Social Media Marketing Strategy for Pubs 2024

Social media marketing for pubs is one of the most powerful tools for increasing traffic and revenue. Most people use social media and are likely looking for pub recommendations on their favourite platforms. Therefore, social media marketing is the ideal way to promote your business. In this article, you'll learn the top strategies for social media marketing.

What is the pub industry?

Before discussing social media marketing for pubs, it's a good idea to consider the pub industry. The catering industry is part of the hospitality industry that provides face-to-face food services in places where people go to eat. Eating out is a leisure activity and not something people do because they have to. So it follows that the catering industry needs to ensure that its customers enjoy their meals: the food, the service, the surroundings and the environment.

 It's an industry preoccupied with selling an experience almost as much as food. So people often do research before deciding where to eat. These days that means going to social media for reviews and recommendations.

What is social media marketing for pubs?

Social media marketing for pubs, at its core, means harnessing the power of social media to promote your pub business. It's crucial in an increasingly online world. Potential guests looking for a place to eat will likely pull out their phones and look for suggestions. Most customers now look to social media for reviews and recommendations. They have a lot of confidence in the information they find there, especially if it is shared by someone they know. 

You can leverage this powerful marketing tool to boost your own business. Social media marketing for pubs can take many forms, from simply setting up a page for each of your pubs to creating a detailed marketing strategy tailored to each platform and its demographics. For example, social media marketing for pubs can include advertisements, viral video campaigns, reputation management, customer engagement through social media, and much more.

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Why Use Social Media Marketing For Pubs

If utilised correctly, social media can potentially revolutionise your pub marketing strategies. The most significant advantage of social media is that it is cheap (or even free) to use.

Using social media, bars, and pubs may effectively connect with their target audience. It helps companies interact with their target audiences, raise brand recognition, and generate revenue with little effort and expenditure. With the help of social media marketing, bars, and pubs may increase their online visibility, engage with new consumers, publicise their services and events, and maintain ties with their current clientele.

Social media may be utilised to expand your reach and get new clients. Pubs and bars may expand their clientele, attract new customers, and boost brand recognition by producing material that appeals to their demographic. Targeted adverts on widely used platforms like Facebook may also help them contact people interested in their products or services. They may also utilise these channels to inform their followers about upcoming events and deals, encouraging them to stop by the bar.

Bars and pubs may also benefit significantly from using social media as a customer service tool. They may swiftly react to questions and comments from consumers, giving them a more individualised service.

Social media marketing tips and tricks for pubs in 2024

Social media marketing for pubs can seem daunting at first. Here are some tips for developing a successful social media marketing campaign.

Have a clear brand style

Maintaining a consistent brand style is vital in social media marketing. It's essential to keep your brand style recognisable across platforms, even if you struggle to appeal to different demographics. It's easy for the tone of one platform to affect the way social media posts, leading to conflicting styles across other platforms. An extensive marketing team without clear guidelines can result in a scattered and confusing impression. Create a style guide that your social media marketing team can use to ensure consistency. Use images with a similar colour scheme and ensure your posts use a similar tone, regardless of platform.

Make temporary photos and video stories

Visual communication is essential in pub marketing. One reason social media marketing is so powerful for pubs is that it lends itself to visual posts. Temporary posts like Facebook Stories and Instagram Live are great for keeping your social media feeds fresh and exciting. In addition to images of perfectly served dishes, you can take your followers behind the scenes. Show them the kitchens where tasty dishes are created or the hard work of preparing the pub for guests.

Track the performance of successful social media marketing for pubs

To track the performance of your business, you need to monitor your pub's social media marketing performance. Fortunately, many tools allow you to do this. In addition to consoles that allow you to post to multiple social media platforms and monitor engagement, individual tools are built into each social media platform that allows you to see how your campaign is performing. In addition, you can compare their data with information gathered from other sources to gauge conversion rates.

Continuity and Regularity

Content must be fresh and exciting for a successful social media marketing campaign. Regular updates ensure that your content is always new and engaging for your followers. Social media moves fast, and even good content can quickly get buried by the constant barrage of posts. Try to have something new regularly, so your pub keeps appearing in your followers' feeds. Help your customers find you by constantly providing unique content that showcases the latest news from your pub, like a new dish or special offer they won't want to miss.

Leverage user-generated content

In addition to creating content for your business, you can have users create your posts. UGC (User-Generated Content) is influential and easy to add to your marketing strategy. This is content that guests make that includes your pub. In the age of Instagram and TikTok, many guests record highlights of their experiences and post them on social media. Search for mentions of your pub and share these posts to your feed. Remember to credit the guest: tag them in the post and leave a short, friendly message to thank them.

Use relevant hashtags 

Hashtags are powerful, but they need to be deployed with care. If you sprinkle any trending hashtags in your posts, they will appear in contexts where they are irrelevant. This looks careless and may even feel intrusive. Instead, use hashtags relevant to your pub and the content you offer. For example, during Dry January, you could post about a delicious mocktail your pub offers, along with a "dry January challenge" hashtag. Carefully curating your hashtags will ensure that more people see your content and that it's relevant to them. 

Use TikTok for your pub

To reach Millennials and GenZ, you need to advertise on your preferred platforms. Right now, that means establishing yourself on TikTok. This is a video-only platform where users upload and share short clips. This captivating visual format is perfect for social media marketing for pubs. For example, you can promote your business with close-up clips of your most visually impressive dishes and drinks, make short videos showing behind-the-scenes action, or make short video profiles of team members.

Use Facebook

Facebook ads are some of the best social media marketing tools for pubs. They allow you to target your campaigns very specifically, ensuring that your target demographics are the people most likely to see your content. Perhaps most importantly, Facebook ads can be geographically targeted. This means that ads will only be shown to users in the areas you select. So, for example, it makes no sense to show your ads to people across the county from your pub. With geotargeting, your ads can be set to appear in the feeds of people who live near your business or visit your location regularly.

Take advantage of influencer marketing

Influencer marketing is perfect for pubs. Social media influencers are high-profile individuals whose social media presence has a wide reach. Think of influencers as social media celebrities who are always eager to create new content for their avid fans. In exchange for payment or freebies, influencers will use their platforms to promote the products and services they care about. Getting a few influencers on board your social media marketing campaign can boost your pub's profile online. Influencer partnerships work best for larger pubs with big social media budgets.

Encourage your guests to share their experience at your pub

Diners these days love to share pictures of tasty food and enticing drinks. Many people will also make text posts to their social media accounts describing a night out. Encourage your guests to mention your property by name when posting about their experience on social media. You can offer small rewards if people tag you in your posts to improve your reach. Another way to encourage social media shares is to provide unusual and visually appealing menu items, such as a sophisticated cocktail or vibrant dessert. People love to share photos like that.

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Conclusion

In conclusion, social media marketing is a powerful tool that pubs can use to increase their traffic and revenue. The pub industry is part of the catering industry, which provides face-to-face food services to people looking to dine out as a leisure activity. Social media marketing for pubs harnesses the power of social media to promote your pub business, from setting up pages for your pubs to creating detailed marketing strategies tailored to each platform and its demographics. To develop a successful social media marketing campaign for your pub, you should have a clear brand style, make use of temporary photos and video stories, track your marketing performance, ensure continuity and regularity, leverage user-generated content, use relevant hashtags, and utilize platforms such as TikTok and Facebook. By following these tips and tricks, you can create a successful social media marketing campaign that will help you attract new customers and build a loyal following.

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