Social Media Marketing Solutions: Restaurants

22Aug

For the rest of the summer, the Go! Agency blog will focus on the social media habits of different industries. For each week in August, our first blog will explain common mistakes made by an industry; our second blog will explain how to fix those mistakes.

Thankfully you can quickly and easily correct all of the mistakes we discussed in our previous blog post. Let’s take a look at one restaurant that needs some help with social media strategy. (Note: The following example is a hypothetical case study that combines features from several different situations. Names, locations, and other details have been changed to protect the privacy and anonymity of source examples.)

After Drs. Sam and Colleen Holt left academia, they opened Kerberos Cafe. They have a solid business plan and have seen a lot of success, but they understand that marketing on social media would increase both their audience and their profits. Unfortunately, their Ph.D. programs in physics and mathematics didn’t really cover Facebook or Instagram.

Mistake: Not having a designated social media manager.

Sam and Colleen’s two children, Matt and Katie, help out with the social media when possible, and members of their staff will step in if asked. However, the kids are both in college and the staff members juggle multiple other duties.

Solution: Assign an employee to manage your social media.

Social media marketing needs to be a priority, not an afterthought. This is not to say that you should necessarily hire someone exclusively for this task, but you do need to have one staff member who is in charge of your social media profiles. Don’t just assume that the youngest employee is best suited to this task, either. Ask for volunteers, and choose an employee who understands how to use social media and (preferably) knows at least the basics of social media marketing.

Mistake: Mishandling reviews.

Shiro, the general manager, tries to keep up with Kerberos’ Yelp and Facebook pages. However, he is often swamped with other duties and can’t always reply to each review. Shiro once made the mistake of assigning shift leader Keith to monitor the page, which almost resulted in some less-than-professional responses.

Solution: Respond to every review (and review each of your responses).

The restaurant has a strict policy of approving all social media posts, so Keith’s angry retorts were never seen by the public. (Shiro was annoyed, but accepted the blame himself and moved on.) Shiro realized that the only way he’d be able to read and reply to every review is if he delegated some of his other responsibilities at the end of each shift. This situation is not uncommon; trade off one duty to fulfill another. Responding to consumers will benefit your brand, as over 70 percent of consumers surveyed claimed that prompt responses from companies on social media increased the likelihood for positive word of mouth. You must respond to your reviews especially: it shows that not only are you committed to improving your business, you are equally committed to customer service.

Mistake: Having sporadic updates and other scheduling issues.

Katie and Matt handle Kerberos’ Facebook profile, Shiro monitors the Facebook page and Yelp, and Allura covers Instagram. The restaurant had a Twitter account, but no one remembers the password or has had time to reset it. They all try to post daily, but sometimes a full week goes by without an update.

Solution: Get organized and pre-schedule posts.

Shiro had already reached that conclusion, and now blocks off a specific time for social media. Katie and Matt need to do the same. They should also look into a social media management tool that will allow them to pre-schedule posts: that way, they can just provide the content and not worry about posting at the optimal time!

Mistake: Not interacting with anyone on social media.

Katie usually posts about new menu items or seasonal specials, although she knows that the content can look boring. She doesn’t really share many articles and feels awkward responding to customer comments. She posted a picture of Lance–the cafe’s popular bartender–from a charity marathon (after much pestering from Lance himself), and was pleasantly surprised by all the positive reactions.

Solution: Engage in the social side of social media!

To paraphrase a maxim, a social media profile will not succeed on promotions alone. You must vary your content. Promotions are still a great tool, though! Kerberos should consider doing a promo available only to those who follow their social media profiles. A small incentive like a free dessert or appetizer is a relatively cheap way to drum up engagement and convert your audience into customers. This will also prompt user-generated content (UGC), because people love to post and share about getting free stuff!

Final Point: Prioritize your visuals.

Allura, the dining room manager, double majored in hospitality and photography. She even suggested ways to improve Kerberos’ Instagram page during her interview. Shiro was just grateful to find a volunteer, especially one whose photography experience consisted of more than selfies. Allura takes care to get the best lighting and ideal presentation for each shot. She also supplies Matt, Katie, and Shiro with images for Facebook posts and promotions.

Thankfully, the Kerberos staff understand the power of images in social media! After a little tweaking, they were able to get their social media strategy on point:

Are you in the weeds when it comes to your marketing strategy? We want to help your brand get the most from social media! Contact us today for a free consultation!

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Social Media Marketing Evaluation: Restaurants

By Christopher Tompkins

20Aug

Social Media

For the rest of the summer, the Go! Agency blog will focus on the social media habits of some of our favorite industries. Every week, our first blog will explain common mistakes made by an industry; followed by a second blog that will explain how to fix them. Think of this series as What Not to Wear for social media marketing!

