Week 3 of my ‘Keep Hospitality Alive’ blog already. Week 2 of isolation & home-schooling in the Whitaker house (home-schooling in the loosest sense of the word!)
I don’t know about you but my emotions are all over the place, one minute low & the next super on it!
You might not be physically in situ running your business, but you can still keep it alive via your social.
Hopefully you’re getting loads of inspiration from others & my weekly emails/blog posts, but if you’re still struggling a little then I have put some free ‘PBP POW WOWS’ in place every Wednesday.
If you’d like an informal chat via phone or Zoom about your social media then please do get in touch & I’d be happy to talk to you and/or show you some simple things you can do to make a difference.
Maybe you have one or two burning questions you’d like to ask?
Back to the blog!
‘USEFUL ARTICLES’
Here are some of the bits & pieces I have come across from experts in our field on social, marketing & more this week. I thought you might find these useful or at least give you food for thought (no pun intended!).
Firstly, I learnt in one of the groups I am a member of that ‘Tripadvisor’ are currently offering their full marketing suite for free. So if this is something of interest then contact Jess Findlay via this email: jfindlay@tripadvisor.com
You may have seen that the excellent hospitality charity ‘Hospitality Action’ are offering emergency grants for workers. This as you would expect has been hugely popular & I believe it may be currently at capacity, but they are receiving donations all the time & might well be worth still looking into either for yourselves or your team: Hospitality Action offers emergency grants for workers
I really loved this article in The Caterer I came across as it was so positive & showed some of the amazing things that the hospitality industry are doing in this tough time. Worth a read & you might get some inspo for something you could do: Coronavirus: The hospitality heroes fighting back:
As well as this similar email I received from ‘CHS Group’ shouting out about the feel good vibes in the industry & their slogan ‘Share the love, sticking together making a #comeback’
If you’re still looking at delivery as an option then this from ‘The Morning Advertiser’ has some brilliant advice with lessons & top tips from those that have recently started doing them for the first time: How to set up a delivery service
Finally, ‘E-Hotelier’ have a free webinar that may be of interest on 7th April entitled ‘Bringing order to chaos’ Click the link to book your place.
If you come across any articles, groups, emails etc around hospitality you think might benefit others please do let me know so I can include.
‘PBP POST PICKS’
Wow! I have been amazed by the creativity out there on social media this last week. Loads of brilliant ideas.
Quite a lot of places are putting their chef on their social, which was one of my last week’s content suggestions.
Set up your own You Tube channel. Make sure you use your’e original video file though & upload to Facebook rather than sharing a link. Link’s don’t tend to work as well on Facebook as they don’t like you going off their platform, plus you’ll need to in order to add to Instagram.
Alexanders chef in Skipton made ‘Bacon & Egg Risotto’ this week in their ‘Cook at Home with Chef’. CLICK THE IMAGE TO WATCH THE VIDEO You might also need to fiddle around with different lengths & ratio’s for each platform you use it on.
Salvo’s in Headingley showed you how to use up yesterdays pasta. CLICK THE IMAGE TO WATCH THE VIDEO
La Casita have launched their own Cooking Ideas channel & they are sharing recipes & episodes daily:
The Corner House Cafe in Guiseley have been sharing recipes:
Bramble Bake house in Guiseley have been doing both kids & adult bakes & I loved this candid post they did that showed them mastering a new skill, videoing. Don’t be afraid to show your being the scenes, your insecurities & be honest, it shows you’re human & people will relate to you more:
Their tutorials are also on You Tube & they share the ingredients etc in a post in advance:
Rafters in Sheffield have once again got it spot on this week with their social showing preparation for the season ahead, their own produce, having planning meetings via Zoom & loads more:
I am all for a bit of positivity & fun on social media but I do cringe a bit when I just see venues sharing funny videos and pictures. A lot of them look a bit tacky & don’t always do your Facebook page good in the long term. On Instagram I think they just don’t fit at all, as this should just be for good visuals.
What you can do though is take some funny memes & create them in your own branding like The Ticket Office have done on a number of occasions:
Also loved the fun that Broadleys Bistro have brought to all their posts. Posts that create emotion do best & these made us smile:
I loved the simplicity of this post from Rolands which reminds followers of their fab products but also encourages them to engage & keeps them at the forefront of their minds:
Grumpy’s also reminded us how good a party can be there:
There have been some really innovated ideas to take stuff online. I love what Grayston Unity are doing in Halifax with their Grayston Bear which will showcase poetry reading, book readings, live music, DJ’s & more.
The Potting Shed Guiseley also looked at taking their quizzes online which I know many have done successfullyy. The beauty of this post I think is they’re asking their followers for their opinion thus creating engagement & buy-in.
‘CONTENT IDEAS’
Just because you’re closed doesn’t mean that your social has to close down as well. In fact that;s the worst you can do. You don’t want people to forget about you. This is the time to focus on it more & keep your venue very much alive.
Here are a few other things you could do (these are in addition to the ideas I shared in the last couple of weeks – You can see the other suggestions on the last 2 weeks blogs):
- Can you take your in house quiz online? If you don’t currently do one could you start one? A bit of fun maybe as a Facebook Live
- Showcase your products still once a week at least & ask people what they are looking forward to drinking or eating most once you re-open. You could turn it into a weekly poll of your products.
- Plan some exciting events for later in the year when all this has blown over. Ask your followers for ideas & involve them in the planning.
- Share some funny meme’s & quotes that you have created in your own branding (Try using Canva) make sure they are relevant though & don’t be tempted to just share tacky funny videos that don’t fit your brand voice.
- Share a ‘day in the life of’ your chef, GM, team member whilst they are in isolation. Get to know the real people behind the venue & brand.
- Ask some fun questions to engage your followers: What’s your comfort food or choice? What songs cheer you up? What drink would you bring back from your youth? if you could only eat 3 things for a week what would they be?
- Run a competition to ‘design a cocktail’ or a special dish for the new menu when you re-open.
Remember, above all else keep being heartfelt & include people in your posts, ‘the people behind the venue’. It’s not just a building these are warm, friendly hospitality people who work their socks off & who’s livelihood is at risk. ‘People Buy People’!! In addition to these things I am also adding being candid this week. People appreciate the transparency and buy into you much more when you’re honest. (as long as it is appropriate of course!)
Once again I could go on all day, but I’ll save some for you for next week!
If you want any quick advice over the phone, contact me on 07711 999123
We can do this peeps & come out fighting the other side!
Becky x
