Going Viral Is Not a Strategy

Every week I talk to restaurant owners, chefs, and local hospitality leaders who want the same thing: a video that blows up.

A post that gets shared thousands of times. A moment where the algorithm finally decides to work for them instead of against them. A piece of content that makes people say, "Wait, have you seen this?"

And every week, I tell them the same thing.

That's my hot take, and I'm standing in it.

I said this in a Reel earlier this week, and the response made me think it was worth saying again — here, in full.

The Viral Obsession Is Costing You 💸

Here's what nobody talks about when a brand "goes viral."

The comments are mostly from people who will never book a reservation. The followers who come do not always stay. The engagement spike disappears in 72 hours. And your analytics end up looking like a mountain range with one very lonely peak. ⛰️

I have spent over a decade working in social media in Atlantic Canada — building content systems, campaign strategies, organic social plans, and platform-specific storytelling for organizations, brands, and public-facing institutions. And the throughline in every meaningful win I have been part of was not one random viral moment.

It was consistent, strategic content that made the right people feel seen, informed, curious, and connected.

That is the work. That is what moves.

Because if your content strategy starts and ends with "let's make something that goes viral," you do not have a strategy. You have a wish.

The Case for Going Small to Go Deep 🔍

Here is what I think Atlantic Canadian restaurants and hospitality brands are massively under-leveraging:

We are not competing with Toronto restaurants for Toronto people.

We are operating in one of the most community-oriented, word-of-mouth-driven, neighbour-knows-neighbour markets in the country. And the businesses that win here are usually the ones that lean into that instead of chasing universal appeal.

The algorithm will always chase eyeballs. Your strategy should chase the right eyeballs.

And in a place like New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, or Prince Edward Island, that means building a geographically informed organic content strategy from the ground up.

Here's how. 👇

Tactic 1: Location, Location, Location 📍

Most local restaurants mention where they are once in their bio and then proceed to post like they are speaking to no one in particular.

That is a miss.

Location tags are not magic. They will not single-handedly save a weak content strategy. But they do give Instagram clearer context about where your content belongs — and for a local business, that context matters.

Meta has also been making location-based discovery more visible. In 2025, Meta announced Instagram Map, where location-tagged Reels, posts, and Stories can appear for people exploring place-based content. In other words: Instagram is not just organizing content by who posted it or what it is about. It is also organizing content by where it happens.

Instagram's own help content confirms that location tags help people discover posts from the same place — which is exactly the discovery loop a local business wants to be inside of.

That matters if you are a restaurant, café, brewery, venue, hotel, market, food truck, or local attraction. Because when someone is exploring a city, checking out a neighbourhood, or tapping through location-tagged content, you want your business to be part of that discovery path.

That number comes from Facelift's reporting on Instagram location tagging. I would not treat it like a guarantee — I would treat it like a signal: if your business is rooted in a physical place, leaving the location tag blank is wasted context.

Tactic 2: Partner With Voices People Already Trust 🤝

You do not need a viral video. You need the right person — someone your community already follows and trusts — talking about your space.

On the East Coast, there are creators already doing the work of celebrating local food culture.

Alex Kwok, the Saint John-based creator behind East Coast Eater, has built an audience of roughly 16.7K followers by highlighting New Brunswick food, local restaurants, and East Coast experiences.

Jason Gallant of Hub City Foodies has built a community of roughly 23K followers around East Coast food, fun, and local discovery. Tourism New Brunswick identifies him as a Moncton-based storyteller and promoter of all things local.

They are regional voices with regional trust. For a local restaurant, that can be far more valuable than a generic viral moment with an audience that lives nowhere near your dining room.

When one of these creators posts about your restaurant, their audience does not just see a piece of content. They see a recommendation from someone whose taste they already trust.

That is not just an algorithm boost. That is word-of-mouth at scale. 📣

Tactic 3: Make Seasonality Your Edge 🦞

One of the most incredible things about running a restaurant on the East Coast is that you actually get to work with real seasonality.

Lobster season. Scallop season. The fresh vegetables coming in from local farms in July and August. The fall apples. The root vegetables that let you build something completely different in November than you did in August.

Your content should reflect that rhythm. Not just because it is authentic, but because it is automatically relatable to your audience.

When you post about hodge podge in July, mussels in the fall, or a winter menu built around root vegetables and preserved ingredients, you are tapping into something your community actually lives.

Content that leans into seasonality is not just more interesting. It is more resonant.

It creates a rhythm with your audience. People start to know: "Oh, when that restaurant starts posting about lobster rolls, summer is here." That anticipation, that cultural rhythm, that sense of place — that is what keeps people coming back.

Tactic 4: Talk About Your Location in Your Captions 🗣️

And I mean actually talk about it. Not just as a tag. As part of the story.

Reference your specific neighbourhood. Talk about the view from your restaurant window. Mention the local supplier you are working with. Make a joke about the weather, because honestly, we have earned that. Call out your fellow businesses. Build a narrative that says: this is specific, this matters, this is rooted in place.

But we respond to genuineness. We respond to specificity. We respond to people and businesses that are clearly, unmistakably of this place.

The more specific you are, the more familiar you become. And familiarity is powerful. Because when someone feels like they already know your restaurant before they ever walk in, that is not an accident. That is strategy.

Tactic 5: Optimize for Conversation, Not Consumption 💬

The goal of all of this is not just views.

It is replies. It is DMs. It is someone tagging their friend and saying, "We should go here." It is the comment that says, "Oh my god, that is exactly what I have been craving." It is the person who sees your post on Tuesday and books a table on Friday. 📅

And in a small, connected market like ours, that specificity is your biggest differentiator.

Ask questions that only your community can answer. Post about moments that make someone in Moncton, Fredericton, Saint John, Charlottetown, Halifax, or St. Andrews feel like you made it just for them.

Create content that starts conversations instead of just collecting likes. Because you did make it for them. That is the whole point.

The Bottom Line 🎯

Going viral might put your name in front of a lot of people one time.

Building a geographically informed, value-first content strategy puts your brand in front of the right people — people who can actually become customers — consistently, in a way that compounds over time.

You do not need to be seen by everyone. You need to be known by the people in your neighbourhood, your city, your province — the people who will drive past your restaurant tonight and decide whether or not to come in.

Good brands deserve better social than a viral wish and a prayer.

Start there. ✊

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