Issue 51

FUNCTION VENUES
2
Hashtag this
There are millions of hashtags, some useful for growing your organic reach, others with fewer
followers but a niche and targeted audience to help you make those all-important sales. Niche
your own audience with a personal and unique hashtag. Choose something catchy, memorable
and distinctive to your venue and brand. Do some research to make sure no one else is using it.
Use it on your own social media channels, publicise it and encourage your existing followers
to use it. Share it with your wedding couples when they book and invite them to tag you during
their wedding planning. Promote it to guests and visitors to your venue especially near your
talking points; “Like this? #...”
AYNHOE PARK
4
#4 Incentivise your
followers
Run a competition. Everyone who
follows your venue, shares your post
and tags you in their (positive) posts
can be entered into a prize draw at
the end of the month/season/year.
Make sure you offer a significant
prize that’s worth winning to
encourage people to make the effort.
The more people who enter and tag
you, the more value to you.
3
The carousel at
Preston Court
PRESTON COURT
Share the love
Your event and wedding suppliers will also be trying to feature as much as
possible on social media. Show your suppliers a bit of love and appreciation
and no doubt they will show you a bit in return. Make sure you follow all your
favourites on Instagram. Support and promote the suppliers who you want to
see again, the ones that made your life easier and who share the same style,
ethos and values. Share your collaborative successes.
Post pictures of the memorable events you have worked on together.
Suppliers can then re-share and spread the love. Build good relationships with
your wedding photographers and ask them to share their wedding albums.
Ask their permission to post their images on your Instagram and website. You
will also need to ask permission from your wedding couples. Make sure you
tag the photographer whenever you share their work.
The bridge at Ditton Manor
DITTON MANOR
Outdoor bath at
Port Lympne
5
PORT LYMPNE
Be thankful
Finally, please don’t forget to respond to people who do tag you. If you
have time, write a thank you but at the very least ‘like’ their post. It
is a courtesy and will encourage more of their engagement and their
followers’ engagement. Once they have tagged you, you can then re-share
their post to your other followers to gain even more value.
User generated content doesn’t just help your marketing activity, it can
also help to develop that important ‘know, like, trust’ factor. People are
more likely to trust their friends’ recommendations. Outsiders chatting
positively about your venue is as good as a direct review. If a crowd is
consistently sharing positive stories about your venue then even better.
Visitors regularly sharing content about you will have a huge impact on
helping to build the familiarity of your venue. People like to follow trends
so, chances are, if their friends ‘like’ you then they will ‘like’ you too. See
you on the ‘gram!
WWW.OPENAIRBUSINESS.COM 19