Spanky’s Roadhouse

Digital audit, community engagement, brand and social media guidelines, content strategy, content creation, competitor research analysis and monitoring, influencer marketing, paid social strategy, data analysis and reporting

Launched in 1991 in the college neighborhood of University of Denver, Spanky’s Roadhouse built a loyal following of students, faculty and DU-area neighbors looking for inexpensive drinks and comfort food in a casual environment. Using online and in-person surveys, along with speaking with DU students, we found that over the years, the establishment became known as a “dive bar” and slowly lost its luster among students, the community and faculty. Our social media audit concluded that the Facebook and Instagram pages reinforced the dive bar feel with dark interior photos, dingy food shots and lack of consistency in posts. The Facebook engagement rate was low, sometimes reaching 1-2 people per post, total following was unimpressive with 271 fans since the creation of the page in 2014, and a duplicate Facebook page created confusion among followers and guests. Prim was retained to provide strategic social media management and branding in an effort to introduce the “new” Spanky’s to Denver while increasing covers.

Planning

Our measurable objectives included an increase in covers, increase in sales and improvement in followers and engagement. With the namesake of the restaurant being a character from the “Little Rascals” series from the 1940s and the new interior resembling a swanky diner, we defined the new voice as casual, retro and tongue-in-cheek at times. This would appeal to our primary target audience, the DU faculty and students, along with our secondary target audience, the restaurant’s neighbors looking for a welcoming community hub. Beginning our work in May, our goal was to generate an increase in awareness, covers, sales, likes and engagement on Facebook and Instagram by the beginning of the school year in late August. We recommended a monthly paid budget to increase our social reach with awareness campaigns, like campaigns and conversion campaigns to increase cover counts.

Execution

  • Built a social media strategy to clearly define Spanky’s brand voice and image while establishing consistent practices for comments, likes, direct messages and hashtags
  • Defined a retro-urban visual feel while highlighting the Insta-worthy new dishes, drinks and interior
  • To improve engagement and growth, feed posts and stories were made constantly (2-3 per week), photography shot lists were planned and shot ahead of time, consistent filtering was used, and all messages began to receive comments and direct messages 
  • To improve reach, we would tag like-minded pages with impressive followings including local magazines and food influencers
  • Capitalized on media and influencer mentions to help achieve engagement outside of our own pages

Results

  • Spanky’s saw a dramatic lift in sales, increasing the year over year comparison by over 75%
  • In the first three months of Prim’s social management, the restaurant experienced a 600% increase in daily reach on Facebook
  • In the first three months of Prim’s social management, Spanky’s saw a 540% growth in Facebook following
  • Over course of three months, Spanky’s saw a 300% growth in Instagram following
  • The content from our pages is consistently reposted by food influencers and media, creating additional engagement on an ongoing basis
  • Year over year sales results especially surpassed our expectations. A 75% increase in sales allowed us to increase our paid social budget, resulting in additional reach in the following months

Results

  • Year over year lift in sales: 75%
  • Increase in daily reach on Facebook in first 3 months: 600%
  • Growth in Instagram following in first 3 months: 300%