CASE STUDIES
The Fox and Duck
May 2020
SERVICES
Social media, press releases, Trip Advisor management, website consultation.
OUR BRIEF
The Fox and Duck in Therfield is a popular pub, renowned for its good food and landlord Ivan Titmuss. It sits proudly at the centre of the village and attracts locals for a drink and customers from further afield for meals. As regulars ourselves, we spoke to Ivan about the social media he was doing and suggested that with our support his reach and impact could be so much more.
The results have been outstanding. We get at least 50% of our bookings now through social media.
Ivan Titmuss, Landlord
Contact us now
WHAT WE DID
We took over the running of The Fox and Duck’s social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter and, later, Instagram, six years ago, and also the management of the TripAdvisor page. But our support stretched way beyond that. We encouraged Ivan to enter the pub for awards, helping him prepare his entries, and the success rate speaks for itself. But we also looked beyond what he was currently doing and worked in partnership with Ivan to develop his business. In 2018, with our support, Ivan launched the Hertfordshire Burger Eating Contest to raise money for charity and this has now become an annual event.
The results
Facebook management
- Facebook has been the platform on which the pub gets the majority of its online engagement. The page gains, on average, 15-20 new page likes a month. Post likes range from 10 to 200, with three competitions each reaching a combined Facebook audience of 70,000.
- The Fox and Duck has the best performing page of any of its rivals in the local region, ranking number one in almost every category.
- As well as the statistics, Ivan confirms the impact Facebook has on the business with the direct correlation between a post promoting a particular dish and significantly increased sales of that dish that day and throughout that week.
- All events are first launched on Facebook, and the success of activities such as Bank Holiday Sunday Fundays and the Herts Burger Eating Contest has come down, largely, to Facebook.
Twitter and Instagram management results
Twitter: While a smaller platform in terms of engagement for the pub, Twitter has established itself as important to the pub in a number of ways. As well as using hashtags and community accounts to promote pages, this platform has led to press opportunities, including reviews and articles in Hertfordshire Life.
Instagram: This is the newest platform the pub has on social media. The account has 763 followers and makes, on average, 3,000 impressions a week, gaining around 15 followers a month. Over the past few months, we have begun to take advantage of the Stories feature, launching a competition and a gin promotion using the function.
Award winning
2015 Hertfordshire Food and Drink Awards:
Winner – Service Excellence
Highly Commended – Gastro Pub of the Year
Commended – Best Restaurant of the Year
2016 Hertfordshire Food and Drink Awards:
Winner – Pub of the Year
2017 Hertfordshire Food and Drink Awards:
Winner – Pub of the Year
2017 Hertfordshire Life Food and Drink Awards:
Finalist – Fine Dining Award
2018 SME Hertfordshire Business Awards:
Runner-up – Pub of the Year
Tripadvisor management
The Fox and Duck, with a 4.5-star rating, has had a Certificate of Excellence from 2016 onwards. This is awarded to businesses which meet a number of criteria, including maintaining a rating of at least four out of five stars.
The page is monitored and any review of three or fewer stars is replied to. Strand PR crafts an initial response based on feedback from Ivan, which is then approved by him and posted by Strand PR.
