Hey you. Yes, you! Before you proceed, read this article if:
- You’re looking for valuable case studies for social media marketing, especially for small to medium-sized businesses in the hospitality sector.
- You’re seeking practical & social media, partnerships, and digital marketing tips & advice.
- You enjoy reading content with lots of puns, jokes, and a complete lack of seriousness or self-shame.
Feel free to proceed still, if you want to. Don’t want to waste your time if this ain’t what you’re looking for!
Following the first part of the series discussing case studies from my freelance life, I’m back writing a second one.
And spoilers: this one’s slightly controversial.
As we stopped cooperating with this client, I will not mention any names, giving vague (but real) examples with data.
If you are curious about the reason why, it was simply a matter of different approaches, but more on that later on.
Even with these anonymity limitations, I wanted to talk about the case, given how the Social Media landscape has been shaping for quite a while. How we humans are shaping ourselves to be in 2024. Quite philosophical, eh?
As also seen in part one of the series, using the STAR method for a more pleasing structure. Plus, taking this opportunity to self-promote my writing tips blog post.
I hope you find value here and enjoy reading this piece (and if not, here’s my LinkedIn – give me a piece of your mind).
In classical Michalis fashion – let’s go!
Table of Contents
Situation: A small restaurant on an even smaller island wants to enhance its social media presence (and get more clients, duh)
A close friend knew my skills as a digital marketer. Simply put, when the owner of a restaurant where she was employed whilst a student told her he had issues finding a reasonable digital marketer, she remembered to recommend me. I already thanked her, but I found the opportunity to thank her again now for the warm lead – she knows who she is, after all!
In our discussion, the owner briefed me surprisingly well. He started from the island’s target group, a small island receiving small families & couples looking for relaxing holidays. They were there to unwind, relax, and enjoy the sea, the sun, and the solitude.
Thankfully, his restaurant covered all these needs – having a private beach, a bar, a pool, and capable of holding private events like weddings. Perfect match! Combined with the fact that there were only a handful of other solid options as competitors, things were looking very promising for him.
He believed in the power of social media and eagerly suggested spending more on advertisements, but he also insisted on having an active, organic social media presence.
He was right, of course. Let’s have a look at some data:
- 62% of consumers do follow food and beverage joints on social media. (Opentable.ca)
- Note: The source has good tips per social media medium. Check the page out to delve deeper into the topic!
- Your competitors are probably already there: 82% of restaurants use social media already, at least in the US (menu-tiger.com).
- A stunning 45% of diners in the US decided to give a restaurant a go, after seeing a post on their social media (mghus.com).
- Everybody’s using Social Media already (Come on, it’s 2024. Do you need a source for that?).
We quickly agreed on pricing and decided to test it out. And test it out we did, for two whole summer seasons!
Task: Create a solid, reasonable social media presence with limited resources & capabilities.
First of all, I’ll not focus here on the digital advertising part of the deal, as this is a blog post of its own sometime in the foreseeable future (so, see you back here in 2026?).
As we established the importance of Social Media already, we needed to restart their efforts with fresh, new content. Since the restaurant had a private beach, pool, and bar, all of them merged could provide content, to keep things fresh. We decided to focus on Instagram & Facebook, as the ones that were more mainstream for the clients.
Some notes to see the thought process & details:
- I declined TikTok from the get-go because we thought it was overkill at this stage. Back in 2021, it was still not as rampant with older audiences, and we both believed that the Meta platform mediums would cover us for this target group.
- The restaurant would provide content – pictures and videos of the dishes, the establishment and surrounding areas, the events, etc.
- I would, of course, edit the pics accordingly, make copies, reply to comments, etc.
- I aimed for around 5-6 posts per month, to not exhaust quickly the current image catalog received from the restaurant.
- I also made a Google MyBusiness profile to handle reviews properly – but that mostly goes for the digital advertising part of the deal.
Action: Be a Social Media Marketer while being a “dummy” on Social Media.
For those older people (like me, yes I am almost 29 but partially feel like 60) – can you recall your first internship, if you ever had one?
Did you have that initial phase of immersive excitement like “YEAH, LET’S WORK! LET’S DO THIS!”?
Did it phase down after a while? Of course, at some point it did.
You are on Social Media, striving to be the best like no one ever was. Make the best graphics, write the smartest copies, follow all the trends, get to additional channels, and use the new features.
And then, you make them, and you get five likes, zero comments, a digital tumbleweed rolling on your screen, the letters of your copy covered in web on their edges.
Initially, I failed to get it right. I was excited to work with a beautiful restaurant and wanted to do top-notch work. Tried different frames for the pictures to make the Instagram page homogenous, with stunning graphics, and numerous well-performing hashtags. But… for what? The first season rolled like that, and while results were solid (around a 30% increase in followers, with considerable, actually meaningful & wholesome engagement), something wasn’t right.
Something wasn’t right.
And I started requestioning. Questioning again things I answered at the beginning:
- What are we trying to achieve here?
- Provide an attractive social media page for users currently staying on the island or planning to visit the island.
- Who is my client?
- A small restaurant on a small island, open only for six months per year (May – October)
- Why are clients visiting our social media?
- New clients: People looking to visit/currently on the island, looking for places to eat/drink/swim/relax.
- Returning clients: Satisfied clients who loved the great food, hospitality, and surroundings of the restaurant, and want to keep in touch to come again in the future.
At the end of the first season, I had another discussion with my client. I told him “Listen, I am lowering the costs for the social campaign for you because we should lower our efforts – you’re not getting anything additional of value from such a strong social media presence.“. And explained to him all the above.
