Hey! Kyle here. Every couple weeks, I share the best of what I’ve learned growing restaurants and local businesses.
In today’s edition, I’m going to cover:
🚒 3 free channels that deliver a ‘fire hose’ of attention and awareness
✍🏼 A drawing I made about failure
🎧 A new podcast episode about how restaurants can have lineups more often
🔬 A simple way local businesses can test online traffic sources
3 free channels that deliver a ‘fire hose’ of attention and awareness to your business
In September, TikTok surpassed YouTube’s monthly average watch time.
- TikTok viewers clocks in an average of 24 hours
- YouTube viewers clocks in an average of 22 hours and 40 minutes
This creates an attention ‘arbitrage’ opportunity for three reasons:
- TikTok is clearly doing something right. Instagram and YouTube are modelling it with Reels and YouTube Shorts.
- All of these platforms are relatively young. While users flock to the platforms, creators, and their content, are in demand. That means your content gets delivered to people who don’t follow you.
- Because Reels and Shorts are modelling TikTok, you can repurpose successfully on all 3 platforms (usually repurposing sounds like a great idea, but the content from one platform doesn’t play well on another).
Here’s an example:
72 hours ago, my company Nimble Bar Co had 4 followers on TikTok.
We posted a 30 second video about sealing a cocktail shaker tin. It’s now close to 100k views and has added over 440 followers to our TikTok account.
You can see the video here.
We put the same video on Instagram Reels where it didn’t perform as well as TikTok, but still received WAY more reach / engagement than our usual posts:
And this weekend I intend to test out the same content on YouTube Shorts.
Candidly, I’m more of a ‘paid traffic’ guy because I can wield it with greater control and predictability. But when organic delivers attention and awareness like a fire hose, I’m all over it!
I believe the opportunity for local businesses is the long-term value of the social proof you can build.
A drawing about failure
Failure is a valuable currency. It holds lessons, stories, and growth. I keep this in mind when doing work that has a high rate of failure (e.g. cold outreach, learning new skills). I want failure so that I can get its lessons (+ share with others).
Solomon Siegel is a managing partner of Pagliacci’s in Victoria, British Columbia. If it’s peak business hours, chances are there’s a lineup around the corner to get into Pagliacci’s. “The fastest moving lineup in town” is one of their claims to fame.
In this episode, Solomon shares how he keeps Pagliacci’s ‘magnetic’ from the inside out.
5 traffic sources to test
Local business owners often tell me, “I know half my marketing works, I just don’t know which half.”
Testing a few different traffic sources will help you begin to understand where you should invest your time and money.
Many of our clients are running Giveaways for the holidays. A giveaway is a great campaign to test which traffic sources are working.
Here are the 5 sources we test early on:
- Local Media → When you run a giveaway, you have a clear reason to reach out to local media outlets (“We’re running a giveaway and think your audience will love it!”). Alternatively, you can also pay to be featured in a local newsletter or website.
- $50 Facebook Ad Campaign
- $50 Google Ad Campaign
- Organic Social Media
- Website Link or Popup
You can measure where your sign ups come from by appending UTM parameters to your links.
(Sounds fancy, but very simple.)
Go to Google’s UTM Builder.
Enter your landing page URL, and the traffic source in the ‘campaign source’ field.
It’ll then pop out a handy link to use for the appropriate channel:
Many simple landing page builders (e.g Guest Getter Command Center) provide built-in analytics that will help measure your results.
If you need a hand getting traffic to your local business, hit “Reply” and let me know. I’m happy to help. 👊🏼
If you enjoyed this, please consider sharing with a friend!
Cheers,
Kyle Guilfoyle
P.S. Can I get your feedback? I’m creating a program where I help restaurants (+ hospitality-centered local businesses) set up easy ‘guest-getting’ systems. I’d love to share a playbook or two with you for free and get your candid thoughts. Email me at kyle [at] nimblebar [dot] co.
