I think hyperlocal content is one of the best types of content real estate agents can consistently create because it gives us an opportunity to connect with the communities we serve, support local businesses, and reach people who might not have any immediate interest in buying or selling a home.
Some of my favorite agents create incredible hyperlocal content, and restaurant reviews are a great example of how to do it. The challenge is that even a relatively simple restaurant review can become a pretty involved production when you consider the time spent filming, editing and recording a voiceover.
At the same time, Instagram carousels have become one of Instagram’s strongest formats for engagement, particularly when it comes to generating shares and saves, so I’ve been interested in finding more opportunities to incorporate them into our content.
Recently, we tried something a little different with a restaurant review, and I wanted to share how we made it because I think it’s something other agents could easily replicate.
How a restaurant Reel became a carousel
We were shooting content for one of our listings in University Heights, San Diego, and had planned to visit a nearby Mediterranean restaurant called Pacific Pita to film a restaurant Reel while we were in the neighborhood. We captured everything we’d normally need, including close-ups of the food, footage outside the restaurant and shots of me eating a shawarma wrap.
The only thing left was recording the voiceover, which I hadn’t made the time to do, and our video editors were already busy with other projects. Rather than letting the footage sit until we could finish the Reel, I decided to experiment with a different format and give it to our graphic designer to turn into a four-slide carousel.
We used short video clips as the backgrounds and relied on the headlines to tell the story, which eliminated the need for me to record anything else and allowed us to publish the content without waiting on our video editors.
The Instagram carousel has now generated more than 29,000 views, 311 shares and 98 saves, which I was pretty happy with considering how much less work it took to produce than the Reel we’d originally planned.
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Start with a business people want to discover
Before you start filming, I think it’s worth spending some time considering which business you’re going to feature because the subject itself can make a big difference in how interesting your content is to the people who live nearby.
If there’s a new restaurant opening in your market, that’s where I’d start. People are naturally curious about new places, especially when they’re close to home, and introducing someone to a restaurant they haven’t heard of gives them a reason to send the post to a friend or save it for the next time they’re looking for somewhere to eat.
That doesn’t mean an established business can’t work, but I would look for something interesting about it, whether that’s a signature dish, a surprising history or a neighborhood favorite people might have overlooked.
Get the free Canva carousel template
What we filmed
Although we ultimately decided against making a Reel, we had originally planned to produce one, so we were intentional about capturing footage that would be interesting to watch. The nice thing about this format is that you don’t need to talk to the camera or worry about recording dialogue, but you still want enough variety to make the carousel visually engaging.
If you’re going to try this at a restaurant in your market, here’s what I’d recommend capturing:
- A strong opening visual. For us, that was a close-up of me taking a big bite of the shawarma, which gave us something visually interesting to use behind the first headline.
- Close-ups of the food. Give people a good look at what you’re ordering and what makes it worth trying.
- Yourself enjoying the experience. You don’t have to pretend you’re hosting a food show or explain everything while you’re eating.
- The restaurant exterior or signage. Include something that helps people recognize the restaurant and know where to find it.
- A few additional clips. Opening the food, picking something up or interacting with the environment gives you more options when you’re putting everything together.
The copywriting is what makes this work
As much as I think the footage matters, the part of this process I’d encourage agents to spend the most time on is the copywriting because, without a voiceover, your headlines are responsible for getting someone’s attention and explaining why they should care about what you’re showing them.
Our first slide featured a close-up of me taking a bite of the shawarma with the headline: “San Diego’s best shawarma spot just opened in University Heights.”
The second slide showed the outside of the restaurant and said: “University Heights just got a really good new lunch spot.”
We intentionally wrote two headlines that could work independently because Instagram can sometimes show someone the second slide of a carousel before they’ve seen the first. Rather than using that second slide to continue the thought from the opening, we treated it as another opportunity to introduce the restaurant and give someone a reason to keep watching.
The first headline appeals to people interested in finding great shawarma in San Diego, while the second is more broadly about discovering somewhere new to eat in University Heights. Both communicate something useful without requiring any additional context, which is exactly what I wanted.
For the third and fourth slides, I’d focus on giving people information that helps them decide whether they want to visit, including what you ordered, what you’d recommend and where they can find the restaurant. You don’t need every slide to have an elaborate headline, but you do want the finished Instagram carousel to be something people would consider saving or sharing.
When I’m writing copy for this kind of content, I’m thinking about two things: Will someone immediately understand what I’m sharing, and is it something they’d want to send to someone else?
I think agents sometimes get so focused on making their headlines clever or incorporating their personal branding that they make the content harder to share. For something like a restaurant recommendation, I want the business and the recommendation to be the focus, which is why I wouldn’t add prominent logos, contact information or anything else that makes the post feel like an advertisement.
I’d also encourage you to invite the restaurant to collaborate on the post because, if they accept, it creates another opportunity for your content to reach people who already follow that business and are potentially part of the community you’re trying to reach.
Here’s the FREE Instagram carousel template
I put together an editable Canva template based on our Pacific Pita Instagram carousel so you can replace our footage with your own, update the headlines, and use the same four-slide structure for a restaurant in your market.
Krys Benyamein is a Realtor with Allstars Realty in Southern California. Get connected on Instagram or LinkedIn.
