Who should be in charge of your social media?

Who should be in charge of executing your social media strategy? There really is not a black-and-white answer and it very much depends on the size and personality of your property, but let’s take a look at a couple of common options:

1. Sales / marketing / PR: A commonly suggested option, yet one that mostly results in very little “actual conversation” taking place and your hotel’s social media platforms being used mainly for sales, marketing, and PR purposes.

Yes, social media involves elements of all three, but it also has so much more potential and possibilities, and by giving it only to your sales, marketing and public relations teams you’re missing out on using social media for guest engagement or guest relations management.

2. Your current PR company: Do you have a minute to spare and happen to be on Twitter? Send your hotel’s PR company a tweet with a question and see how long it takes them to reply.

Did you get a reply in less than “never”? Excellent, keep your PR company and consider involving them in your property’s social media efforts, but unless they have a specialised social/digital media division, do not let them “run” your social media.

In case you don’t hear back from your PR company via Twitter, do send them another tweet saying “I will stop paying you until you start reading your tweets!”, then see what happens. What do you mean your PR company does not have a Twitter account or last updated its Facebook page 10 months ago?

Remind me again why you retain them? Even if your PR company is on the ball regarding social media, you'll probably face similar issues as outlined in option one above.

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3. Your e-commerce person/team: Not a bad option, provided your current e-commerce person/team isn’t already overloaded with day-to-day e-commerce tasks. Sadly, most are.

The advantages of this option are that the person is on property, knows what’s going on, and (ideally) is up-to-date concerning technology and all things “online”. Even though, you’ll still need to ensure a seamless communication flow between your different teams and your e-commerce pros.

An altogether better option, in my opinion, is to take a hammer and chip away on all the different “compartments”, “departments”, and other boxes you’re used to thinking in and working with and create something that really befits social and digital media and does it justice: behold, your new social media team! Depending on the size of your operation, this can be made up of many people, but to start you off, I suggest you find the following: a guest relations professional, a skilled public relations person, and a revenue and technological aware hospitality pro.

Put them all in a mixer, add quality computers and software, shake well, stir, and serve. Don’t worry, if you can’t afford three people — just try and find one that combines elements of all three.

The advantages are obvious: you’ve got a team on property that understand how your hotel works, knows what’s going on, has access to all guest databases and other hotel departments, and focuses on representing you exclusively.

Social media engagement will drive revenue when each (potential) guest and visitor thinks of you first because they know you, like you, and trust you based upon the relationship that you have built with social media.

Ensure that your new team is tied into all internal communications and give them clear guidelines and goals in regards to your hotel’s social media presence and you should be off to a good start. If you’re just starting out in social media, consider hiring an expert to put together a suitable strategy and policies for you and supervises the launch phase.

The next step is to embed “being social” into your hotel’s organisational culture — I’ll talk about that in one of my next columns. In the meantime: keep it social!

Martin Kubler is the owner, director, and chief cook and bottle washer of Iconsulthotels FZE, an ultra-boutique hospitality consulting firm in Dubai. You can email him at info@iconsulthotels.com or visit the Iconsulhotels Facebook page at www.facebook.com/iconsulthotels