A lot of Innkeepers have found out that Social Media like Twitter and Facebook are great ways to reach your customers.  Social Media Marketing is all about conversation and trust with your customers, i.e. your guests.   Many Innkeepers who are on Twitter and Facebook have many followers or fans who are other Innkeepers.  In fact, the Innkeepers on these social media sites have consistently grown to a large and thriving community.  This business-to-business community is a great way to explore the many issues and challenges of Innkeeping, but does it really drive business to the Inns?  We each have to test all of the time spent on Twitter and Facebook against the real return on investment like any other marketing methods.  In other words, are the guests or prospective guests listening to you?  This post will explore how to improve the conversation with your guests on Social Media, and how to create specific goals for this marketing effort.    

First, let’s deal with the issue of business-to-business marketing (“B2B”).  Having conversations about Innkeeping with other Innkeepers on Twitter or Facebook is OK.  It helps to keep you in touch with the community of issues that are a daily part of your business.  It helps you solve common problems, and, more importantly, gives you quick access to some really thoughtful solutions.  Also, you will find some really great marketing ideas while listening or participating in the conversations on Social Media.   A good number of Innkeepers on these sites are very smart marketers (see @hoptonhouseBnB on Twitter for a good look at a superior social media marketer).  They are talking to their guests and showing prospective guests why they should visit their area and stay at their Inns.  Many Innkeepers have figured out how to really use social media for pinpoint marketing which can really be effective.  So why reinvent the wheel when you can find real answers to the issues facing all Innkeepers and incredible marketing solutions right there on Twitter and Facebook? 

Another key point is that your guests and prospective guests may also be listening to these conversations.  They will quickly learn who are the experts among the Innkeeper community, and why wouldn’t they want to stay at an Inn run by one of these “Industry Experts?”  So it is always important to share your knowledge and expertise on line.  Not just Innkeepers are listening.  That means you have to use your “unique voice” to engage in conversation and help achieve your marketing goals.

The real key to Social Marketing on Twitter and Facebook is making sure that you have set clear and concise goals before you engage in the process.  Who are you trying to reach and what do you want to achieve through all of the time spent on this marketing effort?  It is not a sufficient plan to just set your goal at increasing heads in beds.  That is the overall goal, but not the strategy.  Instead, have a look at creating a more concrete plan for your on-line marketing on Social Media.  For example, one great goal would be to drive traffic to your blog or website which can then be measured.  If your guests are your friends on Twitter and fans on Facebook, then you should be updating these sites every time you upload a new post on your blog, create a new newsletter for your repeat guests, or post a new special on your website.  You want to drive traffic to these events by letting your existing guests know that something new has occurred relating to the Inn.  This helps retain guests and shows prospective guests that you really care about your business.  It also helps you improve your Search Engine visibility by increasing traffic on your website or blog and by providing new and different material to these marketing vehicles.  The key to these efforts is a joint strategy to create new content and then to help drive traffic to the website and blog.  Ultimately all of this traffic will lead to heads in beds.  For more information about creating your own business goals for Social Media Marketing, have a look at the 8 Steps to Marketing Success on Twitter which was written by Jeff Machado for Hubspot. 

At this point, the most important issue becomes how to make sure that you are talking to your guests on Twitter and Facebook, not just other Innkeepers.  How do you build customers as your friends on Twitter and guests as your fans on Facebook?  This takes real time and effort.  You just don’t start to engage people on Twitter who become your friends; you spend time making sure that those of your guests who are part of the Twitter and Facebook community opt in to follow you by becoming a friend or a fan.  You have to use all of your resources to get the word out.  Every time you send an email to a guest or prospective guest, your email signature should have a Follow Me on Twitter and become a Fan on Facebook link.  Your website and your blog should also have these links in prominent places.  In fact, there are several good third party applications which will put your Twitter feed right on your blog or webpage.  Use rewards to get your guests to follow you on your social media sites.  Give guests a small prize when they follow you or become a fan (send them a branded item from your gift store for example).  Bottom line: do whatever you can to get your guests to listen to you on Twitter and Facebook.  It will help you retain customers and create a dedicated group who you can engage in a conversation about your favorite subject; i.e. your Inn.  They then will be available for other conversations like your specials and particular happenings at the Inn or in your area.

Finally, this conversation with your guests/customers is all about trust.  You need to get them to trust you and your judgment.  So this conversation is a perfect place to get them to tell you where you can improve as well.  This concept is to create brand loyalty and enthusiasm as well as to provide strong and prompt customer service.  Let them tell you where you have dropped the ball, and then respond with a very quick and thoughtful response to fix the problem or at least to apologize for the service lapse.  Wouldn’t you rather have this conversation on your own social media pages than for the whole world to see via review sites like TripAdvisor or Yelp?

In summary, the key to Social Media Marketing is to engage your guests/customers in conversation to build brand loyalty and trust.  In order to do so you have to get your guests to follow and friend you.  This takes time, effort, and concrete marketing goals.  The return on investment will clearly follow and it is measurable.  This concept of measuring ROI will be the subject of our next posting on Social Media.  Please standby!

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