Despite the low barrier to entry to embrace social media, many hospitality venues are still not fully utilising everything that is on offer. 

So in this article I will cover some of the main reasons why this is more important than ever to develop a better understanding of what exactly is achievable using the various platforms.

Sadly most hospitality venues treat social media only as a place to pitch and sell their products and services to new customers, forgetting that it is an all encompassing communication network with both existing and potential customers. As well as being a great place to build suppliers and networks, based on personal recommendations.

Of course posting about what your business venue offers by way of products and services to your customers, however how much are you currently utilising social media to expand your supply network, and regularly assess how effective and efficient all of your inbound goods and services supplies are?

At a time where every penny counts, sometimes saving money can be as effective if not more effective than increasing prices to make more money on the other end.

A lot of venues have embraced slightly more of a communication platform messaging, through a forced embracing of updating people around the Covid situation over the last two years. Sadly though, many have defaulted back to the original format of pitching and selling, forgetting how important the communication and relationship building is with both new and existing customers.

How often in your venue, if you’re being honest, do you and your staff encourage people to engage and interact across your various social media platforms? If those customers do interact, how swiftly do you respond, and how much time do you allocate to this?

A customers perception of our business brand or venue no longer stops inside the four walls, but extends far beyond this and even out into their network. 

I think for a minute about a time where you have had either great or terrible customer service, and how eager you were to make sure that people in your network knew how good or bad the place you had just been was. The same is true of your customers.

It is a very British standpoint to think that everything is okay because no one has complained, however this couldn’t be further from the truth. Many people leave a venue without ever saying anything, not only to never return, but actually to badmouth the establishment to others in their network, having a much more detrimental effect on your business.

This is why getting feedback and reviews, and engaging with everyone inside your venue both while they are there, and after they leave, is so important.

Unfortunately these days, venues can live and die by what is said on social media, due to the fast spreading nature of any news especially when it is extreme.

It is not all doom and gloom, as you may have seen from the Binley Mega Chippy, that went viral online, it is possible to also gain a massive amount of business through social media at very little or no cost.

This is something that was near on impossible until around a decade ago, but how far along that journey are you and your venue? 

If you’re reading this and feel that you have not leveraged the opportunity presented by social media as well as you could, the good news is many others also haven’t, so start today, hope your skills, and put them into practice improving along the way.

When approaching the various different social platforms, it’s important to understand the etiquette, and the audience that spends time on each, but with a little time dedicated each week, this is not a difficult task, and there are a number of resources available on YouTube and via Google. 

If, however, you are looking to fast track this learning and implementation, I would be more than happy to connect you with a colleague of ours who can help you build something bespoke and specific for your business, brand or venue. So please do reach out. They also offer in house training for all the staff to ensure customers always get the same great experience. 

Whilst I have mentioned that it is not only designed for promoting your business products and services, this is a crucial part of the mix, when combined with clever communication and messaging, to keep customers and prospective customers and patrons well informed.

The ideal social media mix for a hospitality venue, irrespective of which type of venue, is both to communicate what is on offer, what to expect, relevant local national and world news from the industry, all whilst maintaining the corporate tone of your brand.

Many venues tend to hand social media over to someone younger because they “understand it better “, and whilst in essence this may be true, they may not have the foresight and insight to how to best leverage it for a business. This is where working with someone who regularly builds social media and content strategy will give you the competitive edge over your competition.

If you haven’t already, it is very important to create a document around what is and isn’t acceptable as part of your social media policy, before allowing anyone to take on the role, and speak for your business, brand or venue.

Once you have a great communication strategy and guidelines in place, then and only then would I recommend encouraging your customers to become some of your biggest advocates and spokespeople.

When managed effectively, social media can snowball, and your very customers who are already spending with you can become some of your biggest advocates, and best marketing. This often just needs a little guidance, and encouragement.

I will cover the topic of user generated content (content created by people who are not part of your business, brand or venue), in a future article.

But for today, please take a few minutes to look at your social media, assess how regular you are posting, and how comprehensive a mix your content is of the aforementioned types of content;

• Promotional Content – Products & Services 
• Informational Content – About Changes & Updates
• News – Showing You Are Staying Up To Date & Relevant 
• Showing Character – Allow People To Understand What To Expect From Who In Your Team 

Socialmedia doesn’t have to be difficult, or overwhelming, but if you need a hand making sure that you are making the best use of it, please do reach out. I would be more than happy to help, and where relevant, recommend people who have an even deeper knowledge, understanding and have previously had high levels of success within the hospitality industry specifically to help you further.