Food events marketing features a rich menu of creative opportunities that tap into what makes such events so unique – the different cultures’ appreciation, combined with the ability to support authentic local producers being some of the main factors.
The season of food events
The summer season is upon us, and with the good weather and sunshine comes the season of festivals. Music, films, books, comics – almost every niche and every interest has a dedicated enough fanbase to organise an entire event around it and craft a marketing campaign strong enough to reach the right audience across the globe, attracting visitors from all around the world. With events particularly focusing on elements of media, the creative opportunities for event marketing are endless, as we have previously explored.
But what about events surrounding interests and niches that are a bit more tangible, a bit more “of the daily life”? Food and drink events have been around for decades, and with over 100 of them across the UK in recent years (source), what are the best food event marketing strategies for documenting food events? Is the creative pool more limited when marketing such events, with fewer opportunities to grow and differentiate ourselves in this market? Social media begs to differ.
Marketing food events: the pillars
Food events are an incredible opportunity to explore cultures and showcase our appreciation for different cuisines across the globe while enjoying delicious feasts and amazing drinks. They are also a great way to support local businesses and shop small, as opposed to relying on mainstream food chains. These two unique elements, combined with the right social media approach, can work as the perfect recipe for the success of your content strategy. Let’s look at the ingredients:
Cultural appreciation
If you are organising a food event, you are likely going to be hosting vendors and producers representing different corners of the world. This diverse list of cuisines can be one of your strongest assets to emphasise when marketing your food event on social media.
Showcasing the different vendors that will be in attendance and their traditional dishes, organising a call-out post for any chefs or food establishments who would want to join the festival, sharing high-quality imagery and videos of the food that will be available, as well as highlighting the teams behind these businesses and their story. These are all great ways to generate buzz around your event on social media and start building a community of food lovers.
It is important to take advantage of all available formats – livestreams, story takeovers, vlogs, reels, and high-quality interactive carousels can be great ways to document all the diverse aspects of your food event and vendors, showcasing the unique aspects of their traditional cuisine. You can then open up the floor and get the community involved – organise contests, create polls and Q&As, and engage with the content they share around your event. These will all positively impact the retention of your visitors and vendors, as well as strengthen the bond with said community.
Shop small and local
Another strong asset of food and drink festivals is their proud support for local businesses and producers. With sustainability and shopping small and local gaining a lot of traction and recognition in recent years online, featuring content which emphasises this can generate great results.
Documenting the different stalls of local producers at your event, filming interviews with the business owners, sharing more information about their craft, and getting your visitors involved can all serve as great content ideas.
It can not only help attract a different type of audience to your event, but such positioning can also help reinstate your brand values and solidify your brand presence in the local food scene.
Bonus: exclusivness
Social media allows us to add a touch of mystery and exclusiveness to any event, including food events. This touch can help us differentiate our event from competitors and earn us bonus points when building our marketing strategy. Depending on your budget, you can explore different expansion opportunities such as adding a music guest line-up, attractions and arcades, and workshops and classes.
With that comes great social media opportunities: posting teasers, sharing interviews with the performers and special guests, highlighting the limited spaces for the workshops and classes, as well as dedicating an advertising budget and an influencer marketing budget to help enhance this.
The day of the event can bring even more content: organising a live stream session of the performances, sharing exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, and doing short and funny interviews with the attendees can all make a great cocktail for an even greater food event.
Now that we have explored what makes food events such great opportunities for social media marketing, don’t forget to visit our event marketing guide to learn more about specific content ideas at each stage of your event.
