ePub: Social networking for pubs
Social networking came as a surprise to licensee Mike Dey. It wasn't until his children discovered a page dedicated to his bar, the Retreat in Cheltenham, on the Facebook website with 2,000 online followers that he woke up to the opportunities.
He realised that setting up his own social networking site could help to consolidate, as well as expand, his existing customer base. So he hired software company The Software Farm in a bid to create the best, state-of-the-art online community in the bar trade.
The site, www.retreat25.co.uk, has attracted nearly 200 members. Customers can meet old friends, exchange pictures, gossip and arrange events among themselves. Dey said the move was an extension of his business strategy at the bar since it opened in 1982.
"We have never spent a penny on marketing or promoting," he says. "Instead, our focus has been on growing what has become one of the strongest networks of friends and acquaintances of any bar we know. "This, I believe, makes us better placed than most to extend this sense of family into the online sphere.
"Many of our regulars have moved to Australia, London and around the world over the years but never forget their Retreat years," he continues. "We are now giving them an opportunity to remember and connect with their old friends.
"At the same time, we are giving the new Facebook-savvy generation a natural environment to exchange gossip, pictures and news, develop relationships and arrange events."
And, of course, the Retreat isn't the only pub that's taking advantage of the trend for social networking. The Green Dragon in Croydon, Surrey, has 350 'friends' on its Facebook pages and also has a site on MySpace. Both help promote the pub's music events.
Licensee Esther Sutton says getting involved in an online community is easy: "It is user-friendly and there are some really good benefits," she says. "Obviously it is about promoting events and bands playing at the pub, but it is also a way for us to talk to customers outside of licensing hours, and for them to carry on conversations with each other after they leave the pub."
Investing in such benefits requires a little regular time. "You have to keep the site updated. But customers get involved and help me with that, too," says Esther.
Round the corner, Steph Darkes runs the Black Sheep Bar, which has 1,000 friends on Facebook, which she uses to promote live bands and DJ nights. The site is also used by customers to chat to each other and continue friendships made in the pub. And one customer has set up a separate 'unofficial' Facebook page for Black Sheep clientele.
Steph takes the view that, with apologies to Oscar Wilde, the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about. "We have no ability to control it, but we are fine with that as we believe in freedom of speech," she says. "Any negative comments are treated as feedback and we can make changes to the way we run the pub.
"Customers often tell each other things they won't tell you. This is a way of finding out what they say to each other."
The Woolpack in Elstead, Surrey, is another business that gets a spin-off from customers talking on an independent website. In real life the pub acts as a meeting place for car enthusiasts - specifically the Surrey TVR Club. Members communicate with each other about meetings via the TVR Club Surrey website - and a lot of the discussion is about the food, drink and conviviality to be found at the Woolpack.
"I now have hundreds of people out there online, recommending the Woolpack to their friends and telling them that the licensee is a TVR enthusiast and so on," says licensee Chris Cooper. "There are loads of pubs with specific groups associated with them, bikers pubs and so on, which could benefit in this way. If they are not doing so, they should be."
- When you're visiting Facebook, why not show your support for Proud of Pubs Week? Search for 'Proud of Pubs' in Groups.
