Now is the time to take an offensive approach and transition from survival to reinvention mode. While some things will return to a version of “normal”, some will not; leaving those that just double down on the same ways of doing business behind.
But there’s light at the end of this tunnel. While change can be stressful and even painful, it also creates opportunities.
To help you come back stronger than ever, we’ve compiled the following list of free resources and guidance to save you time and increase your impact on social media.
Look Back To Move Forward
Use this downtime to analyze every marketing campaign and reallocate resources where appropriate. Keep in mind, posting on social media may be free, consider the opportunity cost.
- Do offering discounts and spending money on special events lead to increased sales?
- Consider daily specials, features, events, parties, specials, happy hours, etc.
- Does your content online reflect the image you want to portray?
- Do you want to convey you have a high-end club but show low-quality photos? (both in image quality and composition)
- Are there typos or all caps used in your captions?
- Do your captions talk at people instead of invoking conversation?
- Is your club info consistent across all marketing channels?
- Stay on top of what’s being said about your club by signing up for Google Alerts — you’ll get an email every time your club is mentioned online.
- Use data to know what’s working – or not – on Facebook/Instagram
- Best time of day to post & day of the week to post
- Post at times/days when more of your fans are online. To view, on the left side, go to “Posts”, then “When your fans are online”.
- Which post generates the most clicks to your website, directions to your club
- Where your fans are from, their age, gender and more
- Access Facebook Insights: Go to your page, click “More,” then “Insights” – across the top under the blue bar.
- Access Instagram Insights: Go to your page, click the three horizontal lines in the upper right-hand corner, then click “Insights.”
- Best time of day to post & day of the week to post
Reduce Friction
Online, it’s a bad thing.
- Schedule posts to keep your social media accounts active while you’re busy running your club.
- Easily share Instagram content using an app such as the free version of RepostPlus
- Save time with automating common responses
- Facebook Instant Replies: Instant Replies are messages that users see automatically when they initiate a chat with your Facebook page.
- Quick Replies on Facebook and Instagram: Save time when responding to frequently asked questions. With Quick Replies, you can select an answer you’ve previously written instead of retyping the answer again, such as employment opportunities, hours, cover, dress code.
Stay Connected
Out of sight means out of mind. Stay relevant to your guests, or you risk losing them. Plus, competitors may be pulling back, which creates an opportunity to step up and step in.
- Both on Facebook and Instagram, post at least weekly on your page, several times a week to stories
- Create a Live series: Go Live on Facebook or Instagram and allow your staff/entertainers/DJ to host a live segment from quarantine. Add them to your pages as “Editor” – only the club owner should have admin access.
- Encourage your entertainers/staff to tag your page in posts they want to be shared on your club’s feed.
- Paying per post is a slippery slope — many will do it for free as it helps them reach a broader audience and encourages fans to see them at your clubs.
- Host Contests/Giveaways: Give guests a reason to come in once you open and remain relevant
- Post Throwback photos to tap into nostalgia – the older, the better!
- Respond to comments (when appropriate) to keep the conversation going.
- Plan and schedule events (pending updates) for the future
- If you use Eventbrite, you can automatically post your events to Facebook by following these steps. Doing so helps with SEO: when someone Googles things like, “events near me” your listing will be higher in search results, gives your customers something to look forward to, and saves you time in the future when you’re busy running your club.
Continue Generating Revenue
Instead of “How will we do what we’re doing?” consider, “How will we do what we’re doing in a different world?”
- Offer VIP Packages and club-branded merchandise to be purchased from your website and promote on your social media pages.
- This free course will help you get started selling on Facebook and Instagram. Then showcase products on your Instagram page and create your store on your Facebook page.
- Let people that love your club purchase egift card that can be used when you reopen
- Square offers the ability to sell egift cards online (free of charge) – click here to get started. Then, add your gift card to your Instagram profile by following these steps.
Dominate Your Competition
Give your club an unfair competitive advantage and steal market share by planning ahead.
Increase in conversions when text is centrally located
77%
Increase in purchase intent by using an actual photo as opposed to a stock photo
80%
Increase in purchase intent when using a video as opposed to a static image
76%
- Understand the impact of business interruption and continue to triage the unexpected.
- Lean into digital ways of generating revenue and connecting with customers
- Geofence Campaigns allow you to directly advertise your club to guests that enter your competitors’ club or those visit your competitors’ website. As social distancing may limit the capacity in your club, hyper-target campaigns to your big spenders with options such as high discretionary spending, income, age, and more.
- Mitigate risks to the customer experience by thinking realistically from the outside-in.
- Re-train all staff on suggestive selling: when done right, it feels less like sales and more like a great guest experience.
In this unprecedented time, there is an opportunity — for those that decide to use it wisely. Embark on a new journey while everyone else is waiting for the old ship to return.
In working with club owners throughout the years, I’ve noticed they all seem to have one characteristic that stands out, and that’s courage. Because of the innate hurdles in the industry, club owners are uniquely suited for this crisis because of the courage it takes to run a club in the first place. They intuitively understand that things don’t always go as planned and that setbacks make you stronger. They’re familiar with facing the unknown, and creating opportunities in crisis; know how to cope with, and thrive in uncomfortable environments; have the readiness to pivot, evolve, or reset with perseverance and fortitude.
And that’s what we’ll do.
We’re happy to help you with any of the above tactics or to consult with you about your marketing strategy. Tell us what you need – we’re here to help you through this stressful time.
