I have really admired this local Italian restaurant in Stittsville, ON during this whole pandemic. As a restaurant that has been around since the 90’s and has so much community involvement (including hosting Carrie Underwood’s birthday when she was dating Mike Fisher while he was in Ottawa) they have really struggled during this pandemic! This restaurant for the last 25+ years has thrived off of word of mouth and community involvement.
So….what have they been doing since March 2020? Promoting themselves like crazy on social media! Their primary social media source has been Instagram but they also cover Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. One of my favourite things that Napolis have been doing is a Valentines Day contest. They are giving away one of their charcuterie boards #yummm but how they are doing this is through an Instagram contest. So basically you have to like their post of the charcuterie board, tag your friends and then post it to your story. So in turn, they are getting noticed by the people you tagged (who may not have followed them before) and everyone that follows you because they have watched your personal story. Everyone wants to enter this contest because 1) it is easy to do, 2) you get amazing food.
Lots of other local businesses are making it work during the COVID-19 pandemic but I always admire what Napolis is doing because I have been going there for the last 18 years and want them to survive. But, I do think this pandemic has shown the importance of social media with small businesses and that you need to have that community connect and involvement.
Algonquin College Social Media Certificate Program 