Maree
Suteja is a 50-something-year-old café owner who spends just as much
time on the popular social media site Instagram as her two
20-something-year-old children who are obsessed with social media.
Suteja,
a former school teacher from Australia who now lives in Bali,
Indonesia, said she uses Instagram for her Crate Café to lure
locals, expats and tourists in. According to the Café owner, she
created Crate to bring in social media uses. It’s a bistro with a
minimalist warehouse-inspired design using natural sunlight to light
up the restaurant. It’s decorated in one-of-a-kind artwork, and
dishes come out in picture-perfect style.
Suteja
said anybody can make bacon and eggs but how do you get them so their
picture perfect?
According
to Suteja, most of her business is the result of being found on
Instagram, which has amassed over 47,000 followers and is a mixture
of the food and people posting with their food before digging in. She
said Instagram works similarly to word-of-mouth, as people who like
something will likely tag a friend or send it to someone they know.
Suteja
said the only social media platform she uses is Instagram because
people talk. With word of mouth happening through it, her website and
emails, she doesn’t need anything else. However, she knows that
seeing the same thing all the time can hinder her from growing.
Therefore, she shakes things up by hiring a DJ for the weekends and
introducing some new Instagram-worthy items.
Suteja said Instagram is certainly one social media platform businesses should consider. While she doesn’t use it for personal reasons, she’s certainly making use of this nine-year-old platform.
