Social Media Management For Hoteliers
In Episode #2 of the Sotellio Podcast, we cover
The vast majority of your customers have one thing in common: a cell phone. And those cell phones can all send and receive text messages.
Even if your guests are coming in from overseas and decide not to opt for a larger plan from their provider, they will likely get a pre-paid cell phone to keep in touch with their friends and family members while in the United States.
There are many services available for mass texting, however only a handful of them offer the metrics needed to conduct actual, viable marketing. When a property signs up for a texting service, they’ll be assigned a “short code” – a short, usually easy to remember number. They’ll also be able to use a keyword to categorize their groups. For example, the Restful Inn could sign up and choose the keyword “Rest” to keep all of their customers in one group.
Asking your guests to sign up to receive text messages is a pretty straight forward thing to do. “Text ‘rest’ to 101010” (as an example, don’t really do that). Now when the Restful Inn wants to text everyone in their group, they’re only composing a single text through the service that relays that text to everyone in the group.
The benefits are amazing. First and foremost, it’s pretty much instant (although some services do allow for text scheduling)
Some examples of when a property could use texting:
The use list of texting could pretty much go on indefinitely. There are some considerations to put in place; such as how often a location should text their guests. However, texting is still one of the more reliable forms of digital marketing available today.
Want to learn more about Texting as a Service? Contact Sotellio today. We’ll be more than happy to speak to you.
Nobody likes boring social media, and if you’re following our guidelines on how often you should post , you simply cannot afford to be boring.
We’ve heard it a hundred times, ” I run a motel, I do the same thing every day… and that’s pretty boring to me.” It very well might be boring on a personal level, but that must never be passed on in Social Media.
Be Helpful
Become the source for local information and resources that your guests need. If you have a shuttle service that departs for the local attraction at 7:30 am, post about that ahead of time reminding your followers about that service.
Be Relevant
Don’t post outdated information. People don’t need to know that your 7:30 am shuttle left at 7:30 am. That does them no good at all. Don’t waste your followers time with useless information.
Be Engaging
Adding pictures, videos, and other forms of media to your posts result in a higher level of audience engagement. People like to see things, not just read things.
Be Giving
Share fun ideas, give out meal or entertainment suggestions, if you have discount opportunities, give those as well. Your audience requires a sense of value for following your social media.
Be Open
Repost other helpful and engaging content that your local business partners are posting. If you don’t have a repost arrangement with businesses in your area, now would be the perfect time to set one up.
Be Available
If someone has taken the time to tag you, or post something directly to you, you need to take the time to reply to them. That’s how Social Media works.
Be You
You’re not a corporate robot, your social media shouldn’t be either. You may allow your personality to shine through on your social media, provided that you follow tip #8.
Be Professional
Ensure everything you have to say is said in a professional, business-like manner. If it’s not something you would say directly to a guest, then don’t say it on Social Media. Confused about that? Here’s what not to say on Social Media.
If you are still convinced your content is boring, why not let us have a go at it? It might be that your content just needs a pair of fresh eyes to see your world. Contact us today and let’s get the conversation started.
Twitter is an amazing tool that allows people and organizations to quickly communicate with their audience. It can be a source of great information, as well as a jungle of worthless trash. It’s important to know what your business should and should not be tweeting about.
In our opinion, you should never tweet about the following 5 things:
Always make sure what you’re tweeting is adding value to the lives of the people following you. Ensure that you’re not wasting their time with irrelevant information or nonsense. What we say on Social Media is often times what the public bases their opinion of us on.
Not sure what to tweet about? Sotellio can help! Contact Us today and ask about a free consultation.
Hashtags are nothing new. They’ve been around nearly as long as the Internet has been public ally available. Hashtags have been used to denote topics and interests since around 1988; and we’ve come a long way since then.
There’s nothing mystical or magical about a hashtag. There’s no governing body that regulates them, there’s nobody who can lay a claim on a word or phrasing of a hashtag. They’re simply tools that make it easier to group like-minded thoughts, comments, opinions and other forms of media together.
Hashtags play an important role in Social Media, since the wide adoption of hashtag searching and grouping has taken hold. If someone is interested in a particular topic, say the city of Orlando, they can search their chosen Social Media platform for #Orlando. One thing to keep in mind is that since there is no governing or regulatory body around hashtags, anyone can use one for anything – so you may find a few stray topics or ideas when searching for a Hashtag.
For Hoteliers, a hashtag is nothing short of free publicity. For example, a location could use it’s name, or variant of their name as a hashtag. For example, the “Restful Inn” could use #restfulinn as a hashtag, and then add that hashtag to all of their social media pictures and posts.
Furthermore, the good folks at the Restful Inn could ask their guests to do the same. A simple sheet of instructions asking the guests to use #restfulinn when they’re posting things around the Inn would do wonders.
This strategy is not without risk, however. Clearly, if things are amiss at the Restful Inn, and the staff is asking guests to use the hashtag; there could very well be some negative side effects. However, as long as the Restful Inn is running a well groomed establishment, issues will be at a bare minimum.
The only limitation on hashtags is space. People often use two or three hastags to convey context. There could be a picture of a nice breakfast plate with the hashtags #perfect #breakfast #orlando #restfulinn . Those hashtags reveal a lot of what the poster is trying to convey with their post.
Now the Restful Inn, combined with their guests, are lighting up Social Media with pictures and posts from their fine establishment. When interested parties search for a cozy little place to stay when they’re in Orlando for a convention, those pictures will come up, along with the related hashtag – and when those potential guests see the pictures from other people who have stayed there? That’s when the magic really happens.
Sotellio caters to the Social Media needs of the independent Hotelier. We have several affordable plans to choose from, and will work one on one with individuals to meet their needs. For more information, contact Sotellio today.
In Episode #1 of Sotellio, we discuss how often you should post to Social Media, some basics about analytics form the social media sites, and what to do with Social Data.