In 2016, 75 percent of U.S. restaurants advertised on Facebook (Statista), but that doesn’t mean that the industry has mastered social media. Too many restaurants treat social media like sidework–an afterthought. Updating pages, posting content, and responding to customers–it’s easy to see why some restaurants are in the weeds when it comes to social media! Although several big chains have been killing it on social media, others need guidance. Here are a few of the biggest questions you need to ask.

Ignoring Reviews

According to BrightLocal, 85 percent of consumers give online reviews the same weight as endorsements from people they know. Sites like Yelp are more influential than ever: 34 percent of consumers report that peer reviews influenced their restaurant choices; and 61 percent of consumers have looked at restaurant reviews online.

Do you monitor your Yelp, Facebook, or your delivery service pages for reviews?
Has your restaurant ever received a negative review? How did you respond?
Do you respond to positive reviews?
Do you share positive reviews?

Little to No Interaction

If you take away only one thing from this blog, let it be this: the purpose of a website is to spread information; the purpose of social media is to connect with your audience. Too many restaurants use their Facebook or Twitter profiles only to showcase new menu items or notify the public of holiday closures. An engaged audience is a profitable audience! Too many restaurants neglect this simple fact and don’t respond to comments or questions on their social media profiles. On a semi-related note, restaurants are guilty of wall-to-wall promotional posts. You should be doing more than just sharing your brunch specials.

Do you reply to comments?
Do you follow your regular customers and interact with their posts?
Do you ever showcase your staff on social media?
Do you only post promotional material?

Poor Scheduling or Rarely Updating

Some restaurants never update their profiles, and some posting schedules follow no discernible pattern. People need to know what to expect. Customers can’t take advantage of your happy hour specials if they don’t know about them in time! Oh, and have fun explaining to the staff that the restaurant’s owner sat three tables five minutes before closing, because the customers all looked at your (outdated) information on Facebook and didn’t know you’d changed hours of operation.

Which social media platforms do you use? How often do you check them?
Is all of your information current on each of your profiles? Hours of operation, menus, specials, et cetera?
Do you announce new menu items? Specials? Events?
Would people have an easy way of accessing your menu or website from your social media page? When was the last time you posted?

No Community Involvement

Social media might be on the world wide web, but it still gives you a chance to connect with your local community! Successful restaurants are well-established in their communities. Becoming a regular at community festivals and charity events is powerful free advertising! Some smaller establishments have had a great deal of success utilizing social media to create buzz in the community.

Do you tag other local (non-competing) businesses?
Have you ever networked with other businesses in your community?
Do you ever promote or take part in local festivals or events?
Does your restaurant offer deals that are only available or visible on social media?

Bad Visuals

We cannot emphasize this enough: social media users respond to images. You need to bring your A-game when it comes to your visuals on social media. You want to entice potential customers with perfectly plated entrees, but even one bad picture could change their minds.

Are you photos polished and high-quality or amateurish and average?
Does your photographer use proper lighting?
Have you ever relied on an Instagram filter to “fix” a below-average photo?
Be honest: would you eat the menu items you post on Instagram?

This post is just an appetizer. In our next blog, we’ll explain how restaurants can fix these errors!

Are you in the weeds with your social media marketing strategy? We can help! Contact us today for a free consultation!

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Social Media Marketing Solutions: Venues

By Christopher Tompkins

15Aug

Social Media

All the mistakes we discussed in our previous post can be quickly and easily corrected. Today we’re profiling a venue that needs some guidance with social media marketing strategy! Although we focused on a performing arts venue for our example, these solutions can apply to venues of every type. (Note: The following example is a hypothetical case study that combines features from several different situations. Names, locations, and other details have been changed to protect the privacy and anonymity of source examples.)

Les and Louis bought and renovated the old Coven Street Theatre with plans of transforming the dilapidated dance hall into a community hotspot. They have an eclectic mix of bands and events, including charity concerts, weddings, folk singers, quinceañeras, gothic rock shows, stand-up comedy, film screenings, and even open-mic nights. Claudia, their intern, is doing the best she can at running their social media profiles, but she admits that she’s overwhelmed.

Bad Visuals

Louis and Les agree that crowdsourcing photos from their audience members during concerts and other events is a great way to increase engagement–and an easy way to score free images. However, Louis wants Les to be more discerning when it comes to choosing which photos to post. Armand, a professional photographer and Louis’ boyfriend, has often pointed out that they chose inferior shots when better pictures were available.

Solution: Don’t post images of inferior quality.

There is only one solution to this problem (and, yes, we will discuss it in every blog of this series): you must get serious about visuals! Do not settle for low-quality photographs. Your audience sees your venue through the photos you post on social media; if you post amateurish, poorly-lit, badly composed, and otherwise low-quality images, that is how they will view your venue. Online visuals often provide first impressions: people will pre-scout before actually visiting a space.

