Hotel Sales Blog

Social Media Angst

I have been traveling pretty solid for the past eight weeks.  Many of   those seminar programs have been for AHLA and included a program on social  networks.   

The participation has been amazing.  Some hotels are using their Fan Pages and LinkedIn Profiles well to have conversations with their customers, some are in between but many are still unsure or having a degree of angst over  building out their pages and profiles to include  complete information that will give potential customers the information they need that results in lead generation.    

The purpose of social media activity is to engage with current customers and generate new ones! A recent article and survey from eMarketing.com revealed B2B and B2C leads generated from social media.

45% of businesses surveyed generated B2B leads from LinkedIn and 68% generated B2C leads! 

Why are these pages so important for lead generation?  These pages are dynamic in that they can be updated more frequently than the web site, include a great deal more information, actively engage with customers and potential customers and thus generate leads.

Asking your teenage cousin or hiring someone right out of college to build out your presence on these two networks (not tomention  Twitter) is not very helpful in that they they don’t undersatnd the intricate relationship that the hospitality industry has with these networks and industry best practices.   

Example:  One client that has and that has an ‘and’ in their name was virtually invisible on FaceBook. Why?  The newly minted social media manager had used an ambersand (&) verus the word ‘and’.    How many Fans would think to use an ambersand versus the word ‘and’?  As well,  there were available opportunities on the addtional pages that were not built out at all. 

How many of your hotels, epecially independent and smaller hotels, are having angst over your social media presence? Let’s have a conversation post your comments and concerns below!