Hope you’re all getting excited now you can see the light at the end of the tunnel? I’m sure things have started to get busy for you, as they are doing for me, but try not to neglect your social media, especially if you have given it a new lease of life during lock-down!
If you didn’t have chance to catch my Q&A called “Re-launch Your Venue Using Social Media & Propel Your Engagement” you can watch it HERE
I’ve just pulled together a FREE PDF GUIDE that reveals: “How Hospitality Businesses Can Re-Launch Their Social Media After Lock-Down, EVEN IF You Don’t Have Tonnes Of Time Or Content Ideas!”
The guide reveals:
How to be the first-place followers want to visit after lock-down
How to propel your engagement on social media
How to build your followers trust, confidence & reassure them
How to simply plan your social media now & after lock-down
Inspiration & ideas for content that works
You can download this HERE’
‘USEFUL ARTICLES & INFO’
Here ‘s the round up of all the bits & pieces I have seen this last week that I thought might be of help to you…..
I came across this fab looking webinar on Weds 10th June at 1.30pm called: ‘Social Distancing in The Hospitality Sector’, which I thought might be useful to some of you. They’re examining actual examples of social distancing in hospitality around the world, with lessons & ideas. If you’re reading this blog after the date & time of the webinar, you may be able to catch a recording.
The fourth & final episode in ‘Big Hospitality’s’ – ‘The Future of Restaurants’ is now out. Where top restaurateurs give their perspectives on operating a restaurant post lock-down.
This article from ‘E-Hotelier’ is worth the few minutes read: ‘5 tricks to successfully combine social media and your hospitality business’. Nothing ground-breaking, but never the less some points that act as good reminders, if nothing else.
‘PBP POST PICKS’
Here are my favourite hospitality ‘PBP Post Picks’ I found this week to give you inspo! (CLICK THE IMAGES TO BE TAKEN TO THE POSTS THEMSELVES ONLINE):
It’s getting closer…the date when we can welcome back our lovely customers. If you’ve decided on a date then make sure you shout it from the rooftops (also make sure it’s feasible, obviously!). This is exactly what ‘Coniston Hotel Country Estate’ have done in Skipton. I’d eat my hat if you didn’t get a similar, enthusiastic response, when you announce your re-opening!:
Similarly, ‘Never Enough Thyme,’ which is a super local café to me, did amazingly well with their announcement about the sort of products they will be selling when they re-open. They are taking us on that journey with them. Helped by some decent images of food that, looks yummy, but very natural:
One of the best ways to gain followers trust & confidence is to ask them what would make them feel comfortable enough to visit your venue. Gain their buy-in, listen & show how much you care. That theirs & your team’s safety is your number 1 priority. You can do this via a short survey shared on social media & via email. This is exactly what I did for ‘Everybodys’ in Guiseley this week. We also added in a voucher to spend, when we re-open, to encourage people through the door:
Have you been running lock-down competitions like ‘Aldo’s Italian’? If so, don’t forget to showcase all the winners. Either now, with social distancing in place of course, or when you re-open. Make sure people realise there are ‘real’ people that win. There was a bit of cheeky promotion also on this post, which I didn’t think was necessarily needed, plus I bet it would have done better without the menu!:
There are still some amazing innovations out there & ‘Rafters Sheffield’ came up with yet another blinding idea. Celebrate a night out with a night in. Loved this (not so keen on the cross posting from Instagram though, bit of a bug bear of mine!):
‘Catgill’, have once again, been updating us on all things that are happening with them, taking us on their journey with them: (CLICK THE IMAGE TO WATCH THE VIDEO)
Also loved this behind the scenes look at how they create their pods:
A great way to inspire people to book is to showcase what you have around you that guests can do if they visit you. ‘Humblebee Farm’ have done just this. Again, maybe they could have gone further by giving followers a choice?:
‘Grantley Hall’ also did similar this week:
Sometimes pictures of cake is enough to get us practically drooling! ‘A picture paints a thousand words’ they say. Super local café to me: ‘Browns Green’, did this well, with pics of their yummy looking cake. (People really want to support local, independents at the mo, so give them a reason to!):
‘Locke’s’ showed us a couple of weeks ago how to let the personality & the people behind your venue do the talking. It builds up trust & confidence. This Instagram post was a double whammy, it showed off a new arrival & announced that they were opening for take-aways:
‘Grain and Hearth Bakery’ also showing us the personality & people behind the venue, specifically baby Alec – Awwww:
‘CONTENT IDEAS’
Head on over for the last few weeks ideas on my previous blog posts HERE.
At this stage, as per my guide, you should be focusing on Building Trust, Confidence & Reassuring your followers – Ensuring the customer is ready & eager to return but providing lots of info & reassurance:
- Start thinking of ways you can encourage customers to return with added values or give-aways, such as vouchers.
- Run competitions via your social media that gather both data for future use or to win food, drink or an overnight stay for when you re-open. This will also generate awareness.
- Involve your followers by asking them their ideas & thoughts through questions on social media or on surveys you share.
- Take your followers on the ‘re-opening’ journey with you: What are you planning? Purchasing or trialling health & safety measure i.e. PPE, social distancing or self check-ins. Prepping to re-open i.e .Staff training & new menu tasting. Start to set expectations & show how serious you are about their health & safety.
Here are some other ideas, based on this week’s ‘Post Picks’ you could try:
- If you know when you are re-opening, tell people. Shout it from the rooftops!
- Continue to show the personality behind your venue, so that followers can see who might be taking care of them when they visit. ‘People Buy People’!
- Show off your products with good standard, native looking, images – ‘A Picture Paints a Thousand Words’.
- Showcase any competition winners you have had during lock-down. Either using their own images they send you or when you re-open.
- Continue to be innovative in your product & service offerings. Can you offer something a bit different to your competitors? Or that gets you good results on social media.
- National Days you can jump on this week include: National Gin Day on 13th June – Ideas could include: Win a bottle of gin, What are your fave gins? Which gin is best? Polls. What garnishes to have with certain gins etc. National Photography Day on 15th June – Why not ask followers to send in their lock-down images for a prize?Remember above all else keep being heartfelt, honest, candid & yourselves. With lots of people pics & those that generate emotions.
We can do this peeps, nearly there now!
Stay Safe. #keephospitalityalive and #keepsocialalive
Becky
