People take photos of the Big Heart sculpture in Toronto’s Distillery District on July 13.Christopher Katsarov/The Globe and Mail
In early July, Rik Ocvirk was practicing office chair wrestling on the second floor of a Victorian industrial building in Toronto’s Distillery District. As the district’s director of experiences and events, he perfected He showed off his lasso skills while waiting for the arrival of some wooden cattle he had commissioned for the Picks and Bricks Country Festival this summer.
The opportunity to capture an immobilized steer was just one of many activities Mr. Ocvirk dreamed up so festival-goers could have fun while capturing a moment to share with their social media followers. Line dancing lessons, mechanical bull riding, whiskey tastings, a dog dress-up contest – a plethora of photo ops with props like a vintage tractor he imported from Prince Edward County, a farming community east of the city.
“City people don’t often get the chance to sit on a tractor, so if I could get a couple of tractors and put them out there and people could just sit on a real tractor and take a picture, that would be fun,” he said.
The Distillery District’s focus on creating Instagram-worthy experiences to draw people into its premises, with its restaurants, shops and entertainment options, is part of a larger trend to appeal to the social media-savvy consumer. Providing an experience that generates likes and shares from customers is a powerful way for businesses to promote themselves.
“This user-generated content is the marketing of the future,” said Mr. Ocvirk.
An Ipsos study of 1,500 Instagram users found that 65 percent of those who described themselves as frequent travelers in Canada use Instagram for travel inspiration. And of the 300 Instagram business users surveyed, 53 percent said it helps them find customers outside their city, and nearly three in five said the platform helps them attract local customers.
The influence of social media on consumer behavior is an entrenched trend that is shaping the way companies attract customers, says Jenna Jacobsen, associate professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University.
“People are realising that experiences from the offline world are also amplified and shared in the digital world. So people who are creating these spaces are specifically thinking about: ‘How do we create an Instagrammable, shareable moment?'” said Prof Jacobsen.
Mr. Ocvirk said he constantly asks his team what they see online to get new ideas for promotions. The country festival, for example, came about because they noticed the genre had become more mainstream after the release of Beyoncé’s country album. Cowboy Carterin March.
About a 45-minute walk west of the Distillery District, Craig Perlmutter also designs his store to conform to a certain Instagrammable aesthetic. The president of Arcadia Earth Toronto, an immersive art and technology experience in the city’s new multipurpose space, The Well, said his company’s social media presence is a big part of its marketing strategy.
For about an hour, visitors can stroll through the multisensory exhibition, which covers various environmental topics.
“When designing the spaces, it was very important to us that there were these Instagrammable, picturesque moments that people would want to share,” says Perlmutter. said.
Since opening in December, he said, about 1,600 influencers have come through the space, generating more than 80 million impressions – the number of times a social media post has been viewed – on Arcadia Earth Toronto’s Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X accounts, as well as creating a series of mini-commercials through Reels or TikTok.
In the Distillery District, Ocvirk said, the power of social media is most evident during the holiday season, when Winter Village is in full swing. District data shows that November and December alone account for about 41 percent of Instagram impressions, more than 40 percent of likes on Instagram posts, and about 53 percent of Instagram follower growth.
Restaurants across Canada are also using social media to increase their online presence and meet the tastes of their guests, providing them with an aesthetically pleasing experience that goes beyond the food, says Matt Davis, country director of OpenTable Canada.
“It’s no longer just about the food. It has to be about the full experience of the atmosphere and the feeling you have in the restaurant, and that has to be visually compelling enough for guests to share it,” Davis said.
Charles Khabouth, CEO and founder of INK Entertainment Group, which owns several restaurant brands and trendy clubs, said he noticed that the look and feel resonated well on social media and that being present on people’s accounts often brought new customers to the establishment.
“It’s not just about presenting our food; it’s about capturing the essence of the experience we offer,” he said in an email.
At one of his Toronto restaurants, Daphne, a striking mirror-lined hallway with mood lighting makes for the ideal night-out selfie. Of the more than 1,000 photos tagged “Daphne” on Instagram, this part of the space stands out as the most photographed.
In the digital age, says Prof. Jacobsen, companies could be missing out if they ignore the social media-savvy consumer, whose ideal purchase may be less about the product and more about the memory and personal brand they build through social media.
“These are often things you have to buy access to, but it’s something that happens in an instant and you don’t necessarily take it with you,” she said. “It’s a different kind of wealth.”
