5 rules for posting on social media

So you've committed to investing time in posting on social media. How can you optimize it? When should you post? How often? What should you expect as a return?

Rob Austin is a longtime marketing professional who most recently ran marketing for a bar and restaurant in Chicago's Irving Park neighborhood. During our interview, we honed in on 5 rules that a bar, restaurant, or brewery should use to get the most out of their social media presence/strategy:

1. If you want to get in front of people, you need to post often (5-6 times per week) so that you happen to catch them while they're scrolling. You can't rely on someone seeking you out to see your posts.
2. In your posts, show what it's like in your bar/restaurant/brewery. Your posts should answer questions like: What's the space like? What's the food like? What can you drink when you're there? What can they do? Are there TVs? Pool tables?
3. If you're promoting an event, post about it at least 3 times in the days before your event.
4. Use a shared calendar (like Google Calendar). This helps you plan your posting schedule ahead of time. It also makes rule 3 easier because you can easily see upcoming events.
5. Include your logo in your posts. The better folks know it, the easier it is for them to recognize you and have that warm and fuzzy feeling when they see your logo.

Check out the interview clip for more detail from Rob on these 5 rules:

❓ Why should I do it?

Imagine this world: your customers order their beers as soon as the server/bartender arrives. No samples, no back-and-forth. Customers just order.

That’s the world you can have if your Print Menus include full beer info. It equips customers with all the info they need to make a decision, leading to much faster order times.

Time savings is always helpful in general, but speeding up order times helps in some key ways:

• Incrementally increase sales (more customers have more time for a 2nd round)
• Turn over tables more quickly
• Make life easier for staff

❓ How can I do it?

You could do this manually. Google the beers you serve, copy what you need, and drop it into your menu document.

• Busch Light Apple makes triumphant return. It was hugely popular each of the 3 years it was around. Now, for the first time since 2022, it's back. Traffic to the BeerMenus page for Busch Light Apple started spiking over the weekend and hasn't stopped since. (👉 Note: That page lists all businesses with a BeerMenus page that offer Busch Light Apple. If you have Busch Light Apple and don't have a BeerMenus page, I'd advise setting one up to take advantage of this super-trending moment. It's free.)
• How to make wine "masculine" and "feminine." The Washington Post looked at how intentional choices with descriptors, glassware, and so on can make wines seem geared for certain genders. It's a paywalled article, but interesting and worth the free article burn if you have any left.