CAPE MAY — “Day one of throwing a latte at my boss until she guesses the flavor.” That’s it, that’s the video.
Ostara’s Coffee House is keeping up with the latest social media trends, creating an online presence that stands out from the dozens of short-form content users can find daily by scrolling on both Facebook and Instagram.
There are five videos of an employee throwing lattes at Ostara’s co-owner Victoria Maniotis for her to guess the flavor. Spoiler alert, it took all five videos for her to guess correctly.
The humor in Ostara’s videos is popular amongt millennials and Gen Z, who tend to enjoy and create videos with layers of dry wit, sarcasm, irony and even outlandish jokes.
“We have to stand out in some way, to keep the content going and stay relevant,” Maniotis said. “We’re still figuring it out, but our customers love it and talk about it all the time.”
Social media trends are typically short-lived, lasting anywhere from three days to a week before a new trend takes their place. While some trends may last longer, many viral challenges have a short shelf life.
In 2024, Maniotis worked with a social media marketing agency to streamline their online presence, with the goal of gaining year-round business.
“She made our accounts really pretty,” Maniotis said. “The goal was always for Anastasia and me to do it, and in October this year I took over.”
Co-owner Anastasia Maniotis, Victoria’s sister-in-law, said the agency owner’s youthfulness showed in her content.
“She knew a lot, taught me things, and she gave me the confidence to do it on my own,” Victoria Maniotis said.
Of the numerous videos posted by Ostara’s, several have gone viral, including one that got 4.3 million views. The caption: “when the boss comes in and we’re doing closing duties at 9:54 on a rainy day (we close at 2).”
“A handful of them have gone over 10,000 views, which is my marker,” Victoria Maniotis said. “I like to see over 10,000; it’s a threshold for when it’s done well. Between 3,000 and 5,000 views is average.”
When creating videos, subjects typically include staff, friends and family.
“It makes them even more excited about the business,” Victoria Maniotis said. “We love featuring them.”
Her favorite original video of late was “The Sphinx,” in which barista Wesley Laudeman asks a customer a riddle in the middle of taking a coffee order, only for the customer to solve it and Laudeman to say they are out of oat milk.
“I loved our Dolly Parton video, [basically] anytime I can put Wesley in an outfit or costume,” Victoria Maniotis said. “We love torturing Michael and any time we can throw stuff at him. If everyone is having fun while doing it and wants to keep doing it.”
On whether the trendy content translates to sales, Victoria Maniotis said Ostara’s has been busier since they began their hijinks.
“Whether I can say solidly if that is TikTok or Instagram, no one is telling me [when they come in],” she said. “We get a lot of followers when we do a viral trend, but whether or not they stay is a whole other game.”
Anastasia Maniotis said posting the videos has helped get people in the door who have not been to the shop before.
“Between COVID and the influx of new people who haven’t left North Cape May or Cape May Point, [those people are coming in],” Victoria Maniotis said. “Or they just retired here.”
When traveling, Victoria Maniotis said she likes to look for local businesses on social media.
“I look up hashtags when I travel like a geriatric millennial,” she joked, adding that people check social media more for reviews than Google or Yelp.
While some businesses close in the off-season, Victoria Maniotis said people need to know that Ostara’s is open at 600 Park Blvd. Chugging out the content helps with that.
Cape May-Lewes Ferry
“Hey besties, welcome aboard the Cape May-Lewes Ferry, she’s serving looks and smooth sailing, slay.”
It’s the opening line of the ferry service’s video “Letting the gen Z employee write the script.”
Social media manager Amelia Rizzo and social media coordinator Lexi Sterling are taking trends and making them relevant for travel, tourism and maritime.
“We try to stay relevant to a young audience because they are our next passenger,” Rizzo said.
Sterling said that everything they do is to introduce the ferry to a younger demographic that hasn’t been riding it their whole lives.
“We try to showcase that it can be a daytime excursion, weekend trip or get happy hour on board and watch the sun set,” Sterling added. “People our age are getting marketing messages in the [phones] we have with us all the time.”
The short-form content the ferry service posts includes storytelling, from history to passenger highlight stories.
“We get more people interacting with our social due to [what] we post,” Rizzo said. “They like that we personify the ferry, that we include our crew and captains, the people who are outward facing but you don’t get to really see their personalities shine through.”
Getting staff involved in videos allows them to let loose and have fun.
“Just on a normal crossing, you don’t hear about the really cool things that come aboard or where people are going,” Sterling said. “You can kind of be in your own bubble when you’re on the boat, so people really enjoy that content and we see it in our comments.”
Video viewers leave comments sharing their experiences with the ferry, which Sterling said they would never have known without social media.
Sterling said it’s even nice to hear from people in her’s and Rizzo’s personal lives who have noticed a change in the type of content being posted.
“A lot of the time, we promote and advertise special events or excursions we have going on,” Sterling said. “It’s cool to hear from people on board, who didn’t know we were the ones posting it, that something was put on their radar through our posting on social media.”
Viral audio can leave a lasting mark if it stays trendy. Some sounds come and go within a week, but others can stick around.
The ferry has used trending pop culture songs from artists such as Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Dean in its videos.
“We can take a trending audio, that seemingly has nothing to do with our business, and showcase the parts that people don’t see,” Sterling said. “Like the back of house [or] maintenance shop, which to some people that isn’t cool, but to other people it’s really cool to see behind the scenes.”
One excursion the ferry offers includes a shuttle ride to the Cape May County Park and Zoo. Sterling got to make the video to showcase the experience.
“I think by showing the process through the reel, people get to see the experience and are prompted to book,” she said. “It also eliminates some confusion about the itinerary, because they’re seeing us walk through it with a voiceover.”
Some of their favorite content creation happens when Sterling and Rizzo come together.
“We run on board for 30 minutes and we’re able to get the crew involved,” Sterling said. “We get to find a bunch of sounds, and we can bang videos out. Those are some of my favorite content days.”
A video showing the Brewery Tour Excursion hit 156,000 views. On average, many of the ferry’s videos hit 3,000 to 10,000 views, with several going viral, surpassing 10,000.
Both Rizzo and Sterling enjoy showcasing interesting facts and stories about the ferry service’s history.
“Getting to tell the ferry’s story and take the passengers with us through the camera,” Rizzo said. “We share with them what a day on board could be like and how scenic it can be.”
Sterling points out that the ferry not only highlights both Cape May and Lewes, Del., but the many other shore towns within a drive from the terminal. She said many people take the ferry to Lewes and drive to Assateague and Chincoteague, Va.
“Amelia and I both live and love in those areas, so it’s super cool that our boat is one of the easiest and most convenient ways for people to travel back and forth,” Sterling said. “They get to experience lively towns all year round.”
Both women said they have seen growth in followers this year, particularly with the QR codes on the ship that allow users to see the social media and visit the website for events and excursions.
“We definitely are able to reach a younger audience, who [might] not know that the ferry even exists, versus a lot of retirees who grew up with the ferry and have planted roots here in Cape May or Lewes,” Rizzo said.
When creating unique content, Rizzo said they try to personify the ferry, but it can be a challenge.
“Kind of like how the Empire State Building socials do it, they make it almost as though the building is a person and that person does all of the trends,” Rizzo said. “I look at what they’re doing as kind of a guidebook.”
By RACHEL SHUBIN/Special to the Star and Wave
