4 Social Media Marketing Tips for Bars
How bars can use social media to bring in new customers
When it comes to posting on social media, there’s a great deal of strategies bars can use to bring in new customers — but we’re here to show you how to post on social media to keep those customers engaged and keep them coming back.
Here are 5 tips bars can use on their Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter accounts to attract new customers and spread word-of-mouth about the awesome experience customers can have at their bar any day of the week:
1.) Add the human element
As a bar owner, you know that people are coming in for the great atmosphere, snacks and bar fare, to socialize with friends, but mostly, they’re coming for the drinks. It’s important to post about those drinks on your social channels, however only posting photos of your drink menu is not the best way to engage your fans and followers.
Social media users, especially millennials — (ages 18–34), are looking for an authentic feel of your business presented on your social media pages. And you can help provide that to your audience by adding a human element into the photos of your post — a face, a bartender shaking up a cocktail, patrons at the bar, hands placing that perfect garnish on top, or hands pouring that perfect Guinness. All of these elements will serve to put a face to your brand and your business, and make it easier for your audience to relate.
Here are some examples from craft cocktail bar, The Roosevelt Room, in Austin, Texas. They post great photos of their cocktails, but they also make sure to add in the team that makes it all possible.
Here is a photo of not just a drink, but the skilled hands that made that drink adding a finishing touch:
Here’s a photo of a bartender working hard during a busy shift — which also serves as a tribute to their talented staff:
And here’s a customer holding one of their new beverages — it’s a great way to not only shine a spotlight on their new product, but also to give their customers a moment to shine to show that they are valued and appreciated:
2.) Share User-Generated Content
One easy way to make sure you’re posting great content on your social channels — especially on Instagram — is to share the content your fans are already sharing about your business (a.k.a. user-generated content.)
85 percent of consumers find visual user-generated content more influential than brand photos or videos. — CrowdRiff
With Instagram, you can monitor your notifications for users tagging or mentioning your business, and if you see a post you like and think would be a good post to share on your business’ Instagram account, reach out and ask that user for permission to reshare.
Once they give you permission, you can use apps like the Repost app, which will post using the link from the person who originally posted the content, or simply screenshot the post and give that user credit by tagging them in your caption. Ex: (📷: @mainstreethub).
Here’s an example of from Jo’s Coffee in ATX:
3.) Boost Organic Facebook Content
In addition to having a compelling organic content strategy, you can take an extra step by using boosted content on Facebook to get your message in front of the right audience.
Typically, a good post to put some money behind is for an event, special, discount, or promotion. You’ll need a great photo, video, or graphic to use for this post in order to engage customers — any image you use for Facebook will need to be less than 20% text.
Pro Tip: Before you boost, publish your post on Facebook and give it some time to get some organic reach and engagement. Boosted posts tend to perform better if they have garnered organic engagement first.
Here’s a Facebook post from Miami, Florida bar The Clevelander with some organic reach that they could boost if they wanted to promote their Thirsty Thursday special:
4.) Use Instagram Stories & Twitter for Updates
Posting compelling content matters to keep your followers excited about what you’ll post next, but you don’t want to neglect these platforms as important vehicles for getting the word out about your business. Post about your events, specials, and promotions — just make sure that your content calendar has a balance between promotional content and fun, engaging posts your followers will like seeing on their feeds. You can use Instagram Stories for these kinds of updates to keep your followers informed. And it’s great for events since the content disappears after 24 hours — it will go away when your event is over.
Here’s an example of a great Instagram Story from Austin, Texas bar Easy Tiger — they’re keeping their followers informed of an event that’s happening at their business, adding the human element, and encouraging anyone who comes across their story to come by for a visit (and for some rosé!)
(More creative ideas for Instagram Stories on the Later blog.)
You can use a similar tactic on Twitter — while Twitter isn’t disappearing content, because millions of tweets are sent per day that content will show up for your followers in the timeframe they need to make a decision about coming by your bar.
Here, Cane Rhum Bar in Charleston, South Carolina lets their followers know about their refreshing specials for Happy Hour on Twitter. Also, note the time. They sent the tweet out at 3:04PM — a perfect time to be top-of-mind for their followers and anyone searching for happy hours in Charleston on Twitter to select the bar they want to go to, and then, head there from work.
In this example, Rhodeside Grill in Arlington, Virginia uses Twitter to let their followers know about their special, limited-time only, low-country boil:
Keeping your audience both informed and engaged is the goal with social media. If you bar has a good balance of promotional and fun content, you’ll be sure to attract new customers to come in for a drink — and come back next week.
Managing your online presence is a full-time job. Main Street Hub can save you time by doing it for you.
Social media. Reviews. Online customer service. It’s a lot, but we’re the team that does it all, so you can focus on your business. Sign up with us here.
