How do you build your Instagram in such a way that viewers get a feel for dining in your restaurant?

Let's explore the relation between your guests' experience at your restaurant and the content you post on Instagram. When you boil it down, your guests experience your restaurant at three different levels: The product, the people around the product, and the place around the people.

So, all you have to do is fill your grid with posts and reels from each of the levels (in a ratio that makes sense for your overall strategy).

Product Level

At the deepest and most individual level, the experience is between your guest and her plate of food. We'll call this level the Product Level where the star of your content is your food (and drinks). The goal of the content here is to showcase your offerings, pique interest, and make viewers want to try the product. The content you use here could include product shoots, prep videos, plating videos.

If you provide something different in your market, it makes sense for you to invest heavily here. The rest of you—who aren't focused on pushing the culinary narrative—should explore the other two levels more, depending on where your strengths lie.

Service Level

If we zoom out of the plate a bit, the next level of experience is at the tables. This is the Service Level and it is all about the people. If you're proud of your exceptional service and hospitality but, the majority of your posts are focused on your products; it's time to rethink your content strategy.

User-generated and organic content are very strong here which means, this content is most likely to get the most shares. Use your content to celebrate your founders, your staff, your guests, and their interactions with each other.

Ambience Level

If we zoom out all the way back, we get to the collective experience of your dining area by all guests present at any moment. This is the Ambience Level.

You've worked hard to cultivate a certain atmosphere for your place; you really need to get your cameras out when your place comes alive—especially on the weekends—and show your viewers what it feels like to dine with you.

Some posts and most reels can satisfy more than one level and you'll also have a few miscellaneous content that may not satisfy any of these three levels.

The framework is barebones, and this is intentional.

You still need a strong differentiation strategy under it to stand out in the marketplace. You'll get the most out of this framework when you figure out your own unique way of incorporating it that makes sense for your overall strategy.

If you've followed so far then you're wondering how to put all this to use; read: 'Step-by-Step Instagram Framework Exercise for Restaurants'.

P.S.

If your content strategy doesn't benefit from making your Instagram feel like a window into your overall experience, then this framework may not work for you—and that is completely fine. What we've explained is just one way to go about it.

The concepts here can be applied beyond your Instagram content. This is just a simple framework to help you think about one of the intangible aspects of your restaurant business—the guest experience—in a more structured way.