The CEO of glistrr (an event check in and analysis platform that has worked with Facebook), Matthew Large, was the winner of Northern Ireland’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year winner of 2014. To say he understands technology and starting up a business. He also knows how to target Millennials – he is one himself. While there are myriad social media outlets dotting the landscape, Facebook continues to be the biggest.
Facebook boasts over 1.1 billion users, 58% of which are adults the United States of America. Of that majority, 70% use Facebook every day. If there was any question that Millennials are the industry’s next, best demographic to target, it has been answered resoundingly: a monstrous 66% of Facebook is made up of Millennials.
The social media titan is an ever-changing environment that sees more than 4.5 billion likes of posts each day, and that means endless opportunities to promote, market, interact and capture guests. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that these days, Facebook users (read: almost everyone, ever) who have a negative experience at a venue will take to the social media platform to express their displeasure. While it is important to address such situations when you can, it can be quite difficult to do so effectively, unlike when faced with a similar situation on Yelp.
In terms of guest interaction, Matthew is opposed to the idea of automated responses. To put it directly, in Matthew’s opinion, it just makes you and your business look silly. If your automated response to a customer complaint directed at your venue is along the lines of, “Thank you for continued support!” you can see his point. Comedy and useful, relevant content are the keys to successful social media engagement and, when it comes to nightlife, photography and photo albums can be massively useful tools.