In continuing our series examining successful influencer marketing case studies, we turn our attention to Spring kitchen, a hotel in Manhattan. The hotel recently experienced a significant bump in customers, most of them coming to buy Springbone’s strawberry rhubarb ice cream.
So what was behind the bump? Turns out it was because of this picture:
In other words, a single post from a local foodie Instagram account caused the sudden surge of new customers to Spring Kitchen. Instagram has created new ways of advertising one’s products and having them viewed by thousands of qualified people, and influencer marketing is one of the most effective methods to emerge from this revolution.
Another restaurant that used Instagram to market their product was Springbone. In May that same year, Springbone, a restaurant that makes bone broth, crafted a social media marketing strategy that was focused on hiring solely Instagram Influencers. The restaurant was owned by Sam Eckstein and Jordan Feldman. The two gentlemen wanted to hone the power of Instagram influencers for the good of their restaurant.
Instagram influencers are individuals or groups of people who have thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of followers. Influencers often specialize in a certain niche or industry, ranging from food, to fashion, to home design. Most food influencers work closely with food bloggers. Together they work to identify and shed light on restaurants, often local, offering unique and noteworthy dishes.
The main target of Springbone cofounder Sam Eckstein was to promote their restaurant’s food by visually exposing it to people already known to be interested in food. The two gentlemen created beautiful photographs and videos, posted them on the restaurant’s own Instagram, and later reached out to foodie channels requesting reposts and shares. By asking these foodie channels to repost existing content, the duo gained more exposure through the audiences of their influencers.
If after reading these influencer marketing case studies, you want to build your own successful influencer marketing campaigns, have a read through our extensive article “Instagram Influencers: Finding Them, Working With Them, and 10 Cases to Learn From”.