Hey guys, it's Wilson here.
Today we're going to be diving in how do you shoot one month's worth of social media content
for your restaurant or cafe?
When we first started, it was really, really confusing for us because we were spending
hundreds and thousands of dollars on social media agencies, who come and shoots these
pictures for us.
Yet, we don't even know if it's worthwhile.
We see the likes, we see people commenting, but is it really driving people through the
doors?
Is it really worth the investment that we're pouring through?
And that's the reason why after months of doing that, we decided to put everything in
house.
We decided to train one of our staff to shoot the social media content for us.
And it has been working wonders.
That's the reason why today we're doing this video.
I'm going to be sharing with you all the tricks, all the templates that we have and all systems,
so then that way you can treat your staff, and you can save thousands of dollars within
that year on social media content.
And that's what we're going to be doing today.
Let's dive right in guys.
When we're doing social media marketing, there's basically four parts.
Planning, shooting, distributing, and engaging.
So if we want to be able to shoot all the content in one day, the number one thing you
need to do is to plan.
Understand why are we shooting this?
Are we shooting it for a new product or are we shooting this for a new campaign?
Whether it be a Valentine's Day campaign, or a new product that you're about to launch.
It is so important to us to understand what types of contents do we want to grab and what
types of contents do we want to shoot.
And the reason for that is because on the day of your shot, you're looking at crunch
time.
You want to make sure that it saves you time and energy so you don't have to double the
amount of work that you're going to be doing.
Condense everything together.
Right now we're planning our shoot for a typical product.
We're shooting for our new products as well, which is a new Taiyaki sandwich style that
we're shooting.
We're shooting for our April Fools campaign, and we're shooting for our new waffle cone
item as well.
So we're planning all of these items and shoots and content that we're doing, all in one day.
That's exactly what we're doing right now.
So after understanding the goal of why you're shooting, it is very important for you to
have a shot list.
And when I talk about shot list, we're talking about list of different shots that you're
looking for, for your output.
So when we're talking about social media content, if you're looking for 20 different posts for
a month, then you need to plan 20 different shoots.
Or if it's 15, then it'd be 15 but at the end of the day, understand that you would
need a shot list because on the day of the shot, you don't have time to think.
You would want to have a list composed and designed beforehand.
A lot of times what we use is a Pinterest for us to find inspiration on different shots
that would be looking for.
And this is a very good resource that you can use to plan your shot list.
Now that you have time for your goals, you understand your shot list, it is very important
for you to have your props because these are the items that would really elevate your ingredient,
and your items, and food menu.
For us, we require on these prompts to emphasize on why is it so good about our product, and
this is something that a lot of times is overseen and overlooked.
So when you finally through your shot, make sure to have your props ready because on the
day of your shot, you do not want to be missing prompts because that's going to also take
a lot of your time and energy and money.
After you've figured out what your prompts, it is very important to make sure that you
have all your equipment ready.
So many times, in the beginning when we were doing this, we actually did not have our equipment
ready, and we actually had to reschedule for another day.
When it comes to shooting and when it comes to actually planning, you want to have everything
in place because there are so many different variation and variables involved, you do not
want to miss things.
Camera is super important.
We have our camera over here.
A tripod, we have memory cards, we have battery.
Everything needs to be charged.
Memory needs to be in place.
I still remember there's this time we actually did not ... Was not able to shoot because
our memory card was full, and we did not have battery.
We arranged for actors, we arranged for the store to be closed so we can actually have
a day of shot, but we had to be rescheduled because of these mistakes.
At the end of the day, if you don't have these equipments, it's okay.
You can actually use your iPhone to shoot, and still comes up to be very, very nice.
Now that you've planned for your shot, we're going to go into phase two which is the shooting
part.
It is super important on the shooting part you have all your props ready.
You're basically ... Your shot list and it is very important for you to be able to have
your shop list, and follow it.
If you have everything planned out this process should not take you any more than two, three
hours, because you've done all the work already on the theme of your shot.
You're going to be able to go through all your shots and you're going to follow these
shots in advance, and prepare for it, all in advance.
That's the reason why we did our homework beforehand.
As you can see, when you're shooting, do not forget lighting, it is super important for
us to do so.
At the end of the day having a shot list is super important, but that doesn't mean you
shouldn't be creative.
Some of our best shots, with the most engagement, with the most comments, are the shots that
we became creative with.
Use your surroundings.
Use lifestyle shots, use hero shots, use shots that really tell your stories.
People enjoying your products.
Because, once again, you have a shot list, it is only for referencing, it's only to make
sure you have all the shots you need for your month.
Be creative, have fun with this whole process, and you're going to be able to shoot all your
shots within one day.
One thing to look out for as lighting and composition.
I can not stress how important it is to understand the basics of lighting.
Natural lighting is always the best.
Composition of your pictures, always very important as well.
So at the end of the day, if you would want to find some resources online.
I'm going to provide a few different resources that I find super helpful on the link below,
that teaches you the basics on composition and lighting.
This actually makes your photo so much better.
It makes it look like a professional photographer actually took these pictures, if you can actually
understand the proper lighting, and proper compensation of your picture.
So that's the reason why it's super important, it's going to save you tons of money with
professional photography.
