The River Café in Parramatta CBD’s Meriton dining precinct know the rules of working with media have changed dramatically in the food and beverage industry.  With 70% of global consumers saying online consumer reviews are the second most trusted form of advertising, it critical for businesses to incorporate the pursuit of this earned media into their daily practices. Add social media to the mix and you’ve got a complex and everchanging space for any business owner to manage.

Realise Business Advisor, Viktoria Darabi, has been working with the River Café on how best to market their venue on Instagram, manage online reviews, and empower and inspire them to explore new market opportunities.

Gary Day, River Café’s owner explains:

‘One of the greatest challenges in hospitality is getting bums on seats. Digital marketing has long been a critical success factor for cafes and restaurants. Your Trip Advisor ranking or Google reviews can make or break your business. We have had some incredible insights from Viktoria (and her fabulous tip sheets) and now proactively monitor and manage our online reviews on Google, Facebook, Trip Advisor and others.

“She has given us some great insider secrets and we have improved our Instagram bio, increased our frequency of posts, developed a list of 30 hashtags targeted to our market niche, including and tweaking all 30 on every post.

“Viktoria made an immediate impact on our social media results, both from her great ideas and also from her passion and ability to motivate our team to make improvements.  As a result of this we have signed up to ‘Hey You,’ a drinks and food pre-order point-of-sale software/smart phone app so we can capitalise on sales from Parramatta’s development boom and construction crews now and into the future.

“Since our inception in the Meriton dining precinct, we have been a morning and lunch trade café, open from 6:30am to 2:00pm. We have been inspired to explore new market opportunities and have decided to launch our wine bar concept for Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. I am personally very grateful for the help and support we have had from Viktoria and the Realise Business team.”

Learn more about River Café and its beautiful, nutritious food at www.rivercafeparramatta.com.au.

To sign up for a business advice session with Viktoria Darabi and take advantage of her fabulous tip sheets on a variety of topics, please complete the form here, and our team will get back to you to confirm your booking.