There’s just so much content out there on this subject it hurts my eyes as I read most of it. Since I generally follow social media trends, I decided to put together a short (yes, short!) list of tips I think hotels should follow as the year progresses.
1) Pick the right social network to have a healthy presence. Most hotels have a Facebook page and many have Twitter pages, some might be active on YouTube and Ning. Just set your goals clearly on what you are looking to obtain from a social media strategy, and pick the right network for your property. Remember, you don’t have to be on every network. Quality definitely precedes quantity here.
2) Post often. This depends again on the network. If you post 10 updates on Facebook per day, that may be too much, but 10 tweets are about the average. Determine the needs of each network and understand the dynamic, so you can participate actively.
3) Engage. You can’t force people to engage just by friending them or getting them to join your page or follow you. Writing posts that are relevant and quirky, tuck in a really cool special deal, mention something out of the ordinary that happened at your hotel, post a photo of a fun event, send off an inpiring quote from the GM. Write things fans and followers want to read as it relates to you. Get into your audience’s virtual mind!
4) Measure success. As with any campaign, you should set timeframes for everything to see where you stand. Facebook allows you to explore metrics to understand your post’s quality, number of subscribers, demographics, etc. With Twitter, you can find out a lot from the number of mentions, RTs, real DMs (not auto DMs!) and increasing number of followers. Once you add meaning to the numbers over time, you can make the right adjustments along the way to improve your social media presence.
5) To blog or not to blog? I get this question a lot as it relates to hotels. I am all for blogging, but only if you can commit to doing it right. If you can’t, then don’t do it, it’s not worth your time and it won’t be an effective PR and Marketing tool for your business. Hotel blogs are tricky; they have to be written with the guest in mind. For example, posting bland press releases about a appointing a new staff member is not necessarily appropriate for a hotel blog. On the other hand, blogging about a renovation and what that will mean to guests in the future would be a good post. Drafting quality blog topics will determine if it makes sense for a hotel to have one in the first place.
My final thought on social media: if it becomes a chore and you get lazy, it will show in your writing.
Tags: facebook and hotels, hotel blogs, social media pr for hotels, social media tips for hotels, social media tips for hotels 2010, Twitter and hotels, writing a hotel blog
I think these are great tips and not just for hotels either – it’s relevant advice for most organizations. I especially think your points on choosing the right networks and keeping the content as fresh and different as possible are crucial.