Food & Drink. Travel. Est. 2005
Uncle Ho. Happy Endings. And the latest Misohawni, a new restaurant in Johannesburg with a gimmicky name and a mishmash of Asian cuisines including Ramen. The social media and, in particular Twitter, backlash against the trivialisation and sexualisation of Asian culture in restaurants is inevitable. As is Misohawni taking down its Facebook page within 24 hours of opening. Check out my Medium post on the sexualisation of Asian women in restaurants.
I distribute a lot of content across the web. Some of it here but increasing on Linked-in, Facebook Groups, my personal Facebook feed and company page etc etc. (It’s another story to write about why blog content now needs to be distributed). I’m aiming to summarise the best of it here for my newsletter subscribers. If you want to read the rest of the story below it is either on Linked-in or Social Media & Wine on Facebook. At the […]
One of the advantages of helping a few dozen companies on their digital marketing and websites is that we see a lot of numbers. We see the main website traffic sources, the dynamics of who are key influencers and the reality behind the effectiveness of just about everything from emails to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And let’s not forget Pinterest, Linked-in and Snapchat. Or physical events. I recently posted that as businesses we need to use our websites effectively as […]
I’m a member of a stimulating Facebook Group called Social Media and Wine. Recently Andrew Hanigan from Derwent Estate Wines asked a question which is relevant to anyone who has an online presence: So has the role of a Winery website changed with the onset of FB, Twitter, Instagram etc? What should it still contain, what is no longer relevant? Is a well maintained/up to date DIY site enough these days or do I still need an expensive platform? Some […]
With Youtube the second biggest search engine in Australia, it is also a huge opportunity outside of Google search to use it to get your brand noticed. Like pictures, short videos are easy to watch and absorb. The only problem is we are all in a mindset born out of corporate videos of years gone by. And like me, you probably just yawn just thinking about corporate videos. Unless extremely entertaining or compelling, few people are going to watch a […]
Recently I was invited in by The Field Institute to talk about building a digital audience. The talk ended with the question: If I was given $5,000 to spend would I put it on: 1. a website 2. a social media strategy 3. photography My surprising answer was photography. The reason being that content is expensive to produce and compelling pictures are the best for engagement across many platforms including blogs, Instagram, Facebook and increasingly Twitter. With $5,000 of photographs […]
You’d be amazed the number of people who contact us problems with online reviews. It seems to be the problems are split two ways. Either somebody has got drunk and is randomly posting negative reviews or a venue’s review score falls below their expectations, especially in Melbourne on Urbanspoon. I recently talked to hospitality consultancy Ken Burgin on this issue for his podcast, which you can find here. The first problem of drunken trolls is relatively easy to solve and […]
In terms of the battle for moving eyeballs I think Instagram is onto a winner. 15 seconds is short but 6 seconds seems too short. For cooking tips. Mixology. Wine tasting notes. This is going to be fun.
One of the biggest gripes among and hospitality or tourism-based business is the anonymous online review. We’ve helped many people over the years with trolls who have defamed venues and individuals just because they were refused entry or kicked out for being drunk – or just because they are competitors. It’s a real pain and emotionally draining for owner operators who care about their businesses. Now Restaurant & Catering Australia is in discussions with the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission […]