Social media is the new word-of-mouth


By Niklas Bastholm Hansen
Updated Mar. 8th 2021
#GettingStarted, #Business

Social media is the new word-of-mouth

7 out of 10 restaurants, bars or cafées shut down within 2 years. So what does it take to stand out in the competition? The answer is, and has always been: Word-of-mouth marketing. People must talk about your business, your new special, your new offering, and be your ambassadors. This used to sound something like this:

Quote
You should check out this new bakery. They have the most yummy new pastry.
You should check out this new bakery. They have the most yummy new pastry.
Everyone
Niklas Bastholm Hansen

What does word-of-mouth look like these days? Today it looks a lot more like this:




Yup, it’s referrals on social media. The screenshots from the two posts above have more than 150 likes, on Instagram after 1 month, and were not paid advertisement. This is why I say social media marketing is essential: it is the way we do word-of-mouth in 2021.

You need an audience and a great message

So what do you need as a restaurant, bar or café to get good word-of-mouth? You essentially need 2 things: An audience, and a compelling message. If you already have an email list of previous guests, and/or a social media profile with many followers, you have a great starting point. The two Instagram posts above are of pastry from a place called “Hart Bageri” in Copenhagen Denmark. They don’t need any help with their social media marketing. Check out their Instagram profile below:



They have 119K followers on Instagram, as of early March 2021, an absolutely astonishing audience size. They have achieved this by being able to post gorgeous photos of amazing cakes, bread and other baked goods since May 2018. So just, 2.5 years. Bare in mind, that this is not an international bakery company, but 1 bakery. Well, now they have two locations with a separate concept. As you can see, if you pair that with a great ability to create compelling messages, you are doing great. However, if you lack either the audience or the ability to create compelling content for a newsletter or social media posts, or both, you should consider working with social media influencers. They can provide both.

Work with social media creators

You don’t need to be an expert like “Hart Bageri”, to build an audience. You can work with the experts: Social media influencers. Influencers are people who rock social media so hard that their follower count has reached into the thousands. They have typically earned their following through gorgeous photos and personal engagement with their audience. Not only do they have large audiences, and an ability to create compelling posts on social media, but according to a report on Hubspot 71% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase based on a social media referral. This makes it even more powerful to work with influencers since you can leverage their audience and compelling and effective messaging to get even better results than with social media ads.

Automate your social media marketing

The problem you immediately run into when getting ready to work with influencers is how to actually get started. You need to find good influencers, read and write endless emails and direct messages on social media, and eventually you need to come up with specific deals with these influencers. What should you offer them and should the offer be per post on social media or per booking or payment in your place? All of these questions quickly become overwhelming and most restaurants, bars and cafées give up on working with influencers to build up their audience. Instead of giving up, you should automate all the communication tasks and work with HelloEcho. We can help you with all aspects of working with influencers in ways that is fair for everyone involved so you are certain to only pay when you actually get value for money. Oh, and one more thing: It takes only minutes to setup your account and get started. See how in the article “Automate your social media marketing”.

Posts for businesses:
Social media is the new word-of-mouth
Automate your influencer marketing
Get more bookings or orders
Host events with HelloEcho

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