what tools to use, how and what type of marketing content to create, and how to determine success and improvement in three easy steps.