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Thousands of people get lost in the infinite Instagram scroll.

We follow friends, family members, and influencers we like on daily basis through the power of social media. It seems like Instagram has taken over the social media world, and it’s become of the most popular apps for our phones.

Because of its popularity, Instagram can be a powerful tool for marketing your food truck. Seeing photos of your delicious dishes and fire graphics wrap is sure to tempt potential customers.

Below is a quick guide for food truck owners on how to use Instagram as a marketing tool. Keep reading, and get ready for a business boost.

Know the Features

Before getting into the details, it’s important to know how to use Instagram. 

Most importantly, know how to use the posting feature. Regularly create posts with witty captions and strategic hashtags. 

Next, make sure you follow other accounts. Follow other food trucks you like, local businesses, and some of your favorite customers.

You’ll also want to explore the Instagram stories feature. Instagram stories are up for 24 hours at a time. You can create boomerangs, make polls, share music, tag other people, and post pictures. For food truck operators, the story feature can be where you share your current location so customers will know where to find you.

Build Engagement

People love a responsive, engaged business. You’ll be able to connect with locals through the magic of social media. (Tip: Use social media to connect people with your mobile business app.)

Make sure to always tag your location so people can easily find your truck. You can even put your location in your bio section on your profile. Use the story option to update people daily on your location and hours if it changes. 

It’s important to either check your account regularly or turn on your notifications, so you’ll know if a customer tags you in a post. You can share these, if they’re positive, to showcase your customer satisfaction. If a customer posts something negative, it gives you a chance to respond, rectify the situation and possibly gain a loyal patron. 

A great way to engage customers is by creating polls in your stories. Ask people whether they prefer deep dish or thin crust pizza, curly or waffle fries, or sweet tea or lemonade. Polls are a great way to get feedback about your menu or decide on weekly specials.

Create Incentives

Create small incentives like giveaways and rewards for tagging your business. For example, if someone posts a picture of your food truck on Instagram and tags you, give them a coupon or a free food item.

You can also ask followers to share your posts. Make it a contest and randomly draw a lucky winner to receive free meal. Some food trucks have even been creating virtual scavenger hunts by hiding small free meal tickets in their area. They give clues on social media to get people to try and find them.

By creating fun opportunities, you’ll bring in new customers and cement your popularity with loyal diners.

Successful Food Truck Owners Use the Power of Instagram

All food truck owners should be using Instagram to attract customers. It’s simple and effective.

Make sure you know all the features of Instagram and take time to explore them. Build engagement on your profile, and take the time to answer questions and comments. 

Ready to start your first food truck? Check out some of our recent projects to get some ideas. And when you’re ready, request a quote for your custom truck!

Want more food truck advice? Check out more blog posts here!

Thinking about starting a food truck? Request a free custom quote and one of our food truck specialists will help you design the truck of your dreams.

Stay up to date on everything Custom Concessions has to offer! Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

The post How to Use Instagram As a Marketing Tool: A Guide for Food Truck Owners appeared first on Custom Concessions.

Photo: Freepik

In the United States alone, there are over 25,000 food trucks!

How do you make yours stand out in a sea of others?

One key is through food truck advertising on social media. Keep reading to discover seven tips for a successful social media strategy. 

1. Keep Your Socials Updated

When it comes to social media advertising for your food truck, nothing is more important than keeping your socials up to date! You shouldn’t make an Instagram one week and then neglect it the next. If people come across one of your social media platforms that seems abandoned, they’ll think that your food truck has been too.

2. Location Information

As a food truck, you’re constantly on the move. At any given time, if someone feels like eating a burrito from your truck specifically, they should be able to look on any of your socials and find out where you will be and at what times. 

Customers don’t have the luxury of always counting on your truck to be there, like with a brick and mortar store. Think of updating your social media with your location as paying your rent to stay in the same spot. It needs to be done!

You can make it easier on yourself by linking your socials to one location page that you update.

3. Menus (With Labels)

Perhaps one of the worst things about trying to eat out is trying to find a menu that seems ever so elusive. Very few people want to go to a restaurant if they have no idea what their options will be and how much they’ll cost. Your socials should include a way to easily access your current menu. 

Additionally, so many people these days have dietary restrictions, whether vegetarian, vegan or food allergies. Your menu should be very clear about what’s in your dishes and should be labeled accordingly. 

4. Use Stories

People love to know who’s behind the wheel and the spatula! So let your customers get to know you. Post stories about where you are on any given day, what new recipes you’re creating, and the amazing customers that you meet. 

Stories will help you connect with new clients and reconnect with old ones and they’re especially popular at food truck festivals. 

5. Repost User Content

It’s common practice to take photos of your food, especially when it’s from a food truck that’s active on social media. People love to feel heard, so a repost to the feed or to your story is a fantastic way to grow a loyal following. Plus, it saves you a lot of time creating your own photos. 

Use a social media scheduling service that keeps track of user-generated content and allows you to quickly organize your social feeds. 

6. Offer Unique Discounts

Offering discounts on your food for a follow on social media is a great way to get new followers and loyal customers. Every few weeks post something special on one of your accounts with a unique “codeword” that gets people a discount or bonus item.

7. Engage, Engage, Engage

On all of your socials, you need to constantly be engaging—whether with customers, foodies, bloggers, or other food trucks. Seeing your username popping up in feeds and comments will create brand recognition, and more importantly, get you new customers. 

