This is the Summer of Pokémon Go. The augmented reality game allows players to catch Pokémon out and everywhere — on the street, at the gym, at the grocery store and it has inspired a full-fledged movement.

Pokemon go

The numbers in terms of social media reach has skyrocketed as you can see from the graph below (source brand24)

Pokemon Go Social Media Reach

Some stats* to consider

  1. 3.1M hashtags on Instagram for #PokemonGO
  2. Around 71% popularity for the hashtag #PokemonGO
  3. Half a million mentions with a majority of them on Instagram
  4. Around 5 million pictures that has been shared on social media

All these phenomenal stats within a span of 3 weeks making this game hugely popular amongst teenagers and adults alike. So how can you as a small business/restaurant owner can take advantage of this game and ride the wave.

Use Pokemon tools

  1. Check if you are a pokestop. Pokestop are physical places where players go and recharge and get goodies when they spin the “wheel of fortune”. This would be a easy way to promote your establishment on social media, posters at your place and emails saying that you are a pokestop.
  2. Use your gym status to
    1. Organize game nights and invite other teams to take over the gym. In case if this happens offer the take over team a party or some other discount
    2. Promote loyalty to your gym by offering discounts to your gym members
  3. In case you are neither a gym nor pokestop you can
    1. Compile a list of nearby pokestops and gyms around your establishment
    2. Promote this list on your social media & other media to attract footfall to your store
    3. Partner with neighborhood pokestops and gyms (as per Point 1 & 2)
  4. Buy Lures: Lures are entrapments that you can buy at a very nominal rate and the basis purpose is that it lures pokemons to your establishment. Promote your “Lure Hours” like you do for your happy hours so that your customers can come and hunt for pokemons around this hour

Offline Strategies

  1. Offer some kind of incentives to players who achieved a sense of stardom. In this case if you are between level 5 to level 7, one will get a free drink and above level 7 one will get a free appetizer.
  2. Pokedex Wall: Create a big chart of all the pokemons that one can catch and ask your customers to scratch off the pokemons they have caught. For every scratch your customer would get some kind of an offer and the offer can be dependent on the difficulty of catching a pokemon – higher the pecking order higher the offer value.
  3. Customer Wall Of Fame: A customer’s pokemon avatar can be a Jogger, Kanto, Collector. You might want to create a picture of your customers along with their avatar – say for example I am a Bird Keeper and so on this Wall Of Fame, my picture along with my avatar would be decorated. Again this would be a first come first serve basis and this would encourage players to come to your establishment

pokemon go infographic3

Pokemon Go may be a new game, but conveniently-located restaurants – and those that are willing to lure in customers with lures – are already reaping the rewards of learning how to play. At this point, it seems inevitable that more restaurants will jump on the bandwagon, as customer demands for Pokemon grows. Benefiting from Pokemon Go could be quick and easy for the business, so open your doors for the gaming idea to reap benefits.

  • Sources: websta.me & hashtagify.me