Grand Theft Photo

Louis wants Armand to take a few photos during events, but Armand refuses to work with Les. It seems that Les has gained a reputation for using images from professional photographers without asking permission or giving proper attribution. Although he never used any images for promotional or marketing purposes, Les has alienated the photography community to the point that few pros are willing to work with him (or at his venue). Even wedding photographers are reluctant to shoot at Coven Street!

Solution: Make amends and follow procedure.

All you need to do is get a photographer’s permission to use the photo and then properly attribute the photo. Professional photographers are professionals: what you might consider a hobby is their actual job! They want credit for their work. If you don’t know who took the photo, then don’t use the photo. It’s a good thing that Les never used any of the uncredited images in Coven Street’s promotional materials because that would have been grounds for a lawsuit! Les made it right (after a great deal of harping from Louis), but he could have permanently alienated an entire industry. Louis and Claudia had to spend hours correctly attributing old photos–time that could have been used more productively if best practices had been followed from the beginning.

Constant Promotion

Even if their photos are sub-par, their posters are on point! Yvette, Coven Street Theatre’s events coordinator, designs all of their promotional materials. Louis loves her aesthetic (she moonlights as a freelance graphic designer), so he encourages Claudia to use Yvette’s posters as images whenever possible. Additionally, Yvette has told Claudia to promote every public event at least twice a day on each of Coven Street’s social media accounts. They need to spread the word, right?

Solution: Shake it up a bit.

Posting news of upcoming events and shows is informative. Only posting news of upcoming events and shows is boring at best, obnoxious at worst. Social media is about connecting to your followers, not pitching to them. Think of it as an opportunity to humanize your business. Post about your staff or give your followers a glimpse behind the scenes. If your venue is historic or in a historic neighborhood, promote that aspect! Show your audience why you love your venue–and why they will, too.

Bonus Solution: Connecting to the Local Community

Where do people go before and after a show? If your venue doesn’t have a kitchen or a bar, are there restaurants or bars in the neighborhood? Are there any hotels or bed-and breakfasts conveniently located nearby? Connect with your neighbors, in person and on social media. Consider running specials with your neighbors. Wedding guests could receive a group rate at a hotel, or nearby eateries could offer discounts to ticket holders of your venue. You could promote other businesses, as well: keep a list of preferred vendors for special events. With cross-promotions, everyone wins!

Les and Louis don’t have a lot of the social media problems common to many venues (Claudia takes her duties very seriously), but the problems they do have are pretty major. However, each can be fixed with a change in attitude and a minor change to posting habits. We’ve placed before and after shots of Coven’s Instagram profile below. As you can see, they have addressed all of their issues, resulting in more engagement!

Is your venue properly showcased on social media? We can help you optimize your social media strategy and maximize your results! Contact us today for a free consultation!

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Social Media Marketing Evaluation: Venues

By Christopher Tompkins

13Aug

Social Media

Venues range from cozy wedding spots to massive concert halls. Like all industries, venues are not immune from social media blunders. Let’s discuss a few of the major social media marketing mistakes of venues.

Bad Visuals

The cardinal sin of social media is posting low-quality images. Some venues–particularly music venues–might think that edgy, guerilla-style pics add authenticity to their social media image. No, sorry: out of focus, badly lit, poorly composed photographs look amateurish and sloppy, not hardcore. A professional photographer is worth the investment. Speaking of which . . . .

Grand Theft Photo

Some venues and promoters have a bad habit of using photographs without obtaining the rights from photographers, and sometimes don’t credit the photographer at all! Not only is this illegal (stealing is generally frowned upon), it’s a surefire way to quickly burn bridges in the local scene. Don’t play fast and loose with intellectual property rights.

Constant Promotion

This is a major problem with venues. If all your posts are about events, how will the public get to know your brand? You should still promote every show, but you should also add some posts about your staff, your history, or even just candid backstage shots. Wall-to-wall promotion is boring, and risks alienating your audience.

Singular Focus

If a venue holds weddings, banquets, concerts, plays, and stand-up comedy, shouldn’t the venue’s social media feature each one? It might be primarily a music venue, but occasionally hold weddings; or it could be well-known for hosting celebrations like bat/bar mitzvahs, but lesser known for it’s off-site catering. While you should of course promote on the work you want to do, you want to look well-rounded. Your audience needs to be aware that your space can be used for more than just one type of event or function.

Not Updating Your Calendar

No one wants to drive hours for a concert only to discover upon reaching the venue that the band has cancelled the tour. A couple who scrambled to make their back-up wedding date work with everyone’s schedule would be understandably upset if they found out that a surprise elopement meant the venue was actually available on their preferred day. Mistakes such as these can be annoying inconveniences to major hassles–and always cause negative publicity for your brand. Stay on top of scheduling, and keep your social media calendars up to date!

