By Courtney Jacobs, Account Intern

Brands are constantly looking for ways to engage with consumers on social media. However, one challenge is noticing the trends occurring on various platforms and capitalizing on them successfully before the competition. One such trend that is growing in popularity centers around food.

It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t enjoy food, and millennials and artists alike are embracing this. The foodie movement has increased the number of millennials cooking meals and eating out at unique restaurants. There are approximately 170 million Instagram posts using #food. The growing appreciation for aesthetically pleasing pictures of dishes has brought both amateur and professional photographers to the movement. The ability to share their work through social media instantly is a refreshing change from traditional work. And now, some savvy brands and CVBs are using their own accounts to promote themselves.

With about 300 million monthly users, Instagram is the main platform for inexplicit visual food marketing. Brands, from their own accounts, can show their product in a personal way that doesn’t forcefully shove the brand name onto the feeds of users. A focus on mimicking the behavior of Instagrammers is key. This means creating content that shows creativity and personality, rather than a product.

Brands where food is their focus have it easy. McDonald’s and Teavana Tea successfully capture an active Instagram audience by showcasing artworks that use this their products as the medium and not the message. The pictures are visually appealing and fit naturally on Instagram.

Figure 1/@mcdonalds

Figure 2/@teavanatea

If your brand isn’t a food brand, it might seem like food is irrelevant or out of place on your Instagram. But that thinking misses the purpose of Instagram. It isn’t a platform where you have to only show your products in each post. It’s a platform for you to develop your brand’s personality and authenticity through images that might also include your product.

If you play along with the trend of including artistic food creations on your social media, you will not only popularize the post and attract new users to your account, but humanize your brand.

Take for instance Chaco. They’re a shoe company, yet their Instagram feed is full of images like the one below that show people enjoying normal activities like eating an ice cream sandwich or hiking, while casually slipping in a soft-focused or off-to-the-side pair of sandals. The accompanying captions don’t promote the perks of wearing Chaco shoes, but talk to followers like a friend gushing about how refreshing a strawberry and lime popsicle is on a summer day. It’s all about capturing the moment, and in turn capturing your audience, with food acting as the ultimate wingman.
Figure 3/@chacofootwear

Whether your brand image is classy or casual, food is fun. Show that in your posts, and people will notice. Show off the vibrant colors, cool designs and appetizing appearance of food, and use these attributes to compliment your brand’s image and align your products with the same ideas and sentiments.

Figure 3/@chacofootwear

Whether your brand image is classy or casual, food is fun. Show that in your posts, and people will notice. Show off the vibrant colors, cool designs and appetizing appearance of food, and use these attributes to compliment your brand’s image and align your products with the same ideas and sentiments.

Figure 4/@jcrew

CVBs have the challenge of marketing a destination and experience as their product. Lucky for them, times are changing and Millennials have shown a strong tendency to value memorable, genuine experiences over material possessions. About 78 percent of millennials say they’d spend money on an experience before buying a desirable good, according to a Harris and Eventbrite study.

This generational mindset goes hand in hand with Instagram, as young people search social media for new ideas about what to wear, what to eat and where to go.

It’s time for CVBs to shine by doing what they do best – showing off their community.

Places like Gwinnett County, Georgia, and Frankenmuth, Michigan, are on top of it already. Their Instagram pages are dominated by pictures of culinary offerings from local shops and breweries. It’s a way to highlight local restaurants or unique cultures within the area, like Frankenmuth’s strong Bavarian heritage, and the options are limitless. The food can be as normal as a cup of coffee, or as distinctive as an IPA from a single-shop brewery. You can never post too much of the regular, as long as it’s done slightly different each time. Many Instagram users call this the 80/20 rule, meaning the majority of your pictures can have the same old content as long as about 20 percent of the composition is special, whether it’s a new design in the latte foam or a picturesque backdrop behind the hotdog you’re holding in the air (#foodintheair).

Figure 5/@frankenmuth

Figure 6/@exploregwinnett

Food pictures are an easy way to appeal to people’s eyes and stomachs, and with the help of free apps like VSCO the process of creating quality images is almost effortless. All you need is a camera and you’re ready to promote your town through one of the most popular and trendiest categories on Instagram.

Share the love – of food and your town. With the help of a catchy hashtag, you can also employ thousands of helpers and post user-generated pictures, which eases the pressure of one person keeping up an active Instagram. The possibilities for creativity are endless. Be human, get hungry and get out there.