Founded in 1933 by the Nocera family in Waltham, Massachusetts, the Chateau restaurant group now has 8 locations throughout Massachusetts. They pride themselves on their tradition of Italian family dining, friendly service, and quality food at reasonable prices, which has earned them a loyal customer base.
But, with their customers increasingly growing on Facebook, they wanted to best utilize social media to communicate all of their various weekly promotions. And as that customer base grows older, they wanted to figure out how to reach a younger, millennial audience and start a new generation of loyal diners (many of whom are now on Instagram). Metter Media was brought on to bring this 86-year-old Italian family restaurant’s online presence into the 21st century with a creative social media strategy.
Our main goals for The Chateau were to increase awareness of promotions, develop engagement and value, and reach (and attract) new millennial customers.
Increase Awareness
First and foremost, we wanted to get the word out about The Chateau’s weekly specials ($7 cheese pizzas on Wednesdays, a chicken parm deal on Monday, etc.), as well as seasonal promotions, like takeout for Patriots games and their famous Thanksgiving dinner to-go. One of our favorite campaigns revolved around a promotion The Chateau was ready to do away with all together before we began working with them — Kids Eat Free Tuesdays.
The nights were not doing well, to the point where it was not worth it to continue running. We decided to fix that through sharing customer photos, speciality photoshoots featuring kids enjoying The Chateau’s food (starring some of the management team’s children!), and more. These adorable and eye-catching photos drew in our followers and helped spread the word about this can’t-miss weekly deal — immediately, The Chateau saw Tuesdays pick up!
http://www.instagram.com/p/BvweT2LABFx/
Engagement and Values
The Chateau is beloved for their friendly service and how each customer truly feels at home there. Our next objective was to take that feeling and put it online, giving customers another way to connect with the brand they love.
One of our most successful campaigns to address this was our #ChateauMemories contest, in which we asked our followers to comment on a particular post with a photo and their favorite Chateau Memory. We then created a Facebook album of these photos and memories, and asked our followers to vote for their pick by “liking” it. This contest did exceptionally well, generating valuable engagements and impressions for The Chateau. We had some very passionate customers who urged all their friends to vote and were excited to find out who the winner was!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bk5Pt4Zhcv5/
New Millennial Customers
As The Chateau’s customer base continues to age, it was important to reach out to a younger audience of new potential customers, and get them to see why The Chateau can be a special experience for customers of all ages.
Aside from collaborations with local foodie influencers and the use of many “Instagrammable” food photos, one campaign that showed significant results in reaching a younger demographic were our targeted Facebook/Instagram ads. The ads were focused around The Chateau’s availability on some well-known food delivery apps and targeted specifically to local colleges — these ads tremendously expanded The Chateau’s reach and helped boost delivery sales!
“Metter Media has done a really good job of bringing the tradition of what we do online. You’ve brought the family element into it. You surpassed anything I ever thought you could do. I’m so particular and I was impressed.”
Amy Riordan, The Chateau Director of Sales & Marketing
Follow The Chateau on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Metter Media LLC is a Boston-based social media management company that implements community-based, localized social engagement strategies for small businesses and corporations alike. Need help with your social media? Email Lauren today.
