I really like this article from the Target Marketing daily newsletter. It’s about, just as the title says, the actual hidden value of social media. The writer, Krista Neher points out:
The point is that the real value of social media isn’t me liking your page only to ignore your updates and posts (unless you want to pay for me to see them).
The real value is recommendations, comments, and references that people make on their private accounts, many of which are hidden from the business.
And because things like telling your friends how wonderful a restaurant was, how luxurious your hotel room happened to be or how well the car dealer isn’t going to show up with hard numbers.
Social media is quite fluid in that regard. We can’t even be quite sure if good recommendation originated with a Facebook post, a Tweet or an Pitnterest/Instagram photo. But we do know that having a good social media strategy can encourage the positive word-of-mouth that does bring in more business.
What does that mean for a travel/tourism/hospitality or culinary business?
One thing it doesn’t mean is to ignore, neglect or forget your social media marketing altogether. Yes, have a presence on any outlet appropriate for your target audience. Engage with your fans as much as time allows, and then some. But don’t forget to encourage those customers to tell their friends and aquaintances about you. As Neher writes, give them a suggestion or better yet, and incentive to spread the good word.
So if a guest loved their stay at your B&B, ask them to write a positive post on their social media accounts to let others know. Or offer them a 15% discount on their next stay if they do, have them send you the post as proof, then you can send them a virtual coupon.
Too many times, businesses are concered with the number of “likes” and interactions they have, thinking that’s the golden ticket to increase their business and revenues.
But part of social media is…being social. And the most important part of this equation is letting your happy customers share their experience with interested friends. So they can become happy customers, too.
