So here we are, struggling to come out of the deepest economic crisis we’ve ever seen. Yet with every crisis comes opportunity: in this case, it’s social media, a new way to tap into word- of-mouth marketing. Social media represents a new frontier of uncharted waters where so many people play that it boggles the mind. Today’s savvy bar and night- club owners are using social media tools to turn tenuous consumers into loyal customers. But social media is also like throwing spaghetti at a wall — we’re still trying to see what sticks, and are finding that not everything does. The good news is that most new media tools are free or very low cost, so a failure needn’t be expensive, it’s just a lesson learned. P. Moss, owner of Double Down in Las Vegas and New York and Frankie’s Tiki Room in Las Vegas, notes his own trial-and-error efforts. “This whole thing is so new that you just have to keep trying things to figure out what works out. What works for the big guys may not work for you, and so on. Everyone’s just kind of feeling their way.” Jeffrey Yarbrough of Dallas-based BigInk, a PR and marketing firm, often supports clients’ social media cam- paigns. In the past, he notes, businesses never knew if print and broadcast media worked; it was difficult to track the impact of traditional media. “It was magic fairy dust if the cash register rang up,” he jokes. All that changes with social media: Typically, there is an immediate, measurable response from consumers, and bars are finding ways to in-
The World of Tweeting,
Texting and Friending Might
Seem Overwhelming, but
Social Media can be a Great
Marketing Resource for Bars
and Nightclubs
By Garrett Peck
