Mr. McKean

Social Media & PR

Building a Loyal Following: How to Attract Followers on Twitter

By Michael McKean, CEO, The Knowland Group

Tweet, tweet! People are chirping, and its time you joined the conversation. Twitter is an outlet for many people’s personal feelings, ideas, and activities; so how does that fit in with a static hotel? Simple, hotels are as alive and active as any human. It’s up to your team to show that off. Taking that strategy to the Twitterverse is what’s going to bring your hotel to life online. What generates new followers for successful tweeters is a steady stream of unique, interactive, and dynamic content. Keeping that in mind will not only help you generate followers, but business as well.

Where do you want Twitter to take you?

Any project or task requires a game plan. By creating a Twitter account, and starting your hotel’s dip into the social media pool, you must determine if you’re going to stay in the shallow end or dive in head first. Even if you’re unsure about whether or not you’ll be diving in, take the time to reserve your hotel’s name. This ensures no imposters will be sending out fake tweets and confusing people online. Next, start out by posting hotel updates, new services being offered, and upcoming events. This base line of information is endless and abundant. Hotels are always buzzing.

Give Tweeters a Reason to Follow You

People are drawn to Twitter because it provides them an exclusive first person account of what’s happening. They are excited to tell their friends and family about what they saw on Twitter, which helps to create that word of mouth buzz every business desires. Reward your followers by advertising deals or packages not advertised anywhere but Twitter. People will need to continue to follow your Twitter stream to get these exclusive deals, and will encourage others to do the same. Take a look at your competitors and see what they’re offering. It might be a complimentary bottle of champagne, a couple’s weekend getaway, or an early bird special at the hotel’s restaurant. Rewarding people for following you is an easy way to entice more followers to join the conversation.

Promote Customer Service

Twitter is a two way street, which can quickly become one way without interaction. In an increasingly virtual world, guests may be hesitant to say something upon checkout, but won’t hesitate to let their fingers fly on the keyboard. Followers will let you know how they felt about their experience at your hotel, just like a virtual front desk. Give them the courtesy of acknowledging their experience, good or bad, and promote that. Amplify the good comments by re-tweeting them, and ask those who have a negative comment to contact the hotel to take care of the issue. Your followers will quickly see that your hotel values customers, and is dedicated to a first rate guest experience. That’s what will keep them coming back, even if the first experience wasn’t everything they had expected.

Show Off Your Hotel

The old phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” still applies in the digital age. With Twitter you’re limited to 140 characters. So tweet a picture instead. Whether it’s new lobby decorations or the latest drink creation at your hotel’s bar, tweet a picture of it. This is a perfect opportunity to involve all the members of your staff as contributors. Take advantage of the ability to post pictures as a way to illustrate your tweets. Providing visual aids to your followers will help them fill in the blanks in their imagination. The best part about sending out pictures is that you can track how many views it has registered. This will allow you to hone your tweets and see what excites your followers.

Update, Update, Update

Although we’ve covered what can make your hotel’s Twitter stream a success, all of that effort goes out the window if the stream isn’t updated regularly. Each of us at one point has had a website or blog we’ve followed religiously only to find the content not being updated on a regular basis. Eventually, you end up not going to the site at all. Given Twitter’s 140 character bite-sized nature, updates don’t need to be extensive or time consuming, which makes the need for regular updating all the more vital. Keeping your stream fresh and timely is the most important thing for generating new followers and new guests. Commit yourself to updating at least once a day, but it would be best if you were able to send out three to five tweets per day. Find the right balance for your hotel, and keep it consistent.

Track the Conversation

What’s the point of having a conversation if you’re not listening? Twitter’s new interface allows you to easily track what others are saying about your hotel. Look for specific mentions, and check-ins at your hotel via third party trackers like FourSquare.com. With any large system, there’s always a way to catalogue and search conversations. Twitter feeds off of hash tags or any phrase with the # in front of it. These hash tags can be linked with words, phrases and locations to neatly piece together individual tweets that happen to relate to each other. For example, if your hotel is located in New York City, use the hash tag #NYC. This will allow others tweeting about New York City-based topics to see your tweets as well. Thereby increasing visibility, and increasing followers.

Link it all Together

Twitter should be the concierge desk for your hotel’s social media presence. Think of it as a simple way to direct guests to hotel amenities and offerings. Since you’re limited to 140 characters, this provides a strategic venue for distributing links to your hotel’s website and Facebook pages. You can also direct followers to specific areas of your hotel’s website. Be it a promotion for a holiday meal, spa packages, or even the best place to park when attending an event at the hotel. Think of each tweet that contains a link as a call to action. For example, you could tweet out “Don’t have plans for #Thanksgiving dinner? Join us!” and include a link that displays the menu and reservation page on your hotel’s website. This will draw in business, and bring new visitors to your website.

Jump Right In

There is a lot to learn about the social media landscape. But reading about the best practices is only the starting point. To master any skill, you have to actually do it! So get out there and start exploring what Twitter has to offer for your hotel. If you’re still not sure, try creating your own personal Twitter account before you start one for your hotel. This will allow you to hone your skills and develop your social media knowledge. Check out what your competitors are doing on Twitter, and follow people who work in the hospitality industry. They will often serve as a good model on what to do and what not to do.

Twitter has become one of the cornerstones of social media, along with Facebook, YouTube, and blogging. Your guests are already out there having a public conversation about your hotel, so it’s important that you play a positive and informative role in that conversation. Using these tactics, you can ensure that Twitter becomes a cornerstone for your property’s marketing efforts in the years ahead. By refusing to see the benefit of the conversation, you’re allowing your competitors to take away business before you’ve had a chance to make your own pitch.

Michael McKean founded the Knowland Group in 2004. He is directly responsible for the company's strategic planning, operations management and product development. His background in designing and implementing enterprise sized information systems has given him a wealth of knowledge that has served him well as the lead visionary behind the Knowland Group. Mr. McKean graduated from the University of Colorado and has taken graduate level courses in information systems. He is an active member in the Washington, DC chapter of the Entrepreneur's Organization. Mr. McKean can be contacted at 302-645-9777 Ext: 204 or MMcKean@KnowlandGroup.com Extended Bio...

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