How to Create Short-Form Video Content for Your Pizzeria

Pizza is a highly visual food and makes perfect content for short videos on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
The key to a successful TikTok or Instagram Reels video is to make your content engaging and fun while showing off your pizzeria’s unique personality.

Short-form content has taken over the social media space in the past two years. This is largely thanks to Tik Tok, an incredibly popular social media platform that took over the scene at the beginning of 2020 and gained more popularity because of the COVID-19 lockdown orders. People enjoy short-form video content because it gives them everything they need to know in just a few seconds (up to a minute in most cases). These videos can be funny, educational or introductory, showcasing your brand in a fun way that doesn’t need to be overly promotional.

Short-form video content is easy to digest and gives customers a quick insight into your brand, personality and more. By showcasing this type of content on your page, you can also grow your audience faster. Platforms like Tik Tok allow small creators to get the same amount of coverage as larger creators, making it much easier to gain followers and get engagement. If you post good content, it will be seen! Your pizzeria could even go viral.

But let’s be serious, your pizza place isn’t going to post dance trends, prank videos or fashion content. So what kind of content can you craft as a restaurant? And how do you make it just as engaging and personable?

Creating Stellar Content for Your Brand
Once you’ve decided to invest in short-form video content, it’s time to get your Tik Tok account set up and ready for new videos. Instagram and Facebook are also great platforms and have similar “explore” features, allowing viewers to watch videos from people they don’t follow. So, make sure you post the same content on these platforms as well to cast a wider net. Now, it’s time to start brainstorming content ideas and get to filming.

One of the most important aspects of content creation is consistency (alongside quality). By posting consistently, your content will be seen more frequently and your followers will look forward to seeing your content each and every day. Every day might seem like a lot, but it’s a good idea to post at least a few times a week if you can. Try filming a few videos per session and posting them throughout the week to stay on schedule. Now that you’ve got your accounts set up and your schedule in mind, let’s get to filming.

Follow the Trends
On TikTok and Instagram, trends are everything. While creativity is important, and we’ll touch on that next, following the trends can help you get tons of followers in a short amount of time. TikTok has both trending sounds and audio (such as the oft-used “nobody’s gonna know” voice-over) as well as trending challenges. By using these sounds or participating in these challenges, your content may be seen more frequently or be more likely to show up on the “for your page” or “explore” page.

To identify these trends and find out what types of content your followers are watching, check out your competition and spend a good amount of time scrolling through their social media platforms looking for inspiration. You can save sounds and videos for later inspiration, allowing you to come back and record at a later date.

As an example, Pete’s Pizza in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, routinely posts videos on TikTok, depicting everything from a pizza going into or out of the oven to the full pizza-making process. One such pizza-making video, posted on February 17 and pictured below, garnered more than 25,300 views and 511 likes. Pete’s had even more success using the audio meme, “where’s the cheese/it’s under the sauce”—that video, which showed a pizza-maker slicing a large pie, got more than 2.4 million views and has remained pinned to the top of Pete’s TikTok page since February 6.

Be sure to follow people outside of the restaurant industry as well—you may find inspiration in odd places.

Get Creative
While following trends is a great place to start, especially if you don’t have any unique ideas, creativity is definitely the key to great content. Even when following trends and using trending sounds and challenges, you should spice up your content in your own way. By getting creative and showing what your brand is really about, you’ll be able to connect with your audience more easily.

All types of content thrive on TikTok, and there’s bound to be someone out there who loves your next big idea. Some examples of popular pizzeria content include:

Cooking, dough-tossing or pizza-topping videos
Introduction videos
Staff favorites or pizza hacks
Speedy box folding

But that’s not all! If you have a great idea, TikTok is the place to test it out! Content moves so fast that one failure isn’t much of a setback. Just keep trying and grinding until you find your niche.

Show Your Personality
There are tons of brands on TikTok and Instagram these days, but only a few get great engagement and high follower counts. The brands that have the largest followings are often the ones that show the most personality and truly give their audience a glimpse of what they’re really like. These accounts are not overly corporate or even overly promotional. Instead, they’re fun, interesting, educational, etc. If you need any inspiration, check out these big brands that are doing short-form content right:

Duolingo
ASOS
Starbucks
Oreo

However, showing your personality doesn’t just have to come from video content. You can also engage with your audience by commenting on their videos, duetting videos, or stitching content that’s relevant to your brand. The options for engagement are nearly endless!

What are you waiting for? Now that you have the tips and tricks you need to succeed in the short-form video content world, it’s time to get out there and make your first TikTok or Instagram Reel. Don’t forget to do your research, set a schedule, and have fun with it!

Megan Prevost is a marketing content writer for MustHaveMenus. When she’s not writing about restaurant marketing, she’s hanging out with her three cats and binging the latest television shows. Her work has appeared in App Institute, Bar Business, CLH News, FanSided, FSR, Miss Details, Modern Restaurant Management, PMQ, QSR, RestoBiz, RestoHub, Site Social SEO, Small Business Currents, and The Daily Fandom.

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