Hi everyone, hope you’re all seeing the light at the end of the tunnel & excited for re-opening?
Still chance to download my 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 by simply clicking 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…..
‘KAM Media’, along with the ‘British Institute of Inn Keeping’, have pulled a report together that shows the results of feedback provided by 1,000 plus pub-goers & their likely future behaviours & attitudes. There is a cost to this but you can pre-register to get all the details here: ‘Return Of The Pub’.. You can hear all the highlights from this research on HospoLive’s video from their live chat last week.
More research here for FREE from ‘Fine Dining Lovers’: ‘The Coronavirus Survey: What Diners Think.’ This could be useful when compiling your measures & communications.
Alternatively why not pull together your own survey or ask your followers for their feedback on how they are feeling about returning?
A good read from ‘Big Hospitality’ that looks at what the short term might look like for the restaurant industry: ‘The New (ab)normal? What The Future Holds For Restaurants’
Don’t forget about all the amazing Live’s from HospoLive from HIT Sessions, Industry Insights to Cocktail Making & loads of tips from top Hospitality peeps about how to ‘Re-Open In The New Normal’
‘Digital Blonde’ who also specialise in Hospitality businesses delivered a webinar last week along with ‘Propel’. In it they discussed ‘Social Media, Marketing & The Return of Hospitality’. Even though the date for the webinar has passed you, you can still register & watch on demand HERE
Supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), a new platform called Digital Boost launched this week. The platform will host a community of digital experts who will offer one-to-one digital support to small businesses, free of charge. It’s a no brainer to sign up to!
‘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):
Really love the content on ‘The Bearded Sailor Fish and Chip Shop’ in Pudsey, by far the best I have seen from this type of establishment. They really do take us on their journey.
Simple posts, such as this one, which highlights the benefits of their ordering system in simple, ‘no-nonsense’ wording:
Their posts show their personality & honesty. By saying thank you to their team, it shows how much they care, using emotive words such as proud & thanking customers also for their patience. Loved the image also:
When announcing their new app, they did this in a way that made it sound exciting & highlighted all the benefits. Love the image with people in & the app itself!:
Posts with people in, & especially the people behind a business, always do well. We can relate to them. ‘Pride and Provenance’ in Halifax took us behind the scenes for one of the owners Birthdays, with a sneaky bit of promotion thrown in!:
Once again ‘Rafters Sheffield’ have come up with another corker of an idea. It’s all about being creative & they certainly know how to do this. Firstly, adding a note to peoples take-aways is a lovely idea. They haven’t stopped there though, they have given out a number of ‘Golden Tickets’, where people can be selected at random to receive a free voucher OR they can pay it forward to someone that has supported them during lockdown:
Remember to encourage your followers to share content, it does half of your job for you! ‘Elsworth Kitchen’ in Skipton have got some beautiful colourful photography on their platforms but this post came from one of their customers:
Not the best image standard but the simplicity of the idea for this post from ‘Mad Fran’s’ stood out to me. It just shows it doesn’t have to be in your face overly promotional to get a message across
I always advocate jumping on anything topical, however, I do know that the #blacklivesmatter movement has made some venues a little wary, not wanting to get it wrong on social & accidentally offending anyone. So, my advice with this subject is to proceed with caution but if you can relate to it personally this is a great way to include content on the subject. I did really like the blog post that Mina wrote & shared on ‘Wildcraft Bakery’:
Totally different subject, but also loved the video showing one of the team rolling out their new cinnamon rolls by hand. Not only does it show behind the scenes & personality but it also shows how they are made & showcases their new product. On top of this it encourages engagement as it asks followers to guess how many it makes, as part of a competition (CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO WATCH THE VIDEO):
I just couldn’t let this one pass, as it was too cute! Just shows there is inspiration all around you for social media content. Check out this cute ducks & it’s ducklings at ‘Healing Manor’ (CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO WATCH THE VIDEO):
Once again, ‘Grumpy’s’ in Farsley are diversifying to make money & this pizza kit is a great idea. The idea may not be finalised as yet but taking the customers on the journey of what they are planning get’s their buy in early on:
I also wanted to include a couple of posts I saw on Linkedin this week. The first which I thought was just brilliant, was shared by my colleague, but originates from ‘The Lost Gardens of Heligan’ visitor attraction. What a great idea to make a serious situation into a little bit of fun & keeping it relevant:
The second is something I am seeing more of on various social media platforms. Pledges, SOP’s & brochures showing the extra safety & hygiene measures that venues are putting into place. These are great as they build trust & confidence & reassure customers. This one in particular is actually a virtual brochure for ‘Edgbaston Park Hotel’ & was shared by their Revenue & Commercial Sales Manager’. I really liked it (CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE THE FULL BROCHURE):
‘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 still be focusing on building trust, confidence & reassurance. Taking your followers on that journey with you. What are you planning? What measures are you discussing? What training are you doing? Start to set expectations but also encourage customers to want to return to you as soon as you re-open. Include tonnes of personality, so they know they’ll be getting a warm welcome.
In addition, based on some of the examples above & more:
- Pull a survey together asking customers what would make them feel more confident to return to your venue & share via social. Also ask this as an open-ended question in a post on its own.
- Show off new aspects of your operations in a light-hearted way & highlight the benefits to the customers. i.e New apps & ordering systems.
- Thank your teams & customers for their support & patience
- Think of different images you can use, not just the usual or same ones over & over again. The team holding things, uniforms, ingredients, elements of dishes etc.
- Ask your followers to share their images of your food at home
- Look around you in your grounds or local community for inspiration for content
- Share any pledges or SOP’s as an info-graphic, poster or brochure. Visually explain how things might look, start to set those expectations & show that your followers safety is your number 1 priority.
- National Days you could jump on this week include: 20th June – World Juggling Day – Why not ask various team members to have a go at juggling something from their department? i.e. juggling lemons/limes behind the bar, juggling sugar in front of house, juggling soaps for house-keeping, etc! Have a bit of fun.
- Don’t forget to share something connected to Fathers Day. If you’re doing take-outs; pics of them being made, ready to go & being delivered. More followers pics at home. Competitions for Dads – Tell us why Dad deserves to win….
- Pull together a voucher offer & share on your social media. £5 off food when you re-open or a free drink to start to get people thinking about returning.
Remember above all else keep being heartfelt, honest, candid & yourselves. With lots of people pics & those that generate emotions.
Becky x
