Social Concierge

Perdo Colaco, President and CEO of GuestCentric, offers this advice on turning your social media presence into a form of “social concierge.”

Social concierges – a solution to the hotel marketing problem

According to a number of studies, the number one choice for consumers contacting hotels via social networks is to find local information.

Users are looking for recommendations on things to do, restaurants and bars in the destination, and a concierge that is able to reply to requests on social networks is seen as a way to enhance the consumer’s experience. The survey points the direction of what hotel social marketing should be about.

A USA Today survey got me thinking about certain digital marketing best practices that hotels should adhere to when engaging consumers on social networks.

Mr. Colaco’s tips:

1) Use your staff to describe what’s happening in your neighborhood

No one better than your staff knows what’s happening in your neighborhood. Whether it’s the trendy restaurant, or the cool new bar for singles, your Facebook page and twitter stream will come alive as you discuss what’s happening.

2) Use photos and videos as they have higher likelihood to be shared

As a hotel manager you should not only develop a photo and video library of your property, but also of the neighborhood you are in.

3) Curate content and ask for feedback

The good news about social networks is that much content is just reused. Pinterest is a good example of that, where people just “re-pin” content that they see on the web.

Use the same technique to improve your hotel social marketing presence. If you see an interesting article in your local newspaper, post it on Facebook and Twitter.

4) Provide real services like theater tickets and restaurant reservations

A USA Today survey clearly demonstrated that social users are not necessarily task oriented, and that they don’t give any value to mundane things like weather or traffic updates.

5) Engage opinion leaders that rave about your hotel

The last four tips were on turning your social presence into a social concierge. One additional way to get things going on your hotel social marketing strategy is to publicize and to ask for feedback on comments from opinion leaders.

Look for people with significant amount of followers, and look for those that seem to be respected within the community.