Grays Court & The Bow Room Social Media

Grays Court Hotel & The Bow Room Restaurant

Organic Social Media Management

Grays Court Hotel is the oldest occupied house in Britain, dating back to at least 1091. This award-winning hotel is situated in the heart of York, and is also home to the award-winning & michelin guide restaurant, The Bow Room.

They were seeking help with running and managing their social media channels for both the hotel, and the restaurant, after recovering from the pandemic.

Client
Grays Court Hotel & The Bow Room Restaurant

Service
Social media

The brief

To create a consistent presence on social media and reflect the brand’s tone of voice and style.

To increase reach and awareness of the hotel and restaurant.

Facebook

We utilised Facebook’s data insights to understand the differences between the Grays Court Hotel audience and The Bow Room Restaurant audience. Taking this data, we were able to build relationships with people that are interested in each brand.

Social media was often the first place where people visited to ask questions, make plans with friends and share their experience at the hotel or restaurant.

Over the course of six months:

Instagram

Instagram is a highly visual and brand-driven platform. We wanted their Instagram grids to act like a brochure for their hotel and restaurant.

We introduced a mixture of photography, short-form video reels, and frequent stories for the Instagram accounts for Grays Court Hotel and The Bow Room Restaurant.

During the first six months we saw:

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Grays Court (@grayscourtyork)

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by The Bow Room at Grays Court (@thebowroomyork)

What our client said

We have found working with Alan and Megan to be seamless and enjoyable. Nothing is too much trouble for them and they are always willing to accomodate any requests and go that extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction.
Sarah Czarnecki

Grays Court Hotel and The Bow Room Restaurant

Social media

Elegance and luxury

Grays Court Hotel is the oldest inhabited house in York. Sitting in the shadows of York Minster, its surroundings are comparable only to its style – Stunning.

The luxury boutique hotel, has 12 unique period rooms, an elegant bar and a 3 AA Rosette restaurant.

Client
Grays Court Hotel and The Bow Room Restaurant

Service
Food photography | Interior photography

Grays Court bedrooms

As all hotels do, Grays Court has made regular changes to their rooms over the years, all whilst maintaining their original beauty.

We were asked to come and capture their updated rooms for use on their website and social media.

Grays Court bar

The bar at Grays Court is located in the Long Gallery. An elegantly decorated room that stretches from their well-stocked bar at one end to their garden at the other.

During the summer you can sit outside in thier garden and order drinks from thier Garden Bar. In the winter, you can settle down next to their log fire to keep warm.

The Bow Room

Ran by Head Chef Adam Jackson, The Bow Room Restaurant has been awarded 3 AA Rosettes for their delicious, local taster menu.

The menu changes seasonally, as many of the ingredients are grown in Grays Court’s very own garden.

Autumn Lights

Social media

Bright lights, big crowds

Autumn Lights has grown from strength to strength. Increasing from two events in 2020 (despite a pandemic) to four events in 2021.

The event which has taken place in Lincoln, Sussex, York and Norfolk is a mixture of a drive-in event and fun fair. The family-friendly event features fun fair rides, street food stalls, light and fire performers, a DJ and two firework displays – one for younger children at 18:00 and another larger display a little later.

milnerCreative were brought in to support the event with on the day social media and photography.

Client
Autumn Lights

Service
Event photography | Social media

The brief

Autumn Lights wanted support to manage their social media channels during the event. This included posting throughout the event and responding quickly to messages and comments, as well as removing any spam and negative comments where relevant.

They also wanted a nice mixture of photography of all the different elements including light performers, DJ, funfair and food stalls and the fireworks.

The work

Our team of two were on-site from one hour before until one hour after each event. This ensured we were around for any issues that were raised.

The unique partnership of photographer and social media manager meant that we were able to turn around pictures the same day. Through each event, we could post high-quality pictures as they happened.

All pictures were fully edited and delivered by the next day so they could be used to promote the following week’s event.

Social media

Event organisers are spinning enough plates without the added stress of managing social media to the mix. That’s why Autumn Lights approached us for the second year running.

Prior to the event, we had a meeting to discuss FAQs, running order and account access. This meeting meant when we turned up on the day of the first event, we could get started without the organisers having to take time out to brief us.

Throughout the event we:

View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Autumn Lights (@autumnlightsuk)

Photography

With most event photographers, you would be expected to wait a couple of days for the pictures to be edited and returned. However, we were able to deliver images back to the client the following day. We also delivered over a dozen images during each event for use on social media throughout and to make the end of the event.

