social media Archives ⋆ Page 2 of 2 ⋆ Sotellio

March 13, 2017

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

Hold your phone in landscape mode (sideways) for the best picture or video possible.
Make sure something identifying your property is in the picture (if not, use a branding image or watermark of some kind on your photo)
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.

March 6, 2017

Never Mix Business And Personal Accounts

You should never mix your business social media accounts with your own personal ones. If your business doesn’t already have it’s own social media account, stop what you’re doing and go get them set up. (Need help? Contact us)

It’s Not What People Want To See

When someone is following your property on any Social Media, the last thing they want to see is anything personal. If you, on a personal level, just went and saw the latest movie – quite honestly nobody except your immediate circle of friends really cares. If you’re posting that information on your business social media account, you’re going to turn away prospective customers.

Recently, Sotellio had the privilege of working with a start up company. They had Social Media accounts and were actively posting to them. When we had the chance to review their social media postings we found things such as, “Sitting down to review the books”, “Stopping off for a Coffee on my way in this morning.”, and, “Living the Dream!” – with a picture of a pool and someone’s feet.

None of those posts had much, if anything, to do with the business. Worse, the vast majority of the posts made it feel like the owner was living the high life off the business in a rather nonchalant way.

Thankfully, There’s A Delete Feature

Luckily, all Social Media Accounts have a delete button. While this doesn’t erase the posts from the archives of the Internet, it does clean up a time line quite well.

After we cleaned up the timelines on several of the Social Media accounts, we sat down and helped the business owner separate the business and personal accounts. Once that was done, the Hotelier was free to post about his personal successes on his own account, while we left the Business Success stories up on the business social media account.

Keeping personal accounts is all well and good – just make sure that what you’re posting about on your personal social media account doesn’t bleed over into your business account – and vice versa. Keep them separated and grow them both to their fullest potential.

Sotellio Is Here To Help

We’re here to help you make sense of the Social Media Spectrum. We can sit down with you and sort out exactly what you need to do to get the best return on your investment of time, money, and energy in Social Media. Contact Us today and let’s get the conversation started.

February 27, 2017February 27, 2017

Eight Ways To Not Be Socially Boring

Nobody 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.

February 24, 2017February 24, 2017

Never Tweet About The Following 5 Things

Twitter is an amazing tool that allows people and organizations to quickly communicate with their audience. It can be a source of great information, as well as a jungle of worthless trash. It’s important to know what your business should and should not be tweeting about.

In our opinion, you should never tweet about the following 5 things:

Don’t Tweet about Internal Business Matters
If the mantra “it’s just business” applies to whatever the subject matter is, it probably has no value to your audience.

There are plenty of other ways to communicate with staff members. Publicly is simply not the way.
.:.
Don’t Tweet about Anything Negative
A tweet can (and usually does) last forever. Anything said in a negative manner will just end up haunting your business.

While it may very well be true and your guests may fully agree with you, your future guests may see those tweets and decide to stay elsewhere.
.:.
Don’t Tweet about Your Guests Without Permission
A tweet about a guest having a wonderful time is all well and good, but never assume you have permission to do so. Ask, and if possible, get a release.

We don’t know much, if anything, about our guests lives back home. No amount of assumptions can be made on what information he or she may want others to know. Nondisclosure is key.
.:.
Don’t Tweet about Your Competition
Unless you’ve got a mutual (and hopefully documented) social campaign, you don’t want to say anything positive or negative about your competition.

Legal matters aside, it’s just not professional or kind. As a hidden bonus, stay away from the passive aggressive tweets about your competition as well. Keep things focused on the positive of your property.
.:.
Don’t Tweet about Anything Political
It doesn’t matter what your stance is on any issue, you’re sure to offend someone else with your opinion. Keep away from anything political for your business.

We all have opinions; some stronger than others. Political opinions simply don’t have any place within a property’s Social Media. Don’t even hint at anything political in nature. Just stay far away from that as possible.

Always make sure what you’re tweeting is adding value to the lives of the people following you. Ensure that you’re not wasting their time with irrelevant information or nonsense. What we say on Social Media is often times what the public bases their opinion of us on.

Not sure what to tweet about? Sotellio can help! Contact Us today and ask about a free consultation.

February 16, 2017

Being Done Is A Great Feeling – But You’re Never Done

Being able to reach the bottom of your “To Do” list is a fantastic feeling; until you realize that you’re just going to add more to the bottom of the list when you finally get there.

We should all consider taking a collective step backwards and looking at the bigger picture – is everything on our “To Do” list contributing to our final goal? If it’s not, why exactly is it on our list? Could it be delegated to another person or agency? Is it really worth our time?

In consulting with Hoteliers, it’s been noted that many items on their “To Do” lists simply never get done. They’ll roll over to the next day, become past due, and then keep on racking up the past due points. They become unimportant, irrelevant to the day-to-day operations of the property – or so the Hotelier thinks. In truth, those tasks are vitally important to the success of the establishment, but simply go undone because of poor time management.

It’s important to be “Done” – and the best way to be done is to know exactly what tasks need to handled, what tasks need to delegated, and what tasks simply need to managed.

This lesson is particularly important to properties with smaller staffs – knowing what tasks need to be directly handled versus tasks than can be managed is crucial in getting to the bottom of a daily to-do list.

As the business world continues to evolve, there are certain things that Hoteliers must contract out and simply manage. Technology, Social Media, and Entertainment fall easily into this category. A property can get by without serving any food, but will not succeed without the aforementioned items.

Is it possible to reach the end of a “To Do” list? Yes, if it’s managed properly, and reasonable expectations are set. Sotellio understands what it takes to succeed, and our innovative approach to Social Media Marketing can help Hoteliers reach their goals.