How to Get Free Food Using Instagram

Have you ever wondered how the best food accounts on Instagram are able to afford all that #delicious food? It might seem like they’re breaking the bank to fill their pages with content for your enjoyment, however, they’ve found a way to do it without spending any money at all! Keep reading to find out how you too can use your Instagram to start eating for free.

It’s not easy but with the right strategies and some hard work anyone can become a food influencer. Don’t believe me? We spoke with successful influencer Sean Kelly for his tips on starting your own food influencer page.

Focus on What You Enjoy

The first thing you need to think about when starting your food page is how you will differentiate yourself from all the other aspiring food pages. The best way to do this is to focus on the foods that you like, chances are other people also have similar tastes in foods as well.

Instead of focusing on how much content you can put on your page, put yourself in the shoes of one of your followers and think about what you would want to see on the page. People would rather see fewer pictures of high quality content than lots of pictures of foods that they might not find appealing. Many pages get the wrong idea that they need to post as many pictures as possible, but this can quickly backfire if the content is not up to your followers standards and will hurt your pages credibility.

When starting his page @delicious, Sean used trial and error to find the perfect amount of content to post on the page. He found that the optimal amount to post was one or two higher quality pictures everyday. This helped keep the attention of his followers on this page and thirsting for more.

Make it Appealing for Restaurants to be Featured

Remember that when you’re building the page, you want to make sure you structure it in a way that makes restaurants want to be featured. Just because you’re gaining followers doesn’t mean that you’re doing a good job making it appealing for restaurants who have a much different viewpoint than the average Instagram user.

Try to post pictures that encourage followers to engage with your posts. The more engagements your posts get the more appealing it will be for restaurants. Some ways to increase engagements are to ask questions on posts, post pictures that encourage people to tag their friends and the ability to host weekly giveaways on your page.  

Reaching Out to Restaurants

Once your page gains some credibility, it’s time to start contacting restaurants. Restaurants are always looking for new ways to reach new customers and you’re their new way of doing it! Even though you might not have hundreds of thousands of followers just yet, that doesn’t mean that restaurants won’t want to be featured on your page. Sean was able to get his first free meal using his account @delicious when it only had 12k followers.

The best way to get in contact with restaurants is to send them a direct message on Instagram from your page. Briefly introduce yourself and offer to post a picture of their food in exchange for a complimentary meal. It’s that simple! This will start out slow but don’t worry, as your page grows so will the number of restaurants who want to be featured. Eventually you’ll be able to use your page to eat for free almost everywhere you go!

As you scale your page, one thing you’ll want to think about is hiring a virtual assistant to help run your page. This will make it much easier to post consistently and they can also help you get in contact with more restaurants.  

It’s a Marathon not a Race

Rome wasn’t built overnight and your page won’t be either. The process of building an influencer page can take months or even years but don’t be discouraged as it’ll be well worth it in the long run. Follow these tips and you too can have a successful page like @delicious. Good luck!