Using external shelters to enhance your venue’s social media presence

Social media has become an indispensable marketing tool for businesses, especially in the hospitality industry.

Capturing the attention of potential customers and creating a lasting impression is crucial to stand out from the competition.

One effective way to achieve this is by crafting a unique al fresco dining area using external shelters. This distinct and inviting space not only enhances the overall ambiance of your venue, but can also greatly benefit your social media following and ultimately lead to more customers.

In this blog, we identify how external shelters can help to improve your venue’s social media offering by discussing these four topics:

• Visual appeal
• Creating a shareable environment
• Seasonal themes
• Telling your story

Visual appeal

A well-designed al fresco dining area offers a visually appealing backdrop that can instantly catch the eye of social media users. Whether it’s a picturesque garden, a cosy rooftop setting or a charming terrace, such a unique ambiance can serve as a captivating visual asset to share across social media platforms.

Using external shelters like awnings, bioclimatic pergolas and parasols can be an excellent way of adding to the aesthetics of your venue. Not only do they provide functional benefits like protection from the weather and additional seating, they’re also highly customisable.

Features like decorative plants, art and LED lighting can be added to the systems, which can also be colour matched to suit the venue.

Creating a shareable environment

One of the greatest advantages of a unique al fresco dining area is its potential to inspire customers to create and share content on their social media channels, which is hugely important.

It builds authenticity and trust, as potential customers see real people enjoying your venue and get a sense of the atmosphere and environment.

According to research cited by Forbes, social media influences 80% of consumer buying decisions. Meanwhile, a recent MGH survey highlighted how 60% of TikTok users became interested in visiting a new destination after seeing a video about it. Both examples dramatically emphasise the importance of creating a bespoke outdoor dining space that has an impact on social media.

External shelters like canopies or garden rooms can be used creatively to construct a sheltered photo area at your venue, further encouraging this promotion on social media from diners.

Seasonal Themes

An al fresco dining area allows you to experiment with seasonal themes and decor.

Whether it’s summer beach vibes, cosy autumnal arrangements or a winter wonderland setting, seasonal updates to your outdoor space keep social media content fresh and exciting.

Followers will eagerly anticipate what’s coming next and the interest generated could help your venue reach a wider audience on social media, and ultimately increase the amount of visitors.

Pergolas and canopies are ideal in this scenario, as they provide a weatherproof system that can be used in all four seasons, and as mentioned previously, are highly customisable.

Telling your venue’s story

By installing an external shelter to enhance your al fresco dining offering, the area becomes more than just a physical space; it becomes part of your venue’s storytelling on social media.

Through compelling captions and narratives, you can showcase the unique features of the space and external shelters, design inspirations and special experiences the area offers.

Parasols and awnings can also be printed with the venue logo to complete the storytelling aspect of the design.

If you’d like to enhance your hospitality venue with an external shelter, contact us here and one of our expert team will be in touch!