Everything starts with a goal and social media should be no different. It’s pretty clear that ignoring social media is not an option, but jumping on the bandwagon without a plan is just as foolhardy.
At a recent British Hospitality Association event, I was asked to present on social media for the hospitality industry and explain how to engage with this medium effectively. It’s always a great excuse to dedicate additional time to scouring the Twittersphere for some great social media campaigns.
However, it’s not just about campaigns or volume; an approach to social media needs to be carefully thought through like any other marketing activity. The accessibility and speed of this medium has lulled a lot of companies and employees into a false mindset that suggests messages require little or no thought and that we can sell to anyone who will listen, without examining targets and measurement.
It’s worth remembering at this stage that social media has one very unique purpose: it encourages dialogue – something that companies should treasure as a form of communication. It’s not just about disseminating offers and news, it’s about finding a level of conversation to use to engage with a target audience, whether that’s a potential customer, a member of the press or a supplier. It’s all about open dialogue and sharing.
When considering social media or evaluating your current social media activities, ask yourself these 7 questions:
- Do you have a set of social media objectives?
- Do you have a social media policy?
- Are your activities integrated?
- Do you measure your activities?
- Who is responsible? Do you have a tone?
- Who is listening and who is participating?
- Do you have a plan?
If you have answered ‘no’ to most of the above, then you need to get back to basics. Think about your advertising plans or your recent promotional campaigns. Everything starts with an end. What are you trying to achieve?
Then think about whom you are trying to engage with. What do you want them to know about you and how do you want them to engage with you and your company? Think about the messages you want to convey. Be clear about what you want people to know about you. Make sure you drip feed these messages without overtly selling. Social media is a sensitive channel and over-the-top, blatant sales will disengage the customer.
Finally, how are you going to measure your activity? While social media appears to be a free and easy way to reach a mass market and channel your news, it requires a dedicated resource investment, either by splitting a role between employees, or by allocating responsibility for online/digital marketing to a specific person.
Companies nervous about allocating this resource will no doubt want to see how they can measure their return on investment and despite social media providing intangible and indirect brand building opportunities, there are still ways to measure the success of your social media strategies.
Plenty of tools exist to capture data, such as number of tweets, level of influence of those engaging with you, your social media position and number of people ‘following’, but you need to think about your objectives again. If you are hoping for more restaurant bookings, more hits to your website and more hotel rooms sold, then that’s your measurement.
Measure on outcome, never on output. Output alone can’t secure bookings. Having 1000 people follow you doesn’t mean they will all want to engage with you or buy from you, but targeted and relevant messages to a specific group will increase your chances of a successful outcome.
Make sure you provide a clear channel to where people should go. Include links to your website and provide a specific landing page to measure response. Integrate all of your activities to create maximum impact. Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and the like can all integrate with each other and your website and this will save you time when looking to distribute repeat messages.
Check your web statistics regularly. Your web trends should highlight social media as being one of the top 10 sources of traffic. If social media is not a top 10 traffic source, you need to address your strategy.
And finally, social media is another marketing tool to be integrated with everything else you do – your advertising, events, promotions, PR and promotions. It’s an opportunity to gain feedback and learn from your customers. Essentially it’s a two-way street.
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