This unique partnership with photography and social media management is one of the things that set milnerCreative apart.

During all four events we delivered over 350 fully edited, high-quality images to be used on social media, their website and as part of advertising for future events. Check out a small selection of photos we took at the events below and click to see the full image.

What our client said

Alan & Megan at milnerCreative were invaluable to our Autumn Lights events in 2020 & 2021.They created super professional content and copy for our social accounts. Whilst managing our social media in the lead up, during and after our 4 sold out UK events. All content created and posted by the team at milnerCreative was always in line with our brand look and guidelines. I would not hesitate to recommend milnerCreative and I look forward to working with them again on future events.
Ollie Webb

The Potions Cauldron social media photography

The Potions Cauldron Facebook banner milnerCreative

Whilst we were working on their white background product photography, The Potions Cauldron asked if we could also take a picture for their social media banner.

Our knowledge of social media allowed us to take a picture with social media in mind. We knew the crops for cover photos, meaning we could fit all the important parts of the photo inside the crop area.

Client: The Potions Cauldron
Services: Photography and Social media

Yorkshire Balloon Fiesta rebrand

Our client, Events by Cynosure who organise York Balloon Fiesta, approached us to tell us they were rebranding to Yorkshire Balloon Fiesta.

We worked with them to create a plan that included creating a new logo and branding, updating their website, their digital presence and their social media channels.

Client: Yorkshire Balloon Fiesta/Events by Cynosure
Service: Web design, Branding, Digital presence management, Social media.

Events By Cynosure wanted us to look after all aspects of their rebrand for them. We contacted Zumo Juice Design, a freelance designer we’ve worked with before, and briefed in the rebrand to them.

Using our knowledge of the client and the processes of Zumo Juice Design, we brought the new branding back to the client and had sign off in a short space of time.

Using the new branding, we were able to create new social media logos and banners to make Yorkshire Balloon Fiesta instantly recognisable across all platforms.

We built the new Yorkshire Balloon Fiesta on yorkshireballoonfiesta.co.uk whilst yorkballoonfiesta.co.uk was still live, making sure their was no loss of service.

Once they were ready for the switch, we redirected the domain to the new site meaning no traffic was lost. We updated their links across Google Analytics, Google Search Console and contacted sites who linked to the old website to inform them of the change and ask them to update their links.

After just a few days, the new Yorkshire Balloon Fiesta website was ranking number one for the terms Yorkshire Balloon Fiesta and York Balloon Fiesta, outranking other popular websites.

Autumn Lights social media

The Coronavirus pandemic has stopped most events going ahead. Autumn Lights was a drive in event in York that was hugely popular, completely selling out.

To allow the events team to run the event smoothly, milnerCreative were asked to manage social media on the day of the event.

Our team responded to comments and messages to answer questions, reassure people and remove spam comments. During the event, we continued to post updates to social media ensuring attendees were kept up to date.

We also provided event photogaphy for Autumn Lights.

Client: Autumn Lights

Service: Social media

BlogOn Conference 2019

Laura who runs BlogOn Conference and her team work hard to organise BlogOn, promote it and make sure it runs smoothly on the day. At the event, they’re re so busy with the event itself that updating social media can take a back seat.

They asked us to post to their social media and engage their their delegates during the day and take some photos that they can use to promote future events.

Category: Social media

Grays Court Hotel & The Bow Room Restaurant

Organic Social Media Management

The brief

Facebook

Instagram

What our client said

Like our work for Grays Court Hotel & The Bow Room Restaurant? Get in touch to hire us for your social media management.

Social media

Elegance and luxury

Grays Court bedrooms

Grays Court bar

The Bow Room

Like our work for Grays Court? Get in touch to book us for your photography

Social media

Bright lights, big crowds

The brief

The work

Social media

Photography

What our client said

Like our work for Autumn Lights? Get in touch to book us for your photography or social media

Case study

The Potions Cauldron social media photography

Testimonials

Our client's feedback about this work

Like our work for The Potions Cauldron? Find out more about our photography services

Case study

Yorkshire Balloon Fiesta rebrand

Branding

New logo

Brand ident

Social media

Website design and SEO

Testimonials

Our client's feedback about this work

Like the work with did for Yorkshire Balloon Fiesta? Find out more about our services

Case study

Autumn Lights social media

Testimonials

Our client's feedback about this work

Like our work for Autumn Lights? Find out more about our social media services

Case Study

BlogOn Conference 2019

Testimonials

Our client's feedback about this work

Like our work for BlogOn? Hire us for your next event