Where PR Stops and Social Media Starts for One Hospitality Firm

The lines between traditional public relations and social media tactics have never been so blurred. At Bread & Butter (a hospitality firm dedicated to telling the delicious stories of hotels, restaurants, chefs, and food and wine brands, we have three distinct divisions: Bread & Butter Public Relations (traditional public relations), Bread & Butter Bytes (social media) and Bed & Butter (hotels and travel). How often do these divisions cross? Every. Single. Day.

Here are three tips for maximizing social media success within the PR scope:

Identify the true influence of social media influencers

$1.99 can purchase anywhere from 100-500 Instagram followers, depending on what sketchy site you buy them from. These aren’t real people; they will never engage or buy your client’s product. Because of this, it’s incredibly important to identify true influence. We do this by calculating the engagement rate (likes + comments on post divided by total followers). Compare these results across a few influencers in your target market, and you will clearly see who you should direct your time, energy, and budgets to.

Clearly define goals and final product

We are often approached by media, bloggers and influencers who want to share content about restaurant clients after receiving a hosted experience. Who wouldn’t, right? While a guided dining experience is a valuable way to educate media on your restaurant clients, it can often be expensive. In order to vet these opportunities, we make sure to define where the content will be shared (and try and negotiate for as much coverages as we can). If media is planning on running the story online, we throw in an ask that some photos are shared on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, tagging our client. We often include that the restaurant will share and link, sweetening the deal for media, who are looking to increase clicks to their stories.

If media is planning on running the story online, we throw in an ask that some photos are shared on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, tagging our client.

Maximize media results for social media

We often joke that our PR Directors and Digital Directors sit on each other’s laps, because we’re so closely connected and in sync. This is vital to success for clients – because having a story run online or in print is only the beginning of maximizing that hard-earned coverage. Once a story runs, the shelf life of content is limited.  A story usually lives for about 24 hours, but using social media you can bring it back by highlighting different key factors of the story on social media channels, cleverly cropping photos, and changing discovery hashtags. For instance – one listing on Eater’s 38 Essential Restaurants Lists can be used in the following way:

• Content for Restaurant E-Blast, increasing existing customer-base interest 
• Instagram Posts tagging Eater and the other essential restaurants, increasing engagement and discovery
• Facebook Posts, using photos and links to push content through newsfeeds
• Tweets and RTs of others, sharing this content and adding life to your client’s feed

When PR and social media professionals work together, both media and influencer coverage can be leveraged to drive even more results for clients.

About Samantha Luthra
Samantha is the Digital Account Director at Bread & Butter, a full service agency devoted to PR and social media for restaurant, hotel, chef and hospitality clients. Her passion is helping brands tell delicious stories online through photos and copy. Food puns are her favorite. Find her on Instagram at @samanthasluthra & @breadandbutterpr