There are lots of Instagram profiles. Few stand out.
Welcome back to the next installment of our Social Spotlight Series! We’ve decided to share accounts that stand out in our feeds and our thoughts about what makes them successful. Our Social Spotlights focus on IG accounts that illustrate valuable lessons for entrepreneurs, influencers, marketers, and anyone who wants to optimize their Instagram.
Today we’re talking about @foxinthesnowcafe, a locally-famous Ohio café. They started in a single location, but have now expanded into three locations. Fox in the Snow Café also offers catering and delivery. With sweet and savory content that tickles the tastebuds, their Instagram page is mouth-watering. But does their marketing strategy deliver?
Featured Profile Overview
With almost 63,000 followers, Fox in the Snow Cafe has an audience that’s hungry for its delicious baked goods and coffee drinks. Warm earth tones dominate their IG page, which features images of delicious pies, pastries, biscuits, lattes, cookies, and more.
With occasional behind-the-scene videos, Fox in the Snow Café’s IG focuses on generating some community engagement. Overall, their IG emphasizes combining both minimalist style and lavish treats.
The @foxinthesnowcafe bio only includes one sentence and is not fully utilized. However, their logo, a black outline sketch of a fox on a white background, stands out and incorporates white space well. The logo follows their general aesthetic on their Instagram and their website.
Their content features a healthy mixture of baked goods, merchandise, and sprinkles of community-focused posts. They also offer some great behind-the-scenes content, like a video that highlights the head pastry chef’s personality, and another video where she explains a popular recipe.
There’s not only evidence of a community around the baked goods, but there’s also evidence of utilizing their Instagram to communicate with their community about everything from days when they’re closed as well as major events in the lives of their employees.
What We Think Is Working
Considering their whole page, @foxinthesnowcafe has a strong style and purpose. The aesthetic is consistent, as they use similar filters on all their posts, which creates a warm, toasted feeling for all the different types of foods they have. They also do a great job of encouraging people who find them on Instagram to go straight to their website.
On the Fox in the Snow Café website, the experience and aesthetic are modern and easy-to-follow. You know you’re in the right place right away because it follows their Instagram so closely. The website follows its general Instagram aesthetic, heavily utilizing white space and featuring more mouth-watering photos.
What Could Be Done Better
It’s clear that Fox in the Snow’s Instagram account features a cohesive aesthetic and a strong balance of posts. However, they are under-utilizing IG Stories. For an account with almost 63,000 followers, they should be using Stories much more often. We’re at the point where there should be at least 4 Highlight Stories or you’re not doing your best on Instagram.
A lot of niche restaurants start off as a passion, but as locations are added it turns into a business. That’s where expanding on social becomes so important and if it’s used correctly, can be a way for companies to take what they have and expand it to a new location.
Analytics / Insights
They only post between 8-10 times a month, yet their return average user activity is 21%, which is about 3x what most accounts garner. With this rate of engagement, it’s clear that Fox in the Snow could be posting much more often and creating more brand awareness for their newer locations.
Key Takeaways
While Fox in the Snow has a compelling Instagram overall, we did knock some points off because there’s a lack of content featuring their customers. A good campaign idea for them on a Stories front is to feature regular customers. Take the user-generated content from tagged posts and transform it into content they can use on their Stories. That way, the photos become more than a sandwich – it’s happiness.
Fox in the Snow could also invite influencers to become more involved. By hosting an event where they shut down the café and offer a special tasting just for influencers, they could reach many potential customers. While they already deliver an Instagram-ready menu, they can expand their reach by giving influencers an easy opportunity to post about their food.
Fox in the Snow Café also doesn’t currently use storytelling inside their content. What’s the story behind the recipes? IG Stories should be easy to create and post. They could even have a baker send a video of a morning pan to the marketing manager, who can spice it up and post it to the account’s Stories. Figure out easy-to-create Story content that can be easily replicated.
Ultimately, Fox in the Snow Café should utilize more user-generated content and post more Stories. Most importantly, they should never stop posting photos of their crispy croissants, frothy lattes, and all the sprinkles.
Tune in next week to see our next installment of the Social Spotlight Series. Join our mailing list to get Goodwin knowledge and insights like this delivered straight to your inbox!