Mr. Kall

Social Media & PR

How to NOT Maximize Facebook – a Checklist for Lodging Managers

By Rob Kall, President, Bookt LLC

Facebook is just a fad. If you agree with that statement, you have come to the right place. It is rather easy to NOT maximize Facebook. Who needs friends anyway? Not you or your business. You’re too busy with work. What you need is a vacation. Let’s start there – with a trip to Walt Disney World. Check this out!

There are over 5.7 Million people who “Like” the Walt Disney World Facebook page. And it is here that the folks at Walt Disney World “engage” with these friends, fans and followers. Which brings us to the first item on our Checklist...

Sell, Sell, Sell

If you do NOT want to maximize Facebook, take the approach that this social media icon is just another Sales Channel. People will love it that you are going Old School. Hit them hard and fast with your sales message. In fact, push it down their throats. Engagement is the opposite of that. Engagement is all about listening to your customers and prospects, and building a dialogue over time. Engagement done right leads to improving your processes, quality, products and services, and both growing and diversifying your customer base. Social platforms like Facebook have transformed the way new and past guests and lodging businesses interact, converse and influence each other. Engagement will result in differentiating your property with your targets and, if you are not careful, it could lead to a competitive advantage in your marketplace.

Put up a Wall

The Facebook “Wall” is where you hard sell-sell-sell to your friends-friends-friends. And all you really need on Facebook is a thick wall between you and your customers. Disney World on the other hand has wasted huge blocks of wall-selling time by adding other sections and pages like photos, accommodations, vacation planners, guest reviews, events and surveys. Disney World even devotes special pages to special offers and services for their friends. What makes these 5.7 Million people so special? And why do I need to read online conversations from past guests, including people I know – about their wonderful experiences at Disney World? It’s not that small a world after all – is it? And why all the effort focused on promoting their Orlando-area destination as much as they plug themselves? This steers us to our next Checklist item.

Adopt a Focus-on-Yourself Strategy

Like all other social media channels, Facebook is only about you. You being social. Getting you out there. You hitting on everything in sight and site. If people want to learn more about your area and destination they can find it elsewhere. Who made you the expert? The one-stop-shop authority for all of the things people need in order to enjoy their vacation? You are a “Wall” not Wal-Mart. Your “Wall” contains all the sell-sell-sell people need-need-need. Focus on yourself and be confident that you are NOT maximizing Facebook. All that additional content may provide significant value to the travel-shopper but what’s in it for you? Your “value” proposition is hitting on everything in site. Strategy is about making focused choices. Choose to focus on yourself and you will definitely NOT maximize Facebook.

Customer Service

According to global technology research leader, Gartner Inc., over the next two years, 30% of large companies will extend their online activities to include improving customer service, compared to only about 5% in 2010. That is a 6-fold increase in just two years.

Another way to say this is that a 70% majority of large firms are NOT planning to cover customer service via their online channel activities. So, even though significant numbers of consumers are moving to their Twitter feed or Facebook to write both positive and negative comments about their experience with a business – which can help your customer service teams react faster to customer complaints (and successes) – if you wish to NOT maximize Facebook and the like, be a follower not a leader. How many people could these tattletales tell? Reacting slowly saves energy. Let your early-adopting-competitors waste energy with online customer service and they’ll go-green with envy while you go slow-and-steady to win the race. Save energy – save the planet!

Who Cares if People Like You?

Another great time waster is getting involved in the whole “Like” thing on Facebook. While most experts agree that the Facebook “Like” button is great for marketing as it can mean more traffic to your website, is that really your goal? Here’s how it works:

A potential guest comes to your site. They click the “Like” button. Your content now shows up on that person’s Facebook Wall and, unfortunately, it also can appear on the Walls of their friends. Seriously? Spreads like wildfire? Fires are dangerous! If you are not vigilant, countless strangers will visit your site because your content and some tattletale happen to click. Now you have to start and nurture even more new relationships. All because you took the time to post SEO-friendly content in your website’s blog. Where will it end? You can even set your “Like” button to link directly to liking your Facebook page instead of just the individual post. It’s a vicious cycle.
Friend’s should not let friends click the “Like” button. These endorsements or so-called “votes” for you can only lead to more work and, unfortunately, more people knocking on your digital door. Can I be your friend too?? Can I have that same room you gave to Sally??? If you do NOT wish to engage in more direct conversations with prospects and past guests, then do NOT use the Facebook “Like” button and that will be the end of it.

Facebook Places

Another way to NOT maximize Facebook is to not keep up with the enhancements in their technology platform. For example, Facebook Places is an up-and-coming mobile and browser app that allows Facebook members to connect (called “checking in”) with their friends, share where they are, and share access to special deals (individual discounts, share savings with friends, earn rewards for repeat visits or secure donations for good causes).

While this will not make sense for every single lodging property, here is a great example of how Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino is leveraging this emerging application. BTW – there are similar social networking apps on sites like Foursquare and Gowalla you should check-in to. But this article in on NOT maximizing Facebook so here is a great article on Facebook Places you should also NOT read.

Bonus Tip: Another amazing NOT-to-do is connecting your Facebook and Twitter Accounts so anything you post on Facebook will automatically tweet on Twitter, and vice-versa which is a great timesaver. Learn more about this app.

Rely on Facebookings

The final Checklist item may surprise you. If you wish to completely NOT maximize Facebook, you must rely solely on it as a “standalone” booking tool. Sell-sell-sell via your Wall 24/7 and drop all of your other sales channels and activities to become a veritable Facebooking machine! To not do this would be to realize that social media is just one arrow in your quiver. Even though today’s sophisticated and hyper-interactive travel consumer needs to see your marketing messages across an assortment of different avenues (think online search, pay-per-click, your website, interactive and traditional offline channels) – Facebook alone is way cooler. Being cool – now that’s the way to get friends who matter.

Done right, Multi-Channel Marketing is a complex array of related and connected activities that make it easy for consumers to find, buy and book you in whatever way that is most appropriate for them. Plus it’s a lot of work and expense. Ask yourself, do you really need a website? GDS? Paying those commissions? Facebook is after all today’s big cheese and it’s pretty much free. The cheese stands alone!

Facebook Checklist Summary

Social Media is a vicious cycle of friendly persuasion, SEO-friendly content, and friendly endorsements. That’s NOT good news as new leads, new guests and new relationships are sure to follow. Can I have that same room you gave to Sally? Seriously? Do you really need the aggravation?

In conclusion, if you try hard enough and just put up a Facebook page and either abandon it or, better yet, pay a minimal amount of attention to it, you will NOT maximize Facebook. I rest my case.

Rob Kall, President of Bookt LLC, is a 'technopreneur' at heart. Drawing upon his 12+ years of experience in developing and implementing real estate and property websites he founded Bookt in 2007 to fill a void in the global vacation rental industry. Mr. Kall is a master of emerging web technologies, especially as applied to the travel industry, as well as behavioral targeting and engagement, deciphering marketing trends into widgets and applications, and online distribution hubs beyond the GDS. Mr. Kall holds a Bachelors in Computer Science from University of Boras, Sweden. Mr. Kall can be contacted at 800-941-0868 or rob@bookt.com Extended Bio...

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