Posted on

Budget Minded Ideas To Set Your Property Apart

Dinosaur Themed Hotel RoomNot all properties have a multi-million dollar budget to spend on theming, yet we all want to give our guest a positive experience that will hopefully have them stay on site again in the future.

Since we’re not all blessed with a Theme Park Budget, here are some ideas all properties can implement on a limited budget.

Idea #1 – Photo Spots

One of the easiest ideas to implement, and yet somehow seems to be one I continually recommend to property owners.

Take a corner, or a wall, or any location on your property and dress it up – make it picture worthy.

Instruct guests to take their selfies or family pictures there. Get some signage or offer to take the pictures for them.

In your theming, be sure to include something with your property’s name and web site address.

Idea #2 – Photo Streaming

Want to see your guests having a great time watching themselves on TV? How about seeing your #hashtag all over social media? You can easily do both of those at the same time!

Get an account on either  https://www.the-wallrus.com/ or https://hashslider.com/ (it doesn’t really matter which one, just chose one)

Purchase, or reuse a large TV/Monitor that has HDMI input. (Most smart TV’s these days have that).

Place that large TV in your lobby or common area where guests are sure to stop by. Connect a computer to it that is accessing the account you set up above.

When your guests use your #hashtag, they’ll appear on your TV in the lobby! 

People love seeing themselves on TV, and will be quite happy when they do.

Idea #3 – Combine Idea #1 and Idea #2

Combine the Photo stream with a picture spot, and you double down on your engagement!

If you have access to an internal programming network at your property, consider streaming your hashtag channel there as well.

Posted on

Provide Incentives For Follows And Likes

provide an incentive for social engagementSave 10% Off Your Next Stay With Us! Free Room Upgrade! Free Buffet just for liking us on our Facebook page!

Your business operates on the happiness of your patrons. If they’re happy, they’ll tell a couple of their friends about the location and recommend that they stay there. If they’re unhappy, they’ll tell anyone who can listen about the problems they had – and they’re quite likely to exaggerate those issues.

Hoteliers will do everything in their power to ensure the guest has a pleasant and happy experience while staying at their location. If they’ve done their job properly, then there should be very little to worry about.

It’s important to capture that happiness via Social Media. Have them like your Facebook page, or leave a review and comment on Google, or just follow you on Twitter, or whatever social media platforms your business is on. Get a picture when them  (don’t forget to have them sign a release) and display it proudly on your pages. Happy customers bring more happy customers.

You can easily provide an incentive for a guest to socially engage your location – you’ve got an arsenal of incentives right around you. Anything from a free meal, to a hat or t shirt, to upgrades, discounts, or comps. If you’ve spoken to your business neighbors, you may even be able to provide something from them as well.

While you don’t want to make the incentive the primary reason the guest is interacting with you, you do want to make their time to do so worthwhile to them.

Need some more ideas on how to engage your audience on Social Media? Contact Sotellio today, and we’ll take care of it for you.

 

Posted on

Using Pictures In Social Media

I’m not going to go into the staggering statistics about using pictures in social media, but if you’re interested, here’s an article you can read that has more than enough statistics to go around.

What I will comment on is my personal experience with pictures in social media posts; they work. Using pictures in social media is one of the top ways to engage an audience. Pictures tell a story in an of themselves. But don’t be fooled – you can’t just snap a picture with your cell phone camera and think that it will be the end-all photo for your social media. There are some tips you should follow.

Tips for using pictures in social media

  1. Hold your phone in landscape mode (sideways) for the best picture or video possible.
  2. Make sure something identifying your property is in the picture (if not, use a branding image or watermark of some kind on your photo)
  3. Get the lighting right. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but at least make sure the primary light source is behind your camera, not the subject you are photographing
  4. Learn The Rules of Thirds for photography. That will come in very handy when taking pictures of any kind, but especially for your social media.
  5. Be aware of everything in your frame. If there is trash, a mess, or anything out of place – straighten it up and retake the picture.
  6. Be aware of OSHA and other regulatory bodies. If you happen to take a picture of something on your property that may raise a safety or other concern, best to fix the issue and retake the photo.
  7. Be prepared to have a photo release statement on file for people to sign. Some guests may not want their photo shared on your social media. It’s always best to ask them first, and get a release signed.
  8. Don’t exaggerate or overemphasize something. Pictures taken at specific angles can make objects appear larger or smaller than they really are, leading to a false expectation from your audience – which may be a potential guest – who would then comment about that issue on Social Media.
  9. The subject matter might be boring to you, but it might be the perfect thing someone else needed to see. Sure, the sun sets over your property’s pool every night. When is the last time you took a picture of that to share?
  10. Post at least one picture a day – if not more. I personally try to get at least one picture in a day on my social media accounts. I don’t get one in with every post; but at least one daily.

