Whether you were a Facebook pioneer or whether you just started to intensify your (business) engagement on Social Media platforms – you might have noticed a few things lately:
- It’s noisy & time consuming: Tons of information come in every minute and it’s getting harder and harder to handle.
- It’s boring: Honestly, how often do you see the same images of cats, the same links to videos or the same quotes?
- It’s challenging: Engaging people, in particular when it comes to business, has become really difficult.
The reasons for this development are diverse: relevance, originality, emotions, priorities, resources and time – to name but a few.
When people ask me for ideas what to post on Facebook, I usually tell them the following:
“It’s not important what you post on Facebook. It’s more important what you do in the “real world” that inspires people so much that they want to post it on Facebook.”
This means that instead of thinking about what kind of information you can post on your Social Media channels, create stories by making a difference to peoples’ lives – every day.
If you are lucky enough to work in hospitality, relax!
Hotels existed long before Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was born. Movies, TV series, books (including the bible) feature life in hotels. And why? Because there is hardly any other place where so many different people come together and – yes – create stories!
The entire industry is based on giving people a feeling of welcome and home. Service is the magic word. Yet service has a different meaning today than it had when hotel chains were created. Today, service is about being treated like an individual – not according to standard. Knowing this, being social is easy.
The basics:
- Let your staff do things that make a difference to your guests.
- Do things that your guests have never seen or experienced before.
- Surprise them with little ideas they haven’t been surprised with elsewhere.
- Treat them as if they were the only guest in your hotel – or as if they were staying with you in your own place.
- Picture the guest journey – from the first encounter with your hotel (online, on the phone or in person) to unpacking the suitcase once back at home. What kind of personal touch can you add to each of these interactions?
- Try to arrange as many personal interactions with guests as possible and avoid machines or online orders etc. If this is too hard to do, at least make the interaction with machines or with your booking website as human as possible. You don’t have to go as far as Coca-Cola did with their fabulous “Skyfall” campaign. Yet try to do some magic by using well written instructions and images that make users smile or even laugh! Remember: be human!
- Think in visuals and create things that people can take a picture of and upload it to their social media profiles spontaneously: Funny signs, creative posters in the lift, breath-taking menus, jaw-dropping buffet items – you name it!
You want some actual ideas?
Please understand that sharing ideas in detail would entirely spoil the surprise. Instead, do find your own and authentic way of being social. To help you thinking out of the box, here are some hints:
- Throw away those odd welcome cards and delete those boring welcome messages that appear on the TV screen. Only people who never stayed in a hotel before find them special. Instead, think about a wow-way of welcoming a guest to his/her room. Some hints: sticky notes, lipstick, music, smell, posters, fish bowl, pillow treatment, bathroom amenities, poems, blackboards,…
- Let housekeeping leave a sign that the cleaners were actually human. Very simple things are: arranging the pyjamas in a surprising way, creating animals out of towels, lining up the shoes in a funny way, arrange the personal belongings of the guest nicely,…
The Oasis Beach Tower Hotel in Dubai got it right: Have a look at what their cleaning staff did on Valentine’s day! This is awesome, and the guest took the time to take a picture and to upload it on the hotel’s Facebook page. Priceless! - Guests who celebrate their birthday or wedding anniversary usually get flowers, Champaign or pralines (or nothing at all). Think about a more personal add-on present like handing over a card to the guest with the signatures of several employees or the reception team singing upon arrival. Researching guests’ preferences (behind their back of course) might help. Do it the way you would do it for your family and friends.
- Do a mini flash mob performance e.g. during breakfast, in a function room or in the lobby when many people are there: Some hints: live cooking, eggs, napkins, coffee foam, dancing, vacuum cleaner, announcements, music, … There’s no need to install cameras, people will take pictures and videos or at least will talk about it or come back just to see your chefs perform. The more natural the better, so don’t spend too much time on the choreography. Instead let your staff be creative.
- Lasting gifts: Leave a little note, a flower or another little present in the returned laundry, in the pocket of a jacket for instance. You can as well put something in the spectacle case or in the toilet bag of a guest. Just make sure it is not too intimate and that it creates warm feelings – even or in particular if it’s only found weeks later.
- Make the check-out experience as special as possible. Instead of just asking which address needs to be on the invoice, write a little “thank you” or a “miss you already” on a sticky note and put it on the invoice. Or post an item to the bill like a mini-discount for being a lovely guest etc. You can also send postcards or e-mails to guests after they left and thank them for their stay. Even better: you send it before guests check out so that your mail awaits them at home saying “Welcome Home”.
Do you need some more inspiration?
Go to Kommboutique’s Facebook page and have a look at the photo album “Be Human” that features some little things little people did during my hotel stays. And feel free to upload things that happened to you or that you do in your hotel.
Conclusion
Does this all take lots of time and resources? Definitely.
Does this make your hotel a better place for guests and staff? Definitely.
Will people talk about you? Yes, they will – not only on the internet yet with their friends, families, colleagues etc.
Will your score on TripAdvisor, your Facebook engagement rate, clicks on your website increase? Most probably yes!
Imagine how many people will learn about your hotel and remember: it was like this before the internet emerged. We just couldn’t prove it!
These tips are just hints meant to give you the permission to think differently. Find your own social way! And please don’t do things because you want people posting them on Facebook. Do them because you enjoy making people happy!
If you would like to comment, ask a question or share your experiences, you can do so here!
"I have learnt most things from reading, travelling and asking questions." (Gaby Feile)
About Gaby Feile
Since the age of 5, Gaby Feile has been fascinated by words. She read the newspapers before entering school and could write as early as this. Her personal communication style has been influenced by an international career and an open mind. Gaby has learned to listen with her eyes and speak with her hands and has been known as an excellent observer and appreciated listener. She knows that asking questions is more important and more effective than making statements.
With her company "Kommboutique", Gaby delivers feel-good communication that creates memorable moments through positive emotions. People who like her approach can book her as a copywriter or idea producer.
