This article first appeared in the Better Branding section of the June 2016 Maryland Beverage Journal and was written by Restaurant Reputations COO, Todd Collins.

You probably have been hearing a lot lately about adding video into your marketing, and advertising. What you may be thinking is why you need to do this. There are a number of reasons, however, I am going to touch on just a few that I feel may be the most important for the restaurant/beverage industry.

Creating video for a restaurant today is quite simple. All you really need is a smartphone. This is a huge step for a lot of us because the cost of developing quality video content has been very expensive in the past. To start, make sure you have the ability to go Live from your Facebook page, or Instagram page. This will give a notification to people that follow your pages. This is a great way to grab an audience quickly instead of hoping they will see your post, or posts during the day.

Next, purchase a tripod or stand holder for your mobile device to keep your video steady. Once your equipment is ready to go it’s time to figure out exactly what you want to create. As I have stated in previous articles, keep your posts (in this case videos) within these three topics: Entertaining, Educational, or Informative. Keeping those three topics in mind will almost guarantee that you get the attention you desire.

Once you have chosen which topic your post/video will encompass, the next step is to decide what format to use. Think about what you and your team personally enjoy on social media. What do you find entertaining, interesting or educational, and how is it presented to you. This will help in the development process.

Whichever topic you choose, be sure to speak clearly. If you are going the educational route for your video, keep the visuals at hand … especially if you’re doing a recipe video.

For the Informative video, it’s best to stick to a story telling feel. So many restaurants have amazing stories behind them. You can spread that story out over multiple videos to keep your viewers coming back for more.

The Entertaining video I find is the most difficult. Are you focusing on comedy, current events, or a particular employee? These types of videos can be very risky as you may offend a specific group so be very careful about the content and topic, or you may be dealing with some potential blow-back.

Once production of the video is complete it is time to edit that video. There are many editing tools out there that videographers use, however some quick-use apps can help … like Ripl. You can quickly upload the video or multiple videos, and edit them with different filters, and even add text to give your video that extra pop.

Once you have edited your video you need to decide where that video is going to do the most good. Anything 30 seconds and under is perfect for Instagram, Snapchat, or Twitter. Facebook is a great place as well as your own website to generate longer views. Views on Facebook, as well as “Video View Time” are equivalent to “Likes“ on a post. Once you have uploaded your video give it a “Boost” or run it as a “Sponsored Ad” on Facebook and Instagram …. be sure to target your audience, don’t just run an ad in hopes people will see it. With the Facebook Business manager you have the ability to hyper local target your audience from interests to jobs.

I will dive deeper into hyper local targeting in my next article. You have nothing to lose by starting to add video into your marketing, and advertising plan. The only thing you may lose in not doing it, is visibility and brand awareness.

Click here to view the article as it originally appeared in the Beverage Journal.