Bar owners know how important social media is for marketing and promotion of a business centered around the art and entertainment of socializing. There are so many social media apps, it can be hard for a bar owner to determine which ones to use in its marketing campaign. Unless a bar has a full time person devoted to social media, there is not enough time to devote to every social media platform.

There is no “one size fits all” solution that is right for every bar business. With so many choices, a bar owner will need to identify which social media platforms will give him or her the best ROI for the efforts. It is important to do some research to determine who the bar’s customers are and what social media platform they favor. This can vary by location, age, gender and race.

There is no shortage of creative ways to incorporate social media into your marketing. Good bar social media marketing includes event posting for both weekly events and special events: post your weekly trivia night, 10 cent wings, and monthly microbrew tasting. Loyal customers can be rewarded with a special promotion by checking in with the bar’s page on Foursquare.

Creating a community among your patrons will increase repeat business. Photo and video posting encourages interaction on Facebook and YouTube creating that community amongst your loyal patrons.

How do you decide which platforms to use in your marketing campaign? In a report by Roger Yu in USA today, “Twitter vs. Pinterest: a social divide: Pew Study reveals racial, gender lines,” it was reported that Twitter and Instagram were used twice as much by African Americans when compared to Caucasians. (Hispanic user rates fall somewhere in between). More African American cell phone owners have smart phones than Caucasians or Hispanics. Young urbanites use Twitter more than older or rural social-media users. About 25% of women are on Pinterest, but only 5% of males. Tumblr seems to have only 6% of the market share compared to Facebook at 70% of internet users. As you can see, understanding your target market is essential to making prudent decisions about what social media platforms to use for your unique business.

There is a lot of information available about user profiles for various social media platforms. A bit of research can help you create a custom campaign that reaches your potential customers. There are many service providers offering social media services. However, you should strongly consider doing your own social media campaign to save money and be meaningfully involved with your customers. Being in tune with your customers ensures real time feedback so you’ll know what is on your customer’s minds and how to best keep them coming back.