If you own a bakery, you have already proven your skills in the kitchen. Whether it is artisan breads or sweet treats, everyone loves a good bakery. However, not everyone KNOWS about good bakeries in their area. Smaller shops do not usually have the manpower or budget to go out and heavily market their business to those prospective customers living in the area. Set aside the dough scrapers and wire whisks, the most important tool for bakers is social media!

After opening your business and getting yourself situated, you need to get people through the door! The most cost-effective strategy for increased brand awareness and more foot traffic, is a good bakery social media campaign strategy. Social media offers bakers a platform to display their products for all to see! Following the proper steps and using simple strategies can help tell people who you are, where you are and why they should stop by your bakery. Read about our suggested social media plans for bakeries to take your business to the next level below.

  1. Keep your branding clear and consistent. You see some bakeries using a picture of bread or cookies they baked as a profile picture. Although people love to see the delicious product, the profile space is for branding! Make sure you use your company logo on any and all social platforms. This will let the user know right away who you are and remember your page across each platform. Brand recognition is especially important for new businesses trying to create awareness around their new shops.
  2. Find a rhythm and schedule. Consistency is key! Businesses in the food industry should be posting a minimum of once per day. In reality, that isn’t always possible, but don’t let your social pages stay dormant for too long. Try planning ahead and creating content for weeks in advance so if you are unable to post something on a particular day, you have backup posts to refer to. Also important, is the time of day you post. There are general times of day that are popular overall, but find what times are most optimal for you and your audience. When do you notice the most activity? In the early morning? Late at night? Every audience is different. Once you figure out the best time for your bakery's social media plan, stick to it. The more consistent you are with your posts, the more users will start actively looking for your content each day around that specific time.
  3. Get creative! Anyone can bake a loaf of bread or a sheet of cookies and take a picture of it. However, this won’t make that bakery stand out from the competition on social media. Be creative and stage your photos. Simple setups like placing bread inside of a basket or stacking cookies in an “artsy” way will help your photos stand out in a crowded newsfeed. If you don’t have the time and resources to stage your own product photos, try outsourcing it to a photographer or content creator.
  4. Tag EVERYTHING! This is so important for businesses of any kind on social media. Using relevant hashtags in your posts creates discoverability. It’s simple, when you use a hashtag like #artisanbread in your post, anyone searching through #artisanbread tags will come across your photo. The beauty of this is that people who are not following you or aware of your business, can now be easily exposed to it. It does not stop with hashtags either. Tagging locations on social media is an easy way for someone to find where your business is located with just one click.
  5. Go behind the scenes. Product shots are great and everyone loves them, but what customers truly appreciate on social media is being let behind the scenes of a business. Show your bakers in action or show the machines you use for production such as deck ovens, rack ovens, cookie depositors and dough mixers. This type of content always tends to work really well in terms of engagement. Not only is it food for your social media growth, but it gives the customer a sense of trust that you let them behind the scenes.

These are just 5 tips and strategies for bakeries to follow in order to help their businesses grow with absolutely ZERO cost to you. You are already out there baking amazing goodies, now its time the world knew about it! When your bakery's social media campaign strategy drives all that new business and you need to keep up with higher demand and larger scale production, give Empire Bakery Equipment a call.