Giuliano’s Deli Café (also known as ‘Putney’s Little Gem’) is an authentic Italian deli run by Isabella and her husband Pepe. Prior to COVID they had never used social media.
As the first UK COVID lockdown struck in March 2020 Giuliano’s found itself having to close. But by embracing social media the business grew its online audience by 733% and successfully saved 70% of its sales.
“During the pandemic, it was a sink or swim situation. We either learned how to get social or we would be left behind. We embraced the one-to-one training offered by our local BID and Maybe* and proactively upskilled ourselves. We lost 30% of our business last year due to the lockdown, but without social media that would have been a lot worse. We started from scratch, we gave it a go and we saw results.
We’ve grown our social media audience and engagement and have been able to reach new customers in the community who only found out about us via social media.”
Isabella, Giuliano Cafe.
How did they do it?
Giuliano’s already had a loyal customer base among Putney residents but it needed to engage and serve more customers during lockdown. To do this the cafe started adding a variety of local and foodie hashtags to its content to make their social media content discoverable.
To increase their reach and visibility online Giuliano’s actively uses Maybe* to increase its participation in local conversations. These conversations include those using the #Putney hashtag, conversations created by other independent businesses and the Putney BID - Positively Putney -, as well as the local hashtag that local businesses and residents rally behind, #shareourputney.
The cafe decided to start somewhere and focus their efforts on Instagram, as it’s the perfect fit for food businesses. As well as what’s fresh on the menu, they also make sure to give a sneak peek behind the scenes in the kitchen to help customers get to know them. They show real customers enjoying the food, and inspire people with Italian recipes they can try at home. The content they create tells the café’s personal story, but also provides expert insight into Italian cooking and heritage that gives customers - old and new - all the encouragement they need to visit.
How you can succeed with social like Giuliano’s Deli Cafe
Join a social media training session with Maybe* for beginners to help you master the basics
Focus your efforts. Choose a social media site that works best for your type of business and get going!
Tell your story. People buy from people so build a personal relationship with customers
Whether your customers want information or inspiration – show customers how you can serve them better than anyone else
Engage in local conversations to increase your social media visibility
Be consistent, create content every day, and engage everyday
Find out how you can engage with your audience on your social channels.