If you run a hospitality business, marketing yourself is a large part of your success. To do that, you’ll need to be active on social media. With so much going on, it may be difficult to know just how to get started, but there are nuances that make each platform stand out–use the best practices for each platform in order to truly grow your business without extra effort, with these tips below:
With the largest digital population of all social media sites, Facebook is where you will reach the largest segment of your customers and potential customers. Facebook also has the largest variety in terms of content you can post.
Facebook also has the largest variety in terms of content you can post.
Take advantage of the easy shareability the platform provides by posting an enjoyable mix of entertaining posts, from special event announcements to fun foodie facts and behind-the-scenes photos, and encourage your followers to share with their friends. With a small budget (starting at $5 a day), you can boost your posts, which will spread them to a much wider audience, outside your own internal network.
Facebook also allows you to source reviews and post them on a special tab. Since word of mouth is the best way to find new customers, don’t miss this chance; invite customers to review your business on Facebook as often as possible, including messaging on flyers, posters, your website, and more. Include these reviews on your website as well.
Twitter is an of-the-moment platform. Followers see your posts in real time, so Twitter is the perfect place to react to customer comments and provide statements on relevant events as they happen. You’ll show that your business is up-to-speed, responsive, and attentive.
Make Twitter your forum for public service.
Make Twitter your forum for public service, and ensure that you respond to any customers’ mentions, tweets, or comments about your brand as soon as possible. By quickly reacting and offering commentary or assistance, you’ll be able to set your business up as a leader in the industry for client needs.
Instagram is a highly popular platform that works best when the images do the talking for you. Use this platform to let your products shine! Showcase beautiful images of your business’s food, set-up, and fun employee moments as well, since followers love to see original and enjoyable behind-the-scenes snapshots and feel a connection.
Use Instagram to let your products shine!
Instagram is also a great place to source user-generated images, as people love to post their own material. Use this to your advantage by hosting contests on Instagram: invite followers to post an image of dining at the restaurant (or their favorite meal, or activity perhaps), then tagging your profile in order to win a free meal.
It’s an easy-to-enter and fun activity that will generate wonderful brand awareness to your followers’ followers, as well as a plethora of fan photos that you may be able to share and use, too.
Social Media Tools
By focusing on the aspects of each channel that will work best for your hospitality business, you can grow your brand without too much exertion. To make it even more seamless for your marketing team, consider using a social media scheduling tool or monitoring tool, where you keep an eye on all platforms at once.
To make it even more seamless for your marketing team, consider using a social media scheduling tool.
One of the best tools out there is Hootsuite, where you can schedule posts and track all of your activity at once. To watch multiple topics and conversations in real time on Twitter, you can also look into Tweetdeck, which will easily show you all topics, accounts, and conversations of interest in one simple layout.
Another option, if you’re looking to automate any posts from one channel to show directly on another, is IFTTT. If you’re looking into this, consider the relevance of each post for multiple channels to be sure you want to post that content widely.
With these platform-specific tips, you can begin to post and share to social media now, growing your business strategically – and enjoyably!
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