Twitter is one of the most popular social networks in the world with more than 300 million monthly users. Contrary to other platforms like Facebook and Google+, Twitter focuses on short-form and quick succinct snippets of information in the form of 280-character texts, an image, video, gifs, slide shares or news summaries. This platform is ideal for getting information out quickly and concisely to your target audience.
An instant and highly personal messaging-based social network like Twitter is the perfect arena for direct communication between businesses and the public. Connecting with customers, receiving feedback and responding to comments or queries are some of the most important ways a company should utilise their Twitter account. How quickly you respond to a message can greatly affect the way your customers feel about you and is an indirect measure of your success on the platform. Even the way you handle angry or negative tweets, if done timely and correctly, could even turn an upset guest into an advocate.
Hashtags
Hashtags are the most clearly identifiable features of Twitter, which are crucial to getting your posts out there. The hashtag on Twitter essentially connects the conversations of different Twitter users into one stream.
Followers
Getting more followers may be a difficult task at first, but there are ways of increasing your fan base without buying fans through bots that have no actual interest in your product. Directories like Twellow and Wefollow are large directories that can help you find more people who have interests or behaviours that match your brands.
Even more simply, you should just be active on the platform engaging with relevant content and your followers. This is the best and most reliable way of acquiring followers to your account. Thanks to the hashtag feature, you can easily find all mentions of your hotel and terms related to it.
Posting
Twitter content should be well curated as well as consistent. Posting regularly will ensure that people are able to see your content and keep your brand at the forefront of attention. The best way to do this is by scheduling posts so you can tailor exactly what goes out and when, without forgetting to post something or doing so quickly at the last minute. Some useful tools for scheduling posts, analysing your account and keeping up with followers include: Hootsuite, Buffer and Tweetdeck. These tools can help you do several useful things like adding alerts for whenever your hotel is mentioned in a post or a specific hashtag is used, making it easier to keep track of activity involving your brand.
Things to keep in mind when posting to Twitter:
- Include hashtags in your tweets – these are crucial to your content’s visibility
- B2B posts perform best on weekdays and best on weekends for B2C
- Post only quality content – posting for posting’s sake won’t inspire much loyalty from your followers, only post things that are genuinely relevant and interesting
- Be creative – post things that may not be expected like a funny response to a guest’s tweet about your hotel or an image of a unique hotel experience
- Get your guests involved – encourage them to post their own photos and experiences to their personal Twitter pages with a unique hashtag or your user handle (e.g. @theaffinityhotel)
- If you are also on Instagram, integrate it to your Twitter. To connect the two, go into share settings on Instagram and enter your Twitter log in information. You can also do the same with Facebook, that way whenever you post something to Instagram, you can click to simultaneously post the same to Twitter and Facebook.
Twitter is all about being concise. Not only in the 280-character limit allowed to tweets, but also the all-important bio you must include on your page (limited to 160 characters). Make sure only the most important information is included and that the bio speaks to what is special about you. This is also a unique chance to set your feed apart from other hotels, all whilst keeping to your brand’s identity and personality. Remember, the tone on social media is less formal and traditional. Below are examples of clever or striking bios from the Kimpton (@Kimpton), Galgorm Resort & Spa (@galgormresort) and CitizenM Hotels (@citizenM).
The Kimpton above shares a clever and well-worded description of who they are and the kind of service they provide. Galgorm makes it known what kind of property they are and their calibre through awards. Citizen M promises to be there for their followers 24/7 creating a transparency and presence for their guests.
Ideas for Twitter posts:
- Behind the scenes pictures from your hotel
- Articles about your brand
- Local tips about your area
- Events and activities coming up in your hotel and surrounding area
- Retweets from guests
- Short-span deals (i.e. one day sale)
- Coverage of events (i.e. awards ceremonies, anniversary celebrations, internal weddings)
- News from the hotel
- Sharing of articles, features and other external content written about the hotel
Examples of great tweets from other hotels:
So what are you waiting for? Get tweeting!
