There is nothing that unites people within a community together more than the celebration of unique and delicious food. That’s why beyond all the historical landmarks and usual fanfare of the great city of Los Angeles, one of the events hovering on the radar but still culturally significant is dineLA.

dineLA Restaurant Week is a consecutive 14-day dining event that takes place throughout the LA County within over 300 restaurants, and offers specialty priced lunch and dinner menus. Not just for cuisine experts and foodies, but it is a chance for all residents to eat at high-end restaurants at a discounted price. In what started as a marketing association run by the Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board to highlight Los Angeles as a prime dining location, dineLA now takes place twice a year and donates a portion of its proceeds to charity.

Now, we know the trend of taking pictures of your food (it’s actually a lot harder than it looks!) and how even a photo of the perfect dish can attract so many views. So dineLA Restaurant has a lot to work with when it comes to marketing and social media engagement. Let’s take a look at how they have used these platforms to get the crowd ready to get their grub on.

Instagram

This platform is simply the hub for all food pictures. But nowadays, a plate on a table is not going to cut it anymore. Even food pictures have to have a purpose and a unique angle. For the past few days, dineLA has uploaded photos of food within famous Los Angeles scenery; a glass of champagne at LACMA, a bowl of chips at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Chinese takeout at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The photos align themselves with the purpose of dineLA, which is to showcase Los Angeles as one of the best cities to dine in. So viewers will not only salivate at the food, but also remember that it is only in LA that will they get to experience this. This is an excellent example in keeping with the brand for marketing.

Twitter

dineLA has partnered with over 300 restaurants, so the marketing should involve everyone associated with the event. If unique and delicious foods are what draw in a crowd, then they have certainly used that to their advantage in each tweet. As each restaurant rolls out what specialty items will be on the menu, dineLA retweets and shares those photos on their account, and this fulfills two purposes. One is to aid in marketing for said restaurant and direct more views to their accounts. Second, it amps up the excitement and buzz for the food and helps the customers plan out what places they want to hit up. And because food is everything.



Customer Incentives

A good event is where customers attend and leave feeling satisfied. A successful event is where the customers attend and is so satisfied that they make plans to come back again…very soon. So restaurants must create incentives that will draw them in again. dineLA has provided a quick cheat sheet for restaurants on how to reward customers for eating at their restaurant and give them a reason to come back in the future. This includes:

  • Bringing in their receipt from Restaurant Week at a later date to get a free appetizer or discount off their next meal
  • “Like” their Facebook page or upload a photo of their meal and receive a discount card for their next visit.

As these methods benefit the restaurant in the future, note that they used Restaurant Week as part of the methods. Marketing-wise, you have to milk the cow for what it’s worth. Even a receipt can be handy! So really map out all the ways an event can still be utilized for the future.

With all its social media engagement and branding, plus delicious food, dineLA is looking to be a great success this month!

Author Bio:

by Dorothy Le

Dorothy Le is living proof that anyone from any background can learn email marketing. As a first-generation Asian American female that went from a strict sheltered home to entering the real world, she is learning, for the first time, what everyone else already knows. That includes how to have your business succeed through online marketing and social media. Be sure to follow her blogs for easy step-by-step posts... with zero intimidation!