This was my reviewed strategy for this season:
- Post just four times per month, just to have the stream going, showing we’re active.
- Post like I am the owner, not a seasoned marketer striving for perfection.
- Easygoing copy – nothing that extravagant. Things like “Our sunbeds are still here waiting for you if you’re around!” at the end of the season. “We’re already preparing to host you” just before opening.
- Simple, real images of the place, the dishes, the drinks. No frames, no solid/fake whole Instagram presence, no nothing. Just simple, beautiful pictures.
- Some relevant hashtags of the island. If someone is looking for the island, is searching for Greek eats, etc. they can also find us there.
- Disregard all trends, “important days” like Valentine’s, etc., unless I could prove to myself it will honestly help the client.
- Example: Why would I post on Valentine’s when we’re closed? Would a user remember us after four months? Would he be convinced to come to a small as-hell island in the middle of nowhere, lacking the brand name of other strongholds in the same country? We don’t even have rooms to host them, there is no way they would visit only because of a restaurant with good views!
I suggested he also starts doing stories. It could be anything he wanted that showcases the daily life in the restaurant, a picture or two of the beach today, a nice dish, anything. He didn’t even have to do it himself. If a waiter had time, they could post something themselves. In the end, he settled with his young niece who was going around helping her uncle. Perfect!
And we went through the whole second season like that.
Results: Decent for the case, but…
At the end of the season, we discussed our results.
Overall, the client was getting solid results.
- The engagement was not as high as last year. But, accounting for algorithm changes, progress made, and effort invested, it was more than satisfactory. Posts were receiving wholesome comments and were talking to us like they were talking to the owner directly (things like “I already miss your place, x”, “I can’t wait to visit you next year as well…”), and likes (if you care about them, I don’t but ok) were in around the 25-the 50s.
- Follower count, he crossed the 500 followers mark. We started from something like 250-300 two seasons before. Although he wanted to get more followers than that for quite some time, even though I was explaining that they were not needed.
- We provided users with an authentic experience. Really, these are our plates! Really, this is the beach! We have for you heartwarming hospitality, tasty food, and amazing views. No false expectations. No fake stock images of food we don’t provide. No stupid graphics that show aesthetics we don’t cover. We aren’t Nammos, people. But we are a lovely place to come and spend some time with us – you’re on our island, you won’t regret coming here!
- He paid -20% less for that season on Digital Marketing, leading to considerable savings.
- Most importantly – he got to have a good season! Business-wise, he never told me his actual numbers for revenue, clients received, etc., but he conferred that he was satisfied.
“But Michalis, this -20% went away from your pockets! Don’t you care about your lost revenue as a freelancer? Are you dumb or sth?”
NO! Why would I? (Although yes, sometimes I am dumb)
- Why would I upsell a client in getting things he doesn’t need?
- How could I feel proud of my work knowing I am not doing things in good business conscience?
- How could I be ok knowing I am wasting my time for no reason? I could have played chess instead, bullying people on the 64 squares!
Do you want to know the funniest part? We stopped cooperating with this client after that.
He told me – give me some time, I’ll reach you for how we proceed, or maybe I’ll handle the social media myself for now. He never did reach me back.
I see his account now, and quite possibly he hired someone else.
They moved away from the previous approach. They post other stuff now.
- With fake, stock photos of food.
- With random styles, and random fonts all over the place, altering from post to post.
- With quotes for copies. Catchy, marketing-like copies.
- With zero engagement. Why comment on something that came down from an AI factory of social media posts?
- And just for the heck of it – with likes on single digits, for the majority of the new posts.
Someone might have sugarcoated him into an “upgrade.”
Paying more, for worse results.
Or his niece must have taken over.
I may only hope it’s his niece.
Conclusions: A valuable lesson not only for marketers
Wouldn’t it be nice for us all to have a billion dollars and unlimited time on earth?
Well, we have neither.
Be realistic – with everything.
I’ve recently done a course on ExecOnline for Analyzing Complex Problems – a handful, practical course led by IMD’s Arnaud Chevallier & Albrecht Enders. The course kicked off with a priceless point – we usually get fixated on the wrong problems in life. We think we want to solve something, but we may just not look at the problem as we should. Leading to us chasing our tails over and over, like my dog would do if he wasn’t a 17-year-old (in human years) bored-to-hell shelter survivor who only has food in his mind.
Apply the Pareto principle everywhere you go. 80% of your problems come from 20% of the causes. Solve these causes first.
Do you want to grow your restaurant? Don’t hunt followers and likes, hunt customer satisfaction.
Do you have money to invest in your business? Don’t put them for show. Put them where your mouth is – or where it should be.
And I could say that customers are clever, your partners are experienced and unbiased, etc. But I won’t because you shouldn’t care about it. They may be the most gullible people in the world for all you care.
But care about you – and what you do as a professional, as a person. Be honest with yourself like a brand should do (shameless promo of my MSc Thesis, check).
Sharp people will notice. Fair partners will notice. And you’ll get what you deserve.
And I do hope that the transition works for him.
Or, at least, that his niece took over.
Mic drop, Mic-halis out, peace.
Now, what if you’re working for, or have a company, and looking for a strong marketer on the side?
I am still in the game of freelancing/consulting for marketing projects – and with my current experience, I am as strong as I’ve ever been!
Feel free to drop me a message on LinkedIn or email to discuss your business needs.
Happy to help you reach your goals – and I promise that we’ll try our best to make a fantastic case study, to write in my future blog posts 🙂
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