Every coffee shop owner in 2019 should know by now that running the store isn't just serving customers food and drink, then closing the door and calling it a day. For new business owners, especially, there has to be a lot of work to be done with regards to social media.
This means getting likes, comments, and shares from the online community, all of course, with the hope that this digital engagement turns into more exposure and new, paying customers.
In addition to a List Local service that helps you get found on map apps, there are many social media apps that can do most of the hard work for small business owners.
However, you'll still need to know which ones can benefit you and your coffee shop in the long run.
If you're not uploading pictures to Instagram, are you even a coffee shop? Whether it's some beautiful interior design, a beautifully-made cappuccino, or perhaps your café is looking remarkably well from outside when lit on a sunny day, coffee shops and Instagram were meant to be. Be sure you get great ideas from these accounts that really take coffee shop photography to a whole new level.
Tip: Ensure you turn your location on when posting an image, as this will help your account be seen when someone is searching for that area. Also, use location-based hashtags and anything that might separate you from other coffee shops, such as #coffeeshopLA #cafedogsarewelcome #breastfeedfriendlycafe, etc.
Even though it's still great to have your own official website, people always search for information about a café's location, menu, reviews, opening times, and pictures on Facebook.
This page should be continuously updated with new content, such as upcoming events, delicious sandwiches of the day, and unique edition coffees, and you can even throw a few photo contests in there, whereby whoever comments the best caption for an image can win a free drink.
Little things like this entice people to engage with your page and, more importantly, actually visit your café in real life!
This is a pretty cool new app. Bonusly works by managers giving points to employees who work incredibly hard or do something special, like someone working an extra hour or really impressing a customer, for example. These points can then be redeemed to be spent on Amazon, iTunes, Xbox Store, Google Play, iOS Store, and much more.
A free trial is available, but the monthly payment plans are actually quite affordable. Employees could be a lot more motivated to do a better job if they know there's something other than just a pat on the back waiting for them.
Running a café means that you probably rarely get a spare second to yourself. This means that your social media campaigns might not be going online at the right time because you're too busy to post a picture to Instagram.
Hootsuite lets you manage all your social media platforms from one location, as you can program posts ahead of time and state when they should go online. You can even monitor the performance of posts and what's trending on social media to stay ahead of the competition.
Sometimes, it's all about the tunes. The right kind of music can create some cool vibes and entice people into your coffee shop. You can play music from over 16 million songs that are licensed to be played in public, which means you don't have to worry about any pesky licensing fees.
The social part of this app comes from the fact that it can be controlled from anywhere, and is even set on a timer according to your business hours. What's more, customers can see what's playing when they download the Rockbot app and can also request songs from the vast music library, turning the café into a jukebox of sorts!