Focusing on the Wrong Platforms

Do you really need a company LinkedIn profile if your venue is known for its thrash metal shows or romantic wedding gazebo? A business Pinterest page might be great for a wedding venue, but less useful for a concert hall. Figure out where your target audience is online and meet them there!

No Personality

If you focus on wall-to-wall promotion, you will obscure the venue itself. People want to know why they should attend shows at your venue or choose your venue for their event. You should explain what sets your venue apart from the competition. Is the building or neighborhood historic? Do you have a restaurant or bar? Do you cater off-site? Were you ever mentioned or profiled by a major publication? Sharing what makes your venue special is a great way to connect to your target audience!

In our next blog, we’ll explain how you can quickly and easily correct these issues!

Is your venue’s social media marketing getting bad reviews? We can help! Contact us today for your free consultation!

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Social Media Marketing Solutions: Yoga Studios

By Christopher Tompkins

8Aug

Social Media

All the mistakes we discussed in our previous post can be quickly and easily corrected. Let’s take a look at a yoga studio that needs to work on it’s social media marketing. (Note: The following example is a hypothetical case study that combines features from several different situations. Names, locations, and other details have been changed to protect the privacy and anonymity of source examples.)

Mantras & Mudras is a new yoga studio in Chippewa Valley, Michigan. Lindsay Weir, owner and yogi, switched careers after three decades as a microbiologist and moved back home to open up her own studio. She wants Mantras & Mudras to appeal to as many people as possible, so she has hired a diverse team of instructors. Unfortunately, none of them have a background in marketing. She thought she could convince her brother Sam to help out with their social media, but he is adamant that his Ph.D. in computer science did not prepare him for running a Twitter account. Right now, she and Kim–head instructor–manage all their social media profiles as best they can.

Mistake 1: Inferior Images

Lindsay decided to crowd-source the images for their Instagram page. She receives pictures from all of her instructors, and–once she’s obtained the consent of the subject–posts them all. She knows the pics aren’t polished, but won’t the rough quality just enhance the carefree vibe?

Solution: Get serious about your visuals.

As we mentioned in our Brewery edition, this is a flaw common to every industry.

However, this is particularly heinous with yoga and other image-friendly activities. The solution? Make quality visuals your priority! Whether you just become more discerning about the images you post or you hire a professional photographer, you need to treat this seriously. Having decent visuals is not optional for social media.

Mistake 2: Not Posting Frequently Enough

No one has time to post. Lindsay has been busy setting up the studio. Kim still has two teenagers at home, so she can only post at work in between classes. Although assistant instructor Millie has taken over social media duties when Kim is really swamped, their posting habits are still haphazard at best.

Solution: Use a program to pre-schedule your posts.

Good news: your audience (yoga aficionados on social media) is highly engaged already! Bad news: you will lose them quickly unless you feed their content craving! Social media moves quickly–if you don’t post often enough, you are limiting the size of your audience! Successful yoga studios on Instagram post once a day at minimum. It is an indisputable fact that yoga studios must post often if they want to stay relevant. A social media manager (either a program or a professional) can help you. The best programs not only enable you to pre-schedule your posts, they allow you to crosspost to all your accounts on different platforms.

Mistake 3: Too Much Filler, Not enough Value

Given that they don’t have a lot of time to take polished pictures, it’s no surprise that Kim and Lindsay post a lot of inspirational quotes and sayings on every platform. They’d like to posts more shots of poses, but they agree that poses should include instructions and neither has time write guidelines.

Solution: Shoot for quality and quantity.

As we mentioned above, yoga-enthusiasts on social media are engaged and eager for content. Ergo, you need to post frequently. That being said, you need to make sure that the content has value. A few quotes are fine, but no more than one every week. When you post pictures of poses, include instructions for how to do the pose. You need to commit to doing several quality posts per week, and at least one quality post per day for Instagram. If you don’t have time, you must make time.

Mistake 4: Ignoring the Human Element

The instructors are all passionate about yoga, but they arrived at it from different places. Millie enrolled in a yoga class as an elective for undergrad when she needed one more course hour to remain a full-time student. Kim first got into yoga at the suggestion of a therapist, who thought the calming practice would help her deal with PTSD. Jean, Lindsay’s mom, took a class with a friend a few years ago and loved it–she’s now one of the oldest Yoga Alliance-certified E-RYT 500s in the country! It’s too bad that these compelling stories aren’t included in the studio’s social media . . . .

Solution: Share your stories.

One quick caveat: before you post anyone’s photograph or even use their name on social media, make absolutely certain that you have their permission. Once permission is granted, talk about yourself and your instructors! Share inspirational journeys, life hacks, personal quirks–you name it! This will help your followers identify with your staff, and thus will humanize your brand.