There are several different types of attachments you can get for your phones – lenses, flashes, stands, remotes – all of which will help take your photography to the next level. We’ll cover that in a later post.

Don’t think you have the time to take photos of your property? Sotellio can help. Just contact us today to get the conversation started.

 

Posted on

Eight Ways To Not Be Socially Boring

don't make your content boringNobody likes boring social media, and if you’re following our guidelines on how often you should post , you simply cannot afford to be boring.

We’ve heard it a hundred times, ” I run a motel, I do the same thing every day… and that’s pretty boring to me.”  It very well might be boring on a personal level, but that must never be passed on in Social Media.

Eight ways not to be boring in your social media channels

Be Helpful
Become the source for local information and resources that your guests need. If you have a shuttle service that departs for the local attraction at 7:30 am, post about that ahead of time reminding your followers about that service.

Be Relevant
Don’t post outdated information. People don’t need to know that your 7:30 am shuttle left at 7:30 am. That does them no good at all.  Don’t waste your followers time with useless information.

Be Engaging
Adding pictures, videos, and other forms of media to your posts result in a higher level of audience engagement. People like to see things, not just read things.

Be Giving
Share fun ideas, give out meal or entertainment suggestions, if you have discount opportunities, give those as well. Your audience requires a sense of value for following your social media.

Be Open
Repost other helpful and engaging content that your local business partners are posting. If you don’t have a repost arrangement with businesses in your area, now would be the perfect time to set one up.

Be Available
If someone has taken the time to tag you, or post something directly to you, you need to take the time to reply to them. That’s how Social Media works.

Be You
You’re not a corporate robot, your social media shouldn’t be either. You may allow your personality to shine through on your social media, provided that you follow tip #8.

Be Professional
Ensure everything you have to say is said in a professional, business-like manner. If it’s not something you would say directly to a guest, then don’t say it on Social Media. Confused about that? Here’s what not to say on Social Media.

Sotellio Can Help You

If you are still convinced your content is boring, why not let us have a go at it? It might be that your content just needs a pair of fresh eyes to see your world. Contact us today and let’s get the conversation started.

Posted on

Unique Hashtags And Who Should Use Them

Hashtags are nothing new. They’ve been around nearly as long as the Internet has been public ally available.  Hashtags have been used to denote topics and interests since around 1988; and we’ve come a long way since then.

There’s nothing mystical or magical about a hashtag. There’s no governing body that regulates them, there’s nobody who can lay a claim on a word or phrasing of a hashtag.  They’re simply tools that make it easier to group like-minded thoughts, comments, opinions and other forms of media together.

Hashtags play an important role in Social Media, since the wide adoption of hashtag searching and grouping has taken hold. If someone is interested in a particular topic, say the city of Orlando, they can search their chosen Social Media platform for #Orlando.  One thing to keep in mind is that since there is no governing or regulatory body around hashtags, anyone can use one for anything – so you may find a few stray topics or ideas when searching for a Hashtag.

For Hoteliers, a hashtag is nothing short of free publicity.  For example, a location could use it’s name, or variant of their name as a hashtag. For example, the “Restful Inn” could use #restfulinn as a hashtag, and then add that hashtag to all of their social media pictures and posts.

Furthermore, the good folks at the Restful Inn could ask their guests to do the same. A simple sheet of instructions asking the guests to use #restfulinn when they’re posting things around the Inn would do wonders.

This strategy is not without risk, however. Clearly, if things are amiss at the Restful Inn, and the staff is asking guests to use the hashtag; there could very well be some negative side effects. However, as long as the Restful Inn is running a well groomed establishment, issues will be at a bare minimum.

The only limitation on hashtags is space. People often use two or three hastags to convey context. There could be a picture of a nice breakfast plate with the hashtags #perfect #breakfast #orlando #restfulinn . Those hashtags reveal a lot of what the poster is trying to convey with their post.

Now the Restful Inn, combined with their guests, are lighting up Social Media with pictures and posts from their fine establishment. When interested parties search for a cozy little place to stay when they’re in Orlando for a convention, those pictures will come up, along with the related hashtag – and when those potential guests see the pictures from other people who have stayed there? That’s when the magic really happens.

Sotellio caters to the Social Media needs of the independent Hotelier. We have several affordable plans to choose from, and will work one on one with individuals to meet their needs. For more information, contact Sotellio today.