I know the recent change in how Google and Bing is indexing tweets is going to make a huge difference in SEO and I am already seeing the results of this. While I not a proponent of using totally automated tweets I do see the twitter accounts that are using their name heavily in the context of their tweets are having their tweet page indexed higher and higher.

I think many innkeepers are afraid to leverage twitter because of the following reasons (that I’ve been given) they still don’t understand it, they think there is nothing but marketers on it (or porn), its a waste of time, they think they will get sucked into it and become twitter addicts and they are afraid of it or just its going to be a huge time sucker.

Once its explained that it doesn’t have to be time consuming, its great for website traffic, great for connecting with travel writers, great for SEO, some of it can be automated (for advertising) through hootsuite, socialoomph and ping.fm and that if they spend 10 minutes a week writing down ad tweets for use and then another 5-10 minutes actually interacting with people on it a few times a week it can have a great return they seem to grasp the importance of it.

Someone asked me the other day how many actual guests I had as a result of Twitter and it’s still not that many who come and say “I came to stay with you because I follow you on Twitter”. However……

…for guests I see it as a bit of a slow burn. The chances that my followers want a B&B now are low. However when they do want one – I’m going to be the one that springs to mind, either for them or their friends.

…relationship building – I tweet on several topics; birds, food, environment, bees. And as a result of this I’ve had mentions with links on quite a few blogs. Just this week I got recipes in a charity recipe book

…PR – I’ve been building good relationships with our local BBC radio station and newspapers through Twitter. I can virtually guarantee getting a press release through to the right people and getting a mention. I’ve also re-connected with national journalists

As for reaching guests – all that you’ve mentioned really Howard; Twitter button on website, on email address. I also put one on the bottom of the bill when I give it to guests. “We hope you’ve enjoyed your stay if you’d like to hear more about HH – follow us on….”

I do think you need to put effort into Twitter and be consistent and I couldn’t agree more about knowing “your voice”. Quite often I’ll write a tweet and then delete it when I put myself in the shoes on prospective guests.

I try never to discuss guests even in a positive way. Will they want to come & stay if they know their every comment or action is being tweeted about?

I never complain about being tired or fed up. I’m not super human but guests would prefer that I am!This is where it pays to build relationships with other B&B owners / Innkeepers. Having a bad day – send them a DM and they’ll understand!

Even though I may personally support a cause I never add a twibbon to my avatar or retweet anything overtly political. When I speak with my guests I try and stay neutral – the same on Twitter.

I support ( retweet, reply, engage with ) other B&B owners – I think we get far more out of colloborating rather than acting as a competitors.