Mistake 5: Ignoring the Yoga Community

Lindsay has a doctorate in microbiology. She has presented papers at international conferences and lectured around the world. Lindsay is a brilliant woman, but she’s self-aware enough to admit that she just doesn’t grasp the social aspect of social media. Her niece tried to explain hashtags to her, but Lindsay is still lost. As a result, Mantras & Mudras is disconnected from the greater yoga community on social media.

Solution: Connect!

Use hashtags (#yogaeverydamnday, #yogaeverywhere, #yogaeveryday) to reach new followers! Participate in monthly or weekly challenges! Tag and contact yoga influencers! Your community is already on social media, it’s up to you to take the time to find it.

Once they understood what was holding them back, Mantras & Mudras overhauled the studio’s social media strategy. Below are the before and after screenshots:

To paraphrase a post from Mantras & Mudras, you decide if today is one day or day one. Every day is another chance to make a fresh start. Your yoga studio could attain social media success if you get commit to improving your social media strategy.

Yoga instructors and yoga studios: now is the time to align your strategies with your goals! We want to help you! Contact The Go! Agency today for a free consultation!

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Social Media Marketing Evaluation: Yoga Studios

By Christopher Tompkins

6Aug

Social Media

This week we’re taking a break from perfecting our asanas to meditate on yoga studios. Although social media (Instagram in particular) seems ideal for this industry, several yogis and studios are guilty of social media blunders. We’ll present the major faux pas today, and fix them in our next blog!

Inferior Images

You need to have quality images, no matter the subject. Social media is a visual space: in 2017, Facebook posts accompanied by images received over twice the engagement as image-free posts. According to Buffer, tweets with images receive more favorites and more retweets. Many yoga poses are visually striking, so there is no excuse for poor photography. That carries over to pictures of your studio space. For whatever reason, a lot of accounts seem to post pictures of studio corners–literally, the corners of the room. It’s an odd trope that should be avoided. (P.s., a good Instagram filter will not salvage a bad photograph!)

Not Posting Frequently Enough

On social media, yoga communities are very active and engaged. A studio should understand that posting once a week will not attract followers. Facebook and Twitter profiles should be updated a few times every week; Instagram, however, should be updated once a day at minimum. Successful yoga Instagram accounts have massive amounts of content that they share with their followers.

All Inspiration, All the Time

Quotes are lovely. Quotes are inspiring. Quotes are great filler for when you need content in a pinch. Unfortunately, a few quotes go a long way. Yoga studios post inspirational quotes like some people post memes: far too often. Seriously, when your content is

[pose] [quote] [pose]

[studio] [quote] [quote]

[flyer] [quote] [pose]

you have a problem. Too many of these inspirational images make a page look monotonous. Once a week is plenty, believe us.

Neglecting the Human Element

While the yoga community is still somewhat divided about taking pictures in a class, this is no excuse to eschew posting about willing subjects. Posts about your studio’s yoga instructors are especially good for social media purposes. So many studios neglect to show off their staff. Followers (and potential clients) want to know more about the person teaching the classes. As long as you have their full informed consent, you should incorporate staff into your social media.

Not Connecting to the Yoga Community

Yoga is huge on Instagram. There are hundreds of micro-and macro-influencers on that platform alone, some of whom have over one million followers. Yoga hashtags are consistently popular, like #yogaeverydamnday (14,255,917 posts) and #yogaeverywhere (5,094,717 posts). There are yoga challenges on a daily basis–providing ample opportunities for exposure and shares! You are hurting your brand by avoiding the opportunity to connect with the yoga community in a different way.

Too Little Information

Some studios that choose to post photographs of poses do not include instructions with pose posts. These studios are missing out on the chance to educate their followers. Posting photos of specific poses is an opportunity to guide people on proper form and body alignment, as well as some of the deeper aspects of yoga. Posts of poses that don’t include instructions are lovely, but otherwise lack purpose.

In our next blog, we’ll profile a hypothetical studio making these real mistakes. We’ll show you how easy it is to get your studio’s social media strategy back on track!

Does your yoga studio’s social media marketing strategy align with your goals? We want to help! Contact The Go! Agency today for a free consultation!

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Social Media Marketing Solutions: Breweries

By Christopher Tompkins

1Aug

Social Media

For the rest of the summer, The Go! Agency blog will focus on the social media habits of different industries. For each week in August, our first blog will explain common mistakes made by an industry; our second blog will explain how to fix those mistakes.

To show you how quickly and easily these mistakes can be corrected, we’ll examine the mistakes of Atlantis Beer Company. (Note: This example is a hypothetical case study that combines features from several different situations. Names, locations, and other details have been changed to protect the privacy and anonymity of source examples.)

