Social media marketing for bars and cocktail bars

Drinks, people and atmosphere

The best marketing ideas for bars start with what people can't get at home: a drink made in front of them, a bartender who remembers their order and a room with a bit of life in it.

The drinks, being made

• Film the making, not just the finished glass: the shake, the pour, the twist of peel, the garnish going on.
• Shoot at the bar with the back bar lit behind the glass. A dark background makes a coloured drink glow.
• Keep clips short and let the sounds of the bar do the talking, unless music is playing (see below).

Our Reels ideas for restaurants and pubs work just as well behind a cocktail bar.

The people behind the bar

• Introduce your team: their name, their signature serve and the drink they'd make you on a quiet Tuesday.
• Show the skill: a bartender explaining a technique, prepping garnishes or testing a new menu.
• Ask before you post anyone. In drinks shots, only feature staff and customers who are 25 or over and look it (more on why below).

The room

• Show the space at its best moments: candles being lit before opening, the terrace at golden hour, a full room on a Friday.
• Show people having a good time, not people who've had too much. Nobody wants that post, least of all the person in it.
• If music is playing, mute the clip or add a voiceover. Instagram's copyright guidance says you can still infringe someone's copyright by posting a song playing in the background, even if you recorded it yourself.

Marketing ideas for sports bars

• Post the week's fixtures every Monday: which games, which screens and whether the sound will be on.
• Take table bookings for big matches, and say so clearly in every match post.
• Show match-day food, such as sharing platters and the half-time order.
• Run a Story poll on the score or the player of the match.
• Film the crowd, not the TV. The reaction is what sells the atmosphere, and Instagram's copyright guidance says recording someone else's content on your own phone doesn't make it yours to share.

Promoting nights and offers responsibly

On social media, bars are marketing with every post, and alcohol marketing comes with rules. You don't need to be a lawyer, but it helps to know where the official rules are. What follows is a pointer, not legal advice.

Where the rules are

• The CAP Code. This is the UK's rulebook for advertising outside TV and radio, and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) enforces it. It can cover posts on your own Facebook Page and Instagram profile when they promote what you sell. Its alcohol section says, among other things, that marketing must not be likely to appeal particularly to under-18s, must not encourage excessive drinking, must not link alcohol with sexual success or suggest it makes you more confident or popular, and that anyone shown drinking must not be, or seem to be, under 25. The same section also has rules for posts about alcohol-free drinks sold as an alternative to alcohol, including stating the drink's strength (ABV) prominently. Read the alcohol section of the CAP Code in full.
• Licensing law. In England and Wales, licensing conditions ban some drinks promotions outright, such as drinking games that push people to drink a set amount against the clock, and can catch others, such as unlimited drinks for a fixed price. The Home Office's guidance on the Licensing Act 2003 explains them. It covers England and Wales only: Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate licensing systems, so check the rules there. In England and Wales, if you're unsure about an offer, ask your local licensing authority (usually the council) before you post it.
• Meta's own rules. Meta's Community Standards say it limits some alcohol content to adults aged 18 and over, including posts from businesses selling drinks, posts showing people drinking and cocktail recipes. You can also add an age restriction to your Facebook Page (in your Page's settings, under Followers and public content) and set a minimum age on an Instagram professional account, including different ages for different countries. Weigh it up first: an age-restricted Facebook Page can only be seen by people who are logged in to Facebook.
• Making your own drinks? The Portman Group runs the industry code on how alcoholic drinks are named, packaged and promoted.

Bar promotion ideas that don't rely on cheap drinks

• A new menu launch. Reveal one drink a day for a week, then hold a launch night.
• Meet the maker. A local brewer, distiller or winemaker behind the bar for an evening, with tasting-size pours.
• Cocktail-making evenings for birthdays, hen dos and work parties.
• Live music, DJs, comedy or a quiz. Our pub event ideas work for bars too.
• Food. Bar snacks, small plates or a late kitchen give people another reason to stay.
• Private hire. Show the back room or terrace set up for a party.
• Alcohol-free drinks. Photograph and describe them with the same care as everything else.

For each big night, create a Facebook event and add a countdown sticker to your Instagram Stories in the days before; anyone who sees it can tap to get a reminder. If a sticker is missing, update the app; Instagram says not every sticker is available to everyone. You can also use a public Facebook event as the location on an Instagram post. Our guide on how to promote an event on Facebook and Instagram walks through the rest.

How to word it

• Sell the night, not the quantity: the music, the company, the flavours.
• Leave out jokes about getting drunk, hangovers or drinking as a challenge.
• Don't sell a drink on its strength. The CAP Code says marketing must not suggest a drink is better because it has more alcohol in it.
• Keep out anything likely to appeal to under-18s, such as cartoon characters or youth-culture references.
• On busy nights, post practical help: last train times, a local taxi number and a reminder that tap water is free at the bar.

Cocktail and wine posts

Cocktails and wine give social media for bars its best-looking material, and every drink comes with a story you can tell.

Cocktail posts

• The story behind the drink. Its name, what's in it and why you made it. A carousel can show the build one step at a time.
• Seasonal menus. Autumn fruit, winter spice, summer spritzes, and local ingredients where you can.
• The garnish close-up. Dried citrus, fresh herbs, a single cherry. Small details look big on a phone screen.
• Bartender's choice. A weekly "what [name] is making" post keeps your team front and centre.

A few caption lines to adapt:

• "Blackberry, lemon and a little rosemary. The autumn menu starts on Thursday."
• "Stirred slowly, served over one big cube. Our new old fashioned is on the list from tonight."
• "The alcohol-free garden spritz is back: 0.0% ABV and every bit as fresh as you remember."

For more lines, see our food and drink captions for Instagram.

Wine posts

• What's open this week. A quick by-the-glass update, with a photo of the bottles lined up.
• The grower's story, if you know it: where the wine is from, who makes it and why you chose it.
• Food matches. The white that suits your seafood plate, or the red for the cheese board.
• Tasting notes in plain English. "Crisp and lemony" beats a paragraph of wine jargon.
• Facts only. The CAP Code doesn't allow health claims for alcoholic drinks, so skip the "red wine is good for you" jokes.