Star Pubs Launches Free AI Social Media Training and Shares It with BII Membership
Star Pubs has launched an online course – AI for Publicans. The company has also gifted the material to the BII membership along with access to its social media training website, the Star Social Collective.
Star Pubs employed external social media experts to produce the £45,000 training package.
AI for Publicans demystifies AI marketing and teaches everything from how to write social media posts in seconds to which free or low-cost AI tools are best. It comes with an AI-powered content calendar tool to address what many publicans cite as two of their biggest social media challenges – what to post and finding time to plan it.
The Star Social Collective is a one-stop shop for publicans and pub staff of all skill levels wanting social media training. Created specially for pubs, it incorporates 115 bite-sized videos – equating to 11 hours of content – covering all channels with topics spanning influencer marketing to managing Trip Advisor reviews. The training can be completed on any device – including mobile phones, making it perfect for staff to undertake in quiet moments. A search bar facility and AI chatbot take users straight to the training they need.
Says Tracy Bickerdike, Star Pubs’ head of training: “AI has emerged as a new hot topic at our licensee forums over the last year. Publicans are very busy and grappling with high overheads, so they’re keen to learn how AI can streamline their back-office operations and help them work smarter. AI is daunting for many small businesses – the trick is to start experimenting with it. This training is designed to support licensees in adopting AI. Pubs that embrace it early will have a huge competitive advantage. Social media marketing is a natural place to start. AI will turn out great content quickly and with less effort, as AI assistants handle routine tasks, freeing up publicans to focus on other areas.
“A pub’s online presence is now the first port of call for the majority of people when deciding where to go out; it’s essential to business success. We’re therefore pleased to be sharing our training resources with the industry at large as part of our commitment to keeping the great British local relevant and attractive to consumers. Both AI and social media are developing extremely rapidly; all the training material we’re donating has been fully reviewed to ensure it’s up to the minute.”
Comments Molly Davis, Head of Communications, BII: “Today’s publicans need to leverage all the tools available to them to support the growth and diversification of their businesses. Star Pubs sharing the Star Social Collective – a really valuable resource for the modern world of marketing – with all of our members, is a brilliant example of the collaboration that makes our industry so unique.”