Brothers Arthur and Orm took over Atlantis Beer Company after their mother retired. ABC has a larger brewery with an attached tasting room, restaurant, and events hall. Arthur is the brewmaster, Orm is the sales director, and Mera–Arthur’s wife–is the tasting room manager and events coordinator. We’re mostly referring to the brewery’s Instagram page, but they also crosspost to Twitter and Facebook.

Essentially, their account looks like:

Mistake #1: Content Issues
Unfortunately, none of the three leaders really has the time to manage ABC’s social media accounts, so they rotate every month. Mera and Orm have a more serious tone, compared to Arthur’s laid-back aesthetic. Mera keeps everything concise and clear, and her image posts are often minimalist photos of beer against plain backdrops. Arthur favors a more casual approach to social media, so his months feature pictures of the crew, behind the scenes shots, and photos of his Hungarian puli, Topo. Orm’s posts are almost all promotional in nature, sometimes including jargon that is almost incomprehensible to anyone who is not a sales professional. Their approaches are so dissimilar that it almost seems like their social media accounts switch to a different business every month.
Solution: Get organized.
The leaders of ABC need to get together and develop a strategy for their social media presence. They are all over the place content-wise, and at the same time monotonous! While it’s good to have a mixture of staged and candid photos, they are all over the place tonally. They need to decide what overall style they want for their brewery. After they’ve settled on a consistent tone, they need to devise a content schedule so that they can more evenly distribute types of content for their social media pages.

Mistake #2: Wall-to-Wall Promotion
Orm, as the head of sales, feels like he must take every opportunity to push their product. He showcases every new beer release, every new menu feature, et cetera. Orm believes that every encounter with a customer is an opportunity to sell, and he is an opportunistic guy.
Solution: Vary your content.
Orm might be great at sales, but he doesn’t know a lot about marketing. Social media marketing is all about connection and communication, not pushing a product. Don’t bombard your followers with sales pitches. Allow your brand to speak for itself: show, don’t tell. Instead of telling followers to buy your new beer, show the release party. Instead of telling followers how popular your brewery is, show the tasting room on a crowded weeknight. On a similar note, share news about beer festivals and other events featuring your brand. If you’re sponsoring a charity event or cause, post about that too!

Mistake #3: Too Many Memes
Garth and Jackson, bartenders, both love a good meme and share them with Arthur, who in turn posts them when he’s in charge of social media.
Solution: Use memes sparingly.
Memes can be hilarious, but these internet jokes get old quickly and tend to age poorly. Post memes rarely, if at all.

Mistake #4: Inconsistent Posting Schedule
Mera tries to post at least three times every week, but the days and times vary. Orm will post a few times a day in the weeks leading up to a new release, but then gets too busy to follow up and sometimes even forgets to update the page for several days. Arthur at least tries to stay consistent, but he hates having to stop what he’s doing and post according to schedule.
Solution: Schedule your posts ahead of time.
There are many programs and tools that allow you to pre-schedule your social media posts. You won’t have to worry about remembering to log in every day or however often to post content. A good scheduling program will also enable you to crosspost to different platforms.

Mistake #5: Sub-Par Visuals
Arthur’s casual approach to social media is great for showcasing ABC’s company culture, but his cavalier attitude toward picture quality is terrible for ABC’s overall image. Judging by his photos, Arthur apparently thinks that blurry images seem more candid.
Solution: Commit to using better images.
Social media posts with images are just more successful. On Facebook, posts accompanied by images receive over twice the engagement as posts with no images! Tweets with images were favorited 89% more often than those without images, and were retweeted 150% more often than non-image tweets. Knowing these facts, would it still be acceptable to post bad pictures? Of course not! You don’t need to hire a professional, but your photos do need to look polished. Luckily for ABC, Tula–their brewer and quality control expert–happens to have minored in photography and is willing to help out with visuals.

As you can see, the biggest part of fixing these issues is simply committing to doing so. You need to take social media seriously, no matter your industry. Small breweries are a bright spot during this uncertain economic time (The Atlantic explains more about their impact on the U.S. economy), so they should capitalize on their unique position.

Do you need help with your social media marketing strategy? We can take your SMM to the next level! Contact The Go! Agency today for a free consultation!

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Social Media Marketing Evaluation: Breweries

By Christopher Tompkins

30Jul

Social Media

For the rest of the summer, The Go! Agency blog will focus on the social media habits of some of our favorite industries. Every week, our first blog will explain common mistakes made by an industry; followed by a second blog that will explain how to fix them. Think of this series as What Not to Wear for social media marketers!

This week we’ll see what breweries are doing on social media that torpedo their chance of marketing success.

