How to grow your Restaurant following from 0 to 10K in 45 days

Let me take a guess:

You create fresh content daily. You use the right hashtags. You post 3 times a day. Your reply to everyone who comments on your posts. Yet the results are negligible.

The number of followers on your Instagram account remains appalling. You don’t even remember the last time your follower count went up. At the rate that this is going on, you are going to give up.

How can Instagram be a profitable channel for your restaurant, if your number of followers doesn’t grow?

I reached out to several Instagram marketing experts, and got them to answer this one question:

“If you were to grow a restaurant brand new Instagram account from zero followers to 10,000 followers in under 30 days, how would you do it?”

Below are their answers.

And I am 100% sure you will find something new to try… and shoot up your Instagram following.

1. Power liking method

Cost INR 30000 – 50000/- a month, depends on how many likes per day 1-3x

What are powers likes and why does it work?

 Power likes are likes/comments from a network of large accounts (100k+ accounts are considered large) as soon as your post goes live. The intent is to play into the Instagram algorithm where a post’s first ten minutes are most crucial for gaining traction and determining how it’ll do in reaching beyond your current following.

 It works two-fold: By flooding traffic from the large accounts over to yours from the ‘Following’ tab, as well as triggering the algorithm to recognize that large accounts are enjoying that piece of content.

 This will not only increase the post’s reach to more of your current followers but increases its chances significantly in hitting the Explore page, where you’re reaching beyond your current audience and grow organically and quickly.

2. Shoutouts/giveaways/contests

Network with other big Instagram accounts in your niche and try and set up a giveaway contest with them. This is a great way to grow your following fast. By collaborating with a 3 Million follower account and 300k + account, you could grow up to 2,500 -3,000 + in less than a week. For example, maybe you have a cafe bar and want more Fashion followers, you could create 2 meal Vouchers all-inclusive worth Rs 5000 each from your menu for 2 Pax, full-board. To be entered into the contest, you have to follow these accounts (the two large Fashion accounts and yours), and the more friends you tag, the higher chances of you winning. The set-up price of these contests vary in price and could cost you anywhere from 15 to 50 thousand Rupees. It just depends on whom you know, like how big your network is and what you can offer these huge accounts in return to create a mutually beneficial business relationship.

3. Post viral content

Open up your Instagram app; look at What's on your Explore page tab. All viral videos and pictures with thousands and thousands of views and likes. Most of this content is what we call viral content, unique and original and “way out there”. The more open you are to posting viral content the higher chances you will have of going viral on Instagram while using the above methods. An example of viral content: https://www.instagram.com/voxxymedia/  

4. Be consistent

To be good at anything, you must do it every single day. For example, you aren’t going to be an awesome sports player if you only play one or two times a week. You have to practice each and every day. Same with social media, you have to be consistent and posting each and every day, respond to comments, direct messages, like and comment on your target market, do market research, research and rotate hashtags daily, participate in engagement groups, use Instagram lives, stories, etc. and create original impressive content. Easily 3-4 hours a day. 

If you don’t have time to do this, outsource it. Build your brand. Your name is your most important asset. Reputation is what others think you are. Character is what you are. Grow your following, provide great value for your fans, teach, inspire, give, give, GIVE and watch your circle of influence grows, network expansion, and more opportunities will come your way. You will find that it’s a lot easier to negotiate anything, seal deals, pretty much do anything when you grow your following and brand. You are the brand. You are the commodity. Think of Instagram as your new name card, so when you are out and about and you meet someone, exchange biz cards but then say hey let’s stay in touch via Instagram, pull up your account on their phone, and then they are like WOW you have 100k followers. You are legit! Definitely piques their interest more and helps you stand out from everyone else they met that night.

5. Piggyback on Giants 

There are so many other people in your niche who are 10 steps ahead of you (with huge audiences).

 So reach out to them and ask them to feature you. Yes, you may have to pay a little bit but it’s totally worth it. If you pick the right influencers, their followers are your target audience also. So don’t hesitate to spend some money. Let’s create a step by step process so we can easily follow

 1.     Find 10–20 Instagram influencers in your niche

2.     You can search on Instagram or use 3rd party tools (e.g. https://www.plixxo.com/ by PopXO, OPA, https://www.influencer.in/, https://pulpkey.com/ and many more)

3.     Find the contact info of the owners. Note: If their contact info is public on their account, this means they open for business)

4.     Reach out and find out how much their charge for a “shout out” or “feature post”

5.     I would pick 10 and have them feature my brand new account. Then pick the best 3 to 4 best performing influencers and do it again.

“You either build the audience from scratch or go to someone who already has the audience you need.”

6. Micro-Influencers

Micro-influencers are proven to generate 60% more engagement than the average celebrity influencer – 22 times more average weekly conversations on every post. This comes down to one simple fact – consumers love hearing from other consumers.

Micro-influencers are proven to receive higher engagement on their posts. Research shows that a micro-influencer with 3 - 10k followers generates around 4% engagement, compared to someone with 100k followers, who will generate around a 2% engagement on average.

 One of the most valuable things about micro-influencers is being able to tap into their pre-built communities and reach your ideal customer. Because micro-influencers build their followings around a particular niche, you’re able to target highly engaged audiences with a specific interest in your category.

For any queries or feedback, please feel free to DM or reach me on [email protected] or +91 828 716 5080