Experts in digital marketing agree that social media are crucial for promoting brand awareness and increasing customer engagement. However, the changes in social media algorithms have yielded stiff competition for businesses in the hospitality industry.
The only way for companies to win in this new reality is to be social. Community management helps you promote your brand and stay ahead of the competition. Let’s dig in!
What is Community Management?
Community management involves engaging the community associated with your hospitality business on social media. It calls for prompt responses to comments and questions, sharing valuable information, and liking posts. Overall, the aim is to foster strong relationships with existing customers while attracting a new audience.
Social media community management has grown into an essential component that your business should leverage to increase hospitality bookings. As a social media community manager, you need to do a lot more than just curate Facebook feeds and share content from other sources.
Research shows that Facebook and Twitter attract over 800 million users. This is a large market that could be the source of your next booking. The numbers mean that your brand can no longer downplay the marketing power in community management.
Why Community Management Matters
Users often take Facebook and Twitter as a measure of a brand’s popularity and legitimacy. The number of likes or followers a brand has a lot to say about its interaction with customers.
The community management service can help you engage in activities to bring you closer to your customers. You can also build valuable relationships by being available and staying relevant and personal.
Approximately 88% of shoