The first year is already the most challenging for any new eatery, but in an environment of lockdowns and restrictions it seemed almost impossible. For tourism, 2020 was also when the realization of what restaurants mean to a community’s identity really set in. With no events or tournaments to promote and very few tourists to attract, Visit Mansfield’s goal became clear: make sure the things people love about Mansfield are still there when this is all over.
The CVB’s social media promotion put a larger focus on posts promoting take out, general restaurant highlights, and listicle blogs.
And Mansfield showed up.
“The love and support from the community was how we were able to stay alive,” said Ryan. “We had huge support from people coming in and literally buying a small drip coffee and tipping $100 dollars.”
As things returned to normal this focus for the CVB didn’t change. Beyond just posting about the restaurants the time was now taken to produce high quality videos, targeting YouTube and Instagram reels with trending genres like food reviews and challenges
Since 2022, Visit Mansfield has produced three different award winning video series highlighting locally owned and operated dining establishments: Frozen Fridays, a summer series which focused on different frozen treats throughout the city, Mansfield Monday Morning Coffee, which reviewed local coffee shops, and Mansfield’s Spiciest, where the tourism manager and communications manager took on the hottest foods in the city, suffering greatly in the process.
To date the three video series have racked up over 62,000 views across the various social media platforms and the subsequent blog posts on the Visit Mansfield website designed to capture search engine queries have been visited well over 1,000 times.
In another unique endeavor, Visit Mansfield identified that the gorgeous mural on the side of Flying Squirrel Coffee was a burgeoning photo spot. When the Texas Travel Awards opened a category for “Most Instagrammable Spot” in the state, Visit Mansfield submitted an application for the award and won, putting a spotlight on Flying Squirrel for a statewide audience.
Beyond promoting these spots outward to tourists, these features serve to educate residents on what is in their city and make die hard fans of different Mansfield staples. A passionate citizen can often do more to attract guests and promote businesses than any large scale advertising campaign.
“The restaurant has maintained a strong reputation through positive word of mouth and online reviews, attracting new customers and retaining existing ones,” Arslanovski said.
Of course driving the traffic through the doors through promotions isn’t even half the battle. It’s the passion and excellence within these local points that turns a diner or a tourist into a superfan.
“It means everything to me and my Squirrel Squad to be a light in the community,” Ryan added. “We love what we do and the lives we get to pour into.”
And as they pour into those lives they keep the cycle going. Happy customers make happy residents and tourists. Those happy people turn into fans and advocates of a community, and make the place more attractive to all the new businesses, events, tournaments and citizens municipalities and CVBs want to bring in. Along the way the CVB can be there, adding a little grease to the pan and fuel to the fire by pointing people where to go and making sure they know “where should we eat?”