Hyperfocus on Beer

We get it. You make beer. You serve beer. Presumably, you enjoy beer. That’s great, but so does every other brewery in the history of fermentation. What makes your brewery different? Do you have a monthly game night? Are you pet-friendly? Do you support any charities? Is your building historic? Does your brewery double as a venue, maybe for weddings or concerts? What about art shows, open-mic nights, rap battles, or slam poetry festivals? Show users why your establishment is worth their time, money, and commute. (Brew pubs and restaurant breweries, take note: you are just as guilty of this as your hoppy brethren. If your social media posts are mostly shots of meal pairings or beer-based menu items–no matter how creative the recipe or avant-garde the presentation–your page will be boring.)

Speaking of which, the “picture of a beer bottle/beer can with the beer’s name as the only description” trope needs to go away. Even if the label art is phenomenal, even if the beer’s name is a hilarious and profound pun containing layers of allusions–these posts are boring. It is possible to have too much minimalism: people who are interested in your product would like to get information on your product.

Wall-to-Wall Promotion

On a similar note, far too many breweries focus solely on promoting their wares. By all means, post shots of seasonal menu specials, beer pairing dinners, and full dining rooms. However, your social media profile should showcase your brand as a whole: that means showing followers your corporate personality, not just your products.

POST ALL THE MEMES!

[Author’s note: runners-up for this subheading title included “All your beers are belong to us”; “ERMAHGERD! AAYELLE!”; “i can haz pilznar?”; and “Such Hops, Much Ferment.”]

Memes are, for better or worse, now part of our culture. Even the best memes, however, can get very boring very quickly–particularly when they make up 70 percent or more of your social media posts. A much more effective way to show followers that you are funny, hip, and/or edgy is to actually introduce the funny, hip, and/or edgy people who work for you. A few memes can add humor and a spark of irreverence to your social media profile, but use them sparingly.

Haphazard Posting Schedules

In the month leading up to the release of a new beer, you posted eight times a week. In the three months following that release, you posted eight times period. Be consistent with your posting schedule. At the very least, major activity promoting a new brew immediately followed by radio silence might make followers think that your new release was a flop–otherwise you’d be posting about it, right? You should always choose quality over quantity, so it’s fine to forgo posting lackluster content just for the sake of posting something. That being said, you should establish and stick to a consistent posting schedule.

Monotonous Content

You can have too many photos of sunsets from the porch. You can have too many shots of dogs wearing bandanas. You can have too many pics of your staff gathered around a keg, of bartenders pouring a pint, and patrons raising their glasses in silent toast. Mix it up a bit.

Bad Photos

This is a universal mistake that is made by every industry (yes, even some professional photographers are guilty of this on social media). You don’t necessarily need to hire a pro, but you do need to take visuals seriously. You want your images to look polished–and don’t just assume that any mistakes can be fixed by using a filter. Far too often, breweries seem to think that an Instagram filter is the answer for everything, only to end up with washed-out, over-exposed, poorly-cropped pictures.

In out next post, we’ll take a look at a hypothetical brewery that has committed all of these social media sins. We’ll explain how to remedy these issues in our next post!

Is your brand languishing in obscurity? Are you struggling with social media? The Go! Agency can help revitalize your social media marketing strategy! Contact us today for a free consultation!

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Instagram’s New Algorithm and How It Affects Marketers

By Christopher Tompkins

11Jun

Instagram, Social Media

Instagram recently announced that it will be changing its feed algorithm. Many people involved in social media marketing, digital marketing, and content marketing have expressed concern regarding this shift. Today we will discuss what is changing and how it matters to your brand–and the future of digital marketing.

What exactly is Instagram changing?

The powers that be at Instagram are updating their feed algorithm. Much like Facebook’s newsfeed or Tumblr’s dashboard, the feed for Instagram simply dictates which posts appear when you open the application. Originally, the feed was mostly chronological. The algorithm was eventually modified to take engagement into account when determining which posts should receive priority. The new algorithm will focus on three elements: relationship, timeliness, and interest.

Relationship refers to the relationship a user has with the post’s creator. This is itself gleaned from their previous interactions, not from actual relationship. Here is an example: Deandra follows her brother’s new coffee shop, The Java Company. She wants to be supportive (even though she hates coffee), so she likes all of The Java Company’s posts, occasionally comments on pictures, and even tags them if she sees their brand elsewhere. Instagram’s new algorithm would consider these interactions and logically conclude that The Java Company should be prioritized in her feed.

Timeliness refers to the when the post was created. While a strictly chronological feed is unlikely to ever be an option again, the algorithm will take the time and order of publication into consideration as it determines the feed. Marketers must now pay closer attention to their posting schedules to be certain that they reach their audiences.

