Research of online marketing techniques in order to promote local bar / club businesses

Purpose – the purpose of this research is to identify the impact of the social media marketing techniques on the development of bars and clubs. Design / methodology / approach – In order to implement the aims of the research, quantitative research methodology was applied and cluster development approach was taken. The study was run between the active social network users in Lithuania. Impact of most popular communication channels (Facebook, Google Plus, YouTube) was studied and compared to other "traditional" channels: phone calls, e-mails, face-to-face conversations. Findings – During this research a negative impact of advertising using YouTube was found: students were less likely to go to a bar which was recording their presence at night and uploading the content to YouTube. Also it was identified that one of the key factors for the bar to be preferred is to be located next to other bars. Price sensitive customers were likely to pay extra for a joined ticket to attend several clubs per night. Research limitations/implications – Research was conducted using questioner in Lithuanian language, therefore only those who spoke Lithuanian, could participate in the survey. The research was conducted online, therefore those who have no Internet access, could not participate in the survey. Practical implications – The research represents the position of young generation, which is active in online social networks, on bars and clubs. As this segment is generally the main target group for bars and clubs worldwide, insights of this research can be applied by any marketers around the world. Originality / Value – The research is a fusion between trending topics like social marketing, hashtags and social media, and qualitative approach on problem analysis. At this point most of the research is focused on the potential that social networks. In this paper a merged and joined approached on the impact of social networking as a set of marketing channels was taken and applied in the field of development of the bars and clubs