If you’re a coffee shop owner or manager, you’ve probably heard that Instagram is the best social network to reach new customers.
And it’s true. Coffee shops across the world use Instagram to drive sales and foot traffic to their businesses, but you’ll need a trick or two up your sleeve.
Fortunately, today we’re taking a look at 10 very successful examples of using Instagram to attract coffee shop customers. You can use them to grow your business immediately, or just let them inspire your strategy.
Let’s dive in!
1. Leverage visuals to grow your coffee shop with Instagram
Look, everyone loves coffee. Your customers definitely do, which is why they post so many pics of their coffee cups.
What can you do to use that for marketing?
Give them a reason to post the coffee you made.
The same goes for the interior of your coffee shop.
People are always on the lookout for instagrammable coffee shops.
Make your place one of them, and you’ll be growing your coffee shop with Instagram (even if you don’t have a profile).
2. Be irresistible to new customers who find you on Instagram
Just because you reach potential customers on Instagram doesn’t mean they’ll stick around. That’s why it’s important to make your profile irresistible to new customers:
- Make sure your profile pic is bright and airy or use your logo
- Use your description to describe your approach to coffee and get an emotional response from future customers
- Make your content appealing to strangers
- Offer something extra (cool) in the highlights
For example, take a look at Hong Kong’s NOC Coffee Co on Instagram:
They’re stating their approach in the bio, making strangers automatically feel connected to them, offering extra materials in the highlights such as their digital loyalty card, locations, and food items, and their content promotes more than their coffee shop.
It promotes the NOC Coffee urban lifestyle, and it’s irresistible.
3. Know how to use hashtags
It’s not enough to just add hashtags and expect people to follow you.
Most of the time, no one’s even scrolling through them.
However, what you can do is use hashtags to find new people to interact with.
For example, if your coffee shop is in #ChicagoLoop, go into the hashtag and interact with people. Like their posts, comment on them, and follow them.
Instagram will reward your coffee shop with follower growth and better visibility if you do.
4. Speaking of hashtags, don’t forget about geotagging
Since most people don’t use general hashtags, you shouldn’t do it, either.
Instead, you can use local hashtags and location tags.
If you add your location to every post, people looking for your coffee shop will find you because you’re nearby. If you don’t say where you are, Instagram can’t show your café to the people looking for a cool new place.
5. Show you appreciate your customers’ loyalty
If you own or run a coffee shop, having a digital loyalty program is a must.
However, you don’t just have to use it to retain and reward your existing customers. You can also use a loyalty program like Loopy Loyalty to show your new customers how much you’ll appreciate them.
Customer loyalty marketing is powerful because people relate to other people.
And if strangers see you appreciate people just like them, they’ll be more likely to drop by and grab a cup.
6. Stimulate engagement with contests
While you may be using Loopy Loyalty to offer a digital stamp card, you can still reward your followers for helping you improve your Instagram visibility.
You can get really creative with contests; from asking followers to snap a pic and win a reward, to asking them to tag the friend who needs to take them out for a cup of coffee.
Just make sure you ask your followers to either share or tag their friends.
7. Find influencers who really love coffee
There are a lot of influencers out there, but if you want to use them to grow your coffee shop with Instagram, find some local ones.
First, make sure that they’re followed by the people in your area, and then approach them.
Having great visuals really helps when they’re creating sponsored content, and sometimes the only payment can be a cup of delicious coffee on the house.
8. Tell your coffee shop’s story
Or: master the art of writing Instagram captions.
When people are scrolling down their feed, they’ll see a lot of coffee. Especially if they’re coffee aficionados you want to attract.
Now, most coffee shops just add a few emojis and call it a day.
You can do better by telling a story.
You can do this by writing about:
- The current day at the café
- Your team
- The idea behind this particular coffee
- The coffee’s origin
- Who this coffee is best suited for
And much more.
Or just borrow a pun or two from Elizabeth Jurek 🙂
9. Interact with your followers
Yes, you run a business, but on Instagram, everyone has to be social to make it.
There are two reasons for this: delighting your customers and feed priority.
If you frequently engage with your followers, they’ll see your posts at the top of their feed.
And if you engage with other people who aren’t your followers (yet), your content will pop up in their Explore pages.
Soon enough, you’ll have more followers than beans in your storage.
10. Draw them in with coffee, win them over with your personality
Just because you’re brewing coffee doesn’t mean your Instagram can’t be full of your personality.
The truth is: there’s great coffee everywhere. However, very few coffee shops have personality with quirks that make us love them.
Just take a look at Alfred’s Instagram:
Memes, cute photos, questions and good old coffee — this coffee shop is the entire package.
And while the coffee is good, it’s the vibe that draws everyone in.