Start Your Food Truck Advertising Plan Today

Now that you know how food truck advertising on social media works, plan your own strategy. Set up times throughout the day to be active on social media and to update your location. 

Keep reading to discover more tips and tricks to a successful food truck business!

Want more food truck advice? Check out more blog posts here!

Thinking about starting a food truck? Request a free custom quote and one of our food truck specialists will help you design the truck of your dreams.

Stay up to date on everything Custom Concessions has to offer! Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

The post 7 Essential Tips for Food Truck Advertising on Social Media appeared first on Custom Concessions.

What if your food truck could become the hottest new business in town? No matter how good your food is, becoming a successful business is all about marketing. Unfortunately, many owners don’t know how to take their food truck marketing to the next level.

A good social media strategy can help propel your business to new heights. Keep reading to learn more about how to improve that strategy and achieve serious success!

1. Jazz Up the Menu

Many owners think their social media strategy should be limited to social media platforms. The reality is that many social media initiatives take place “off-screen.”

For example, social media users will want to check out your menu online before coming to the food truck. This gives you a perfect chance to jazz up your menu before posting it.

Try to add plenty of images and an eye-catching cover. Don’t be afraid to upsell: recommend which dishes and drinks complement each other for maximum flavor!

2. Make It Visual

Earlier, we talked about the importance of making the menu more visual. However, that wisdom extends to your entire social media strategy.

While it’s not the only thing your customers care about, most of them have visited your social media page to learn more about your food. This is why you should prominently feature professional photographs of your tastiest dishes.

Feature those images in your posts and encourage customers to like, comment, and share. This helps get new customers’ attention while turning the old ones into brand ambassadors for your food truck.

3. Use QR Codes

So far, we have focused on how social media can drive new customers to your food truck. But have you considered how to steer your food truck customers to your social media platforms?

One surefire way to do this is QR codes. Customers can simply scan the code with their smartphone and are instantly taken to your social media.

You can use a similar strategy to drive customers to your website. It is highly effective because it takes most of the work out of finding your truck online.

4. Multi-Platform

How many social media platforms is your business currently using? Chances are that you’d be better off by adding a new platform (or two, or three).

Different platforms have different strengths. Facebook makes it easy for customers to engage with you and for you to track analytics. Meanwhile, Instagram makes it easy to focus on your absolute best food photography and share it with users online.

Keep in mind that various third-party apps help you cross-post and schedule future posts. This helps you post to multiple platforms without giving up all of your free time.

5. Advertise Major Events

When used correctly, social media is the perfect vehicle to advertise your food truck. And those advertisements should focus heavily on major events.

Are you unveiling a new dish, or maybe taking part in a downtown block party? Use social media to make customers aware of what’s going on.

These advertisements build anticipation and word-of-mouth advertising. And anyone who finds out after the fact will have serious FOMO, making them likelier to come to the next major event you throw.

6. Online-Only Coupons

The quickest way to a customer’s heart is through their wallet. That’s why you should feature online-only coupons and deals.

Customers will get instant gratification from the ability to save money. And making those deals a regular occurrence (such as posting new ones every month) is a great way to get customers coming back.

The more they save, the more they buy. And they’ll be happy to tell others about the great deals they found online.

7. Engage With Customers

Social media marketing must be different from traditional marketing. If all of your posts are pure advertisement, it will quickly turn away customers who want something more substantial.

This is why you should have posts that engage with your customers. For example, you can let customers vote on what your next new dish will be. Or you can ask them to post pictures of their favorite meals.

Inviting such engagement increases loyalty and helps your online community thrive. 

8. All Analytics, All the Time

Redesigning your social media strategy means making several big changes. It’s important to understand whether these changes are having a major impact on your business.

First, don’t forget to use the analytics of your chosen social media platform. Facebook, for example, provides an easy way for you to look at every aspect of user engagement with your professional page.

Second, try to cross-reference those analytics results with your revenue. If you can tie an increase in customers to new social media strategies, this means you’re on the right track with your strategy.

9. Regular Posting

Retaining customers online is just as important as retaining them offline. In order to do this, you need to regularly post new content.

If you only post one or twice a month, you will not have much customer engagement. Furthermore, a low post count may keep your page buried by the social media algorithms.

Try to commit to posting once a day or several times a week. This gives loyal customers something to look forward to without completely clogging their timeline.

10. Networking Synergy

Fortunately, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel when you reinvent your social media strategy. Old techniques such as networking still work wonders.

Let’s say you want to be a brand that many people trust. One of the easiest ways to do so is to partner up with an existing brand.

Try to get a well-known food blogger or influencer to create original content about your food truck. Additionally, see if they will regularly mention you to their own group of fans.

This technique builds credibility with potential customers while letting you benefit from someone else’s built-in audience.

Food Truck Marketing: Serve It Up

Now you know the secret to food truck marketing via social media. But do you know the secret to running a successful truck?

Want more food truck advice? Check out more blog posts here!

Thinking about starting a food truck? Request a free custom quote and one of our food truck specialists will help you design the truck of your dreams.

Stay up to date on everything Custom Concessions has to offer! Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

The post Food Truck Marketing: 10 Ways to Improve Your Social Media Strategy appeared first on Custom Concessions.