6-point social media strategy for bars & restaurants

The last two weeks we picked Rob Austin's brain about the proven goal and process he uses for social media and 6 simple marketing efforts he's recently used at Leader Bar, a neighborhood pub in Irving Park, CHI.

This week, still thirsty, we're returning to Rob's knowledge well to talk about social media strategy—what to post, when/how often to post, how to post about events, etc. In our conversation we sort of coalesced around 6 points that a bar, restaurant, and brewery can use to develop their social media strategy:

1. If you take away just one thing from this week's newsletter, make it this: don't assume people are riveted to your social media profiles. They aren't. They're riveted to their devices and their feeds. If you want to get in front of them, you need to post often so that you happen to catch them while they're scrolling.
2. What should I post? Show people what it's like in your bar/restaurant/brewery. What's the space like? What is the food like? What can you drink when you're there? What can they do? Are there TVs? Pool tables? When planning your posts, return to those questions.
3. When? How often? 5-6 times per week. 1 post a week isn't enough.
4. What about with events? Post at least a couple times days before your events. If your event is on Saturday, post about it for the first time by Wednesday at the latest. Too often event posting doesn't happen until day-of, once people have already made their plans.
5. Shared calendar. If you don't have one already, get one going at your business. Rob prefers Google calendar. This helps with social media in 2 ways: first, you can plan out your next week or two of posting really easily, meaning day-of all you need to do is post, not think about what to post. Second, sharing the calendar with your team means they can add events to it. If everything's on that central calendar, then it's easy for you post smartly about upcoming events.
6. Bonus tip: Include your logo in your posts as much as possible. The better folks know your logo, the easier it is for them to recognize you and start creating an emotional relationship with your brand.

Check out the interview clip for more detail from Rob on his go-to social media strategy:

Getting sick of Rob? Don't worry—this'll be Rob's last lead off for awhile. But he'll be back later this summer to talk about some really valuable stuff like best practices for engaging with commenters, how to stage a DIY photoshoot, and how to set up a value-add QR Code—>website flow.

Well, June has arrived. And in a surprise to exactly nobody, some summer beers finally turned up on our weekly trending beer lists. Here are a few that stood out:

	Stiegl Radler Grapefruit Radler · 2.0% · Salzburg, Austria
	Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy Shandy · 4.2% · Chippewa Falls, WI
	Busch Light Peach Lager · 4.1% · St. Louis, MO
	Stone Buenaveza Salt & Lime Lager Mexican Lager · 4.7% · Escondido, CA

Just listing them isn't very interesting—of course these beers are more popular now than in February. But what is interesting is comparing the past week (June 1 - June 7 2023) to the same period last year:

• Steigl Radler: Flat traffic levels between this year and last.
• Leinenkugel Summer Shandy: 50% more traffic this year than last.
• Busch Light Peach: Didn't exist last year.
• Stone Buenaveza Salt & Lime Lager: Flat traffic levels between this year and last.

The Takehome

Leinie's Summer Shandy is popping off, even more than last year!

You've probably ordered it already, but it's looking like it's positioned to be even more sought-after this year. Order a bit more than last year—I'm sure it'll sell.

Also of note: this newsletter is coming at you from Wisconsin, so I of course like seeing Summer Shandy on the list (even though I do prefer Leinie's Original.)

• A financial services firm surveyed distributors about Bud Light's prospects in the wake of the dumb protest we've all heard too much about. 65% of them expect the downturn to last another 6 months, while 32% think it could be permanent. Wild.
• James Beard award winners were announced Monday. Here's a full list of the winners. The awards came less than a week after the New York Times ran a story about how the James Beard Foundation has started working with PIs to investigate nominees. Why? To make sure nominees with problematic pasts don't win.
• The San Francisco World Spirits Competition happened back in April, but there's an onslaught of press about the winners this week. I'm having trouble rounding up a comprehensive user-friendly list, but if you start with this article from Men's Journal about the best tequila and mezcal, you can navigate to the other lists like best rye whiskeys and best American whiskeys.
• And finally, at a panel last weekend the Cheers cast spoke about the "beer" they had to drink on set. Norm—aka George Wendt—reported that it was "warm, flat, salty, non-alcoholic beer." Yuck.