Guest-Centric Social Media — Five things to try today…
1. Feedback loops: Everybody in your hotel should know what works and what doesn’t work on social media or, in other words, what content your followers like. That way, they can assist with content generation, if needed, or are able to simply contribute ideas. It’s important that your marketing, social media, and operations people all talk with each other regularly.
2. Focus on areas that matter: You might be tempted to showcase your rooms or your new restaurant via snazzy videos or artfully taken pictures mashed up in a hip collage, but does this really help your guests? Don’t just focus on what looks good online and what gathers the most likes, but also consider your guests’ most frequently asked questions and build some content around them.
3. 360° of communication: When a guest sends you information via social media, everybody in your hotel who might be impacted by it should know what the guest said. Nothing is more frustrating than having received an okay to something via a Facebook message or a tweet only to then arrive and find that nobody knows anything about it. Consider how you distribute information you receive via social media channels.
4. Clear response guidelines: You need to know which platforms users can send you messages and comments on, who is in charge of checking these platforms, and when and how to reply to users. Some matters cannot be discussed publicly, but many others can. Do your team-members know how to respond to all the different requests and comments and, most importantly, what to escalate and what not?
5. Use bots sparingly: Right now, bots are often very “bot-like”, which can come across as impersonal. It’s fine to use auto-replies on Facebook Messenger or similar platforms when you’re really busy, but you should try and send out personal replies as often as possible.
About the Author: Martin Kubler is the founder of Iconsulthotels and the CEO of sps:affinity. Iconsulthotels is now sps:hotels — a leading hotel management consultancy that provides its clients forward-looking business strategies, keeping them ahead of the market. Email: hello@spsaffinity.com.
| Advertisement |