Interest is somewhat vague, but it is the most intriguing change. As with relationship, the algorithm factors in a user’s past engagement with similar content. Instagram will then analyze the content of the post visually using its image recognition tools. The AI will actually recognize and generalize images. Consider the following scenario: Charlie loves the anime Orokana Denisu! (Stupid Dennis!), which has an active presence and lively fanbase on Instagram. He often posts, likes, and comments on fan art of his favorite character: Yosoyososhīdesu Nakai (“Aloof Waitress”), the mech-piloting career girl. Given his engagement with posts that feature emotionally-distant baristas fighting monsters, the new algorithm would conclude that Charlie is interested in other content featuring anime tropes, like kaiju and mechs. It will then look for posts that feature artwork, screenshots, and other images similar to Orokana Denisu!, and prioritize those posts.

Note that these three factors work in tandem. The new algorithm will consider each equally.

How will this affect your brand?

If you’ve used Instagram since March 2018, you’ve encountered the new algorithm. Both executives and users seem to be happy with it thus far, so it’s probably going to stick around for a while. Instagram has seen user engagement rise, possibly because of the new algorithm: an average Instagram user now spends as much as 32 minutes each day on the app.

So how will this affect your marketing strategy? Since the algorithm is based on the behavior of individual users, many rumors have been debunked. For instance, the algorithm does not give preference to one format over another: videos get the same weight as static images. Likewise, the algorithm does not rate personal accounts higher than business accounts or vice versa. Finally, as we mentioned above, there is no discussion of returning to a chronological timeline.

The Takeaway
No matter how the algorithm changes, one thing remains the same: content is king. Brands should still concentrate on creating amazing content. Customers will still seek out engaging content, regardless of any algorithm. Focus on crafting quality content, and your audience will follow!

Do you need help conquering the world of Instagram? Does your social media marketing strategy leave something to be desired? The Go Agency can help! Contact us today for a free consultation!

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Tools of the Trade: Let’s Get Creative!

By Christopher Tompkins

6Jun

Business, Content Creation, Facebook, Graphic Design, Instagram, Local Marketing, Marketing, Pinterest, Social Media

There are plenty of professional tools like Adobe Creative Cloud that can help you create amazing custom graphics and visuals for your social media profiles. However, if you don’t have a graphic designer on your team, those programs might seem a little bit intimidating. People who are new to social media marketing and veteran digital marketers who aren’t quite tech-savvy still have options! There are several tools that are quick to master and easy to use. Here are some of our personal favorites.

Canva
Primary Function: Design tool with a myriad of uses.
Pros: One of the most user-friendly tools available today. Enables users to collaborate with team members. Users can also create videos.
Cons: Users don’t have much creative freedom, as they are limited to Canva’s fonts and graphics. There are skills and programs that can help you circumvent this (e.g., creating a .png file with Adobe Illustrator and uploading it to Canva), but people who can do so would likely not need Canva in the first place.

Skitch
Primary Function: An application from Evernote that allows users to capture, share, and annotate screenshots.
Pros: Free. Intuitive. Easy to use. Quick.
Cons: Work cannot be saved to a local drive.

Pexels
Primary Function: Online source of free stock photos.
Pros: Massive amount of photos. Every photo is licensed under the Creative Commons Zero license–meaning that each picture is totally free and available for any legal purpose, whether personal or commercial.
Cons: Paid applications have even more photos.

Easel.ly
Primary Function: Create professional infographics from thousands of templates.
Pros: Easy to use. Intuitive. Lots of existing templates. Premium accounts are quite reasonably priced. Account options include one for companies who deal with sensitive data.
Cons: Free version has far fewer themes, images, and fonts.

Info.Gram
Primary Function: Data visualization tool that enables users to create interactive charts, infographics, maps, and more.
Pros: Designs can be interactive. Great for dealing with complex data.
Cons: Free designs require inclusion of its logo. The basic package does not allow rich text editing (no fiddling with fonts).

Prezi
Primary Function: Presentation software.
Pros: Cloud-based. Teachers and college students are eligible for free non-Public accounts. Mobile version is available.
Cons: Better suited to creative presentations (not great for, say, presenting the third quarter budget projections). The Public option is free, but public–anyone can view your work.

Piktochart
Primary Function: A tool that lets people with no design experience create professional-looking presentations, reports, posters, and infographics.
Pros: Cloud-based. Very intuitive. Suited for all experience levels. Over 200 templates are available. Lots of different options for accounts, including free basic plan.
Cons: The paid plans are a little pricey. Similar versions of some of the premium templates are available for free on other platforms.

Slideshare
Primary Function: A community for storing and sharing presentations, but also hosts documents, videos, and webinars. Owned by LinkedIn.
Pros: Claims to be the largest online community for sharing presentations. Cloud-based.
Cons: Freemium, meaning that you must purchase premium content and features.

There are hundreds of programs, applications, and tools available–these are just a few of our favorites. Each proves that you do not need an MFA in Graphic Design to create basic visuals for your social media branding materials.

We have a team of marketing and design experts who can take your branding materials to the next level!
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Tag : How to social media marketing