THE GOLDEN EAGLE RESTAURANT

During my time working as an Account Executive at Redhill Communications, I also worked at the Golden Eagle Restaurant on Fridays and Sundays, as my AE position was limited to part-time hours. My Aunt Lori and Uncle John have owned the Golden Eagle since 1982 and needed some extra help due to a staffing shortage, so I offered to fill in as a server as needed. That idea quickly progressed into working weekends, which meant I was spending a lot of time around my aunt and uncle. As my aunt and uncle were also the cook and a waitress at the restaurant, they had struggled to keep up with posting on their socials. One day I pitched the idea of managing the restaurant’s social media accounts and my aunt and uncle welcomed the idea with open arms. I immediately created an Instagram account for the Golden Eagle, as well as assumed control of the restaurant’s Facebook account.

The Golden Eagle’s revamped approach to social media kicked off with a bang by introducing our reduced menu for the Winter season. This initial post resonated with many of our patrons who enjoyed dining in the downstairs lounge. The inclusion of hashtags into posts made a tremendous difference immediately, attracting Facebook users that were not already following the restaurant. The strategy side of managing the Golden Eagle’s social media platforms was somewhat made up on the fly, as I was juggling the responsibilities of being an Account Executive and server at the same time. Beyond our Winter annoucement post, the idea was to feature high quality photos of our dishes to kickstart social media engagement. The first five posts on our Instagram and Facebook under my management displayed a variety of dishes ranging from chicken parmesan to veal oscar. Though these posts were spread out more than I would have liked them to be, each post received a constant flow of engagement. As I was able to dedicate more time to creating content, the feed eventually grew to feature our seasonal mixed cocktails, a behind-the-scenes reel of veal marsala made Golden Eagle style and staff posts.

Much of the initial strategy revolved around actually educating my aunt and uncle on how to use certain features on each platform, as they would need to be able to manage the accounts if I were unable to. Our initial meeting where we went over content expectations also included a detailed description of general rules for posting, how to create an Instagram post and Instagram story (see image below). Teaching my aunt and uncle how to use each platform more efficiently also enabled them to understand what I was referencing when I spoke about the dynamics of engaging with patrons on their accounts.

Once the educational aspect of the strategy was established, I then introduced the idea of content calendars. Though I did not abide by the content calendars I drafted, due to the many responsibilities I had at the time, these calendars act as examples of how I would go about coordinating content to be posted on the Golden Eagle’s social pages within a month. The options I presented to my aunt and uncle included posting two, or three times a week and further encouraged three categories of posts; menu posts, food posts and team/restaurant aesthetic posts. As mentioned, we did not end up sticking to this calendar, though the Golden Eagle’s engagement has remained high for residing in a low-populated, rural area of Massachusetts.

Since early November, the Golden Eagle’s Facebook page has at some points accumulated five times more page views than there are residents in North Adams — and for that, I am proud. The Golden Eagle’s Instagram page additionally gained 106 followers during that period of time (see related statistics below).

*As of 4/19/25