The second thing that you should also note for, it's the styling of the food.
A lot of the times the natural picture, in a natural state of the food, is not going
to be good enough.
So a lot of times we actually add in extra ingredients to make it better.
If it's cheese, we add in extra cheese to make it the good effect.
Or if it's a smoke effect, we can actually amplify those different effects, just so then
that way we can get the shot we're looking for.
When you're looking into your shot, make sure you understand the nature of your ingredient,
and make it amplified for your patrons, because at the end of the day, you're telling a story
through your pictures, and if it looks better, more people will buy through your shot.
The third process in planning your shoot is distribution.
When we're talking about distribution, post production of your picture is so, so, so important.
It is a night and day difference.
When it comes down to it, you can actually check this picture out and this picture out.
Night and day difference.
So when you're talking about post production, a lot of times it's really intimidating, but
it doesn't have to be that way.
You can actually ... If for example, the staff that does it, if they know how to do it, great.
If they do not know how to do it, use services like fiverr.com.
Pay $5.00 for people to edit the picture for you, to make it much nicer.
Or, if you do not want to pay for any of these services, your Instagram filter does wonders
as well.
There are a lot of different apps on your phone that actually teaches you, and allows
you to be able to do some quick touch ups on your photos.
And they are definitely a must do for your shot.
Now that you have the shot ready, not that you have pictures ready, captions and editing,
we're going to be talking about distribution.
We're going to jump right into it.
You guys, now that you have your shot ready, post edited, now you can actually figure out
now how do you distribute this.
A lot of times we are not consistent, because we're bombarded with day to day operations,
and at the end of the day you just totally forget to post.
You don't have time to be on your phone dealing with the captions for 30 minutes, while there
are people walking through the doors.
That's the reason why we use one day to plan for the whole month of distribution.
And a really good software that we use is called later.com, which allows you to schedule
the posts in advance.
You can actually see the grid of how it looks like.
then you can actually make your Instagram feed super nice.
This is something that we use.
Basically, you can just go and sign up for an account, it's completely free.
And then you can put all your pictures in there.
As you can see, these are the pictures that we have been taking, and we're just throwing
them on here.
We add the tags, so we know exactly what types of product that we are actually uploading,
right here.
This to is super helpful for us, and it allows us to plan and distribute the content on a
monthly basis.
As you can see, this is the calendar view of what it's gonna look like.
What we do is, we can actually just drag, let's say for example we want this picture
to be distributed on a certain day.
Let's say March the 31st.
We drag it, leave it here.
Right here I can post a caption, "You are beautiful."
And then there's the hashtag suggestions, you can tag people with this offer.
Super amazing software to use.
Now that you can actually plan everything on this board instead of your small little
iPhone, or whatever phone device that you're using.
This is super, super effective when it comes to planning the month of your content.
Now that you have your content distributed, now that you have your content schedule, the
fourth step of this whole process, which no one really talks about, no one really spends
the time to emphasize, is engaging.
It is so important for you to engage with your audience.
Now just because you've been picture posted up, and hashtags, a lot of people are liking
it and commenting, doesn't mean your job is done.
Now is the real work.
You need to engage with your customers.
That's how you're going to be able to build your loyal fans.
Why are we even doing social media marketing?
It is only one element.
It's a strategy for branding.
This strategy of building the community of your raving fans.
That's the reason why we're doing this, and a lot of times we think that social media
marketing is one and all of marketing.
"Hey, I'm doing social media, that's completely fine."
No, that is not the case for us.
That's one thing we've done.
We basically took pictures, threw it online, but never really thought about creating a
community and engaging with them.
That's the reason why we were slipping.
And to utilize that, first we need to align with our customers.
Understand why are we are doing this, and then you connect with them through actually
engaging with them.
"I should be caring about this community."
I'm actually nurturing ... That gave us so much brand loyalty.
And that's what keeps people coming through the doors, and that's why we're able to thrive.
If you want to thrive, make sure that you engage with your customers.
That's the key to successfully using and utilizing social media as a platform to grow your community.
Now you understand the importance of engaging.
Engaging is basically, actually having a conversation It's no more than really showcasing your characteristics
as a friend.
You can be funny, you can be professional.
It doesn't matter what it is.
Just be unique to you.
So when someone is commenting on your posts, "Hey, you know what?
When are you open?"
Tell them when you're open.
If they ask you what ingredients did you use, or is this let's say a non-GMO, then you can
actually answer them with your specific character.
It does not always need to be politically correct.
Have your character.
A lot of these big brands are actually doing a really good job as you can see.
When it comes to engaging, have an open communication with them, you do not always need to take
it so seriously.
Put in your character, answer as if you're human.
You do not need to become a big corporation.
Even corporations are doing the same things, you can see here.
That's the trick with engagement.
All in all, I really hope you enjoyed this video.
This is the secret into planning our 30 day social media content for our ice cream shop.
And this is something that I'm sharing with, you can actually check out the template below,
learn how to plan, how to shoot, how you distribute and engage with the customers.
This saved us thousands of dollars.
I hope this resource can save you that much as well.
If you liked this video give me a thumbs up.
If you have any questions, leave it in the comment section below.
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I'll see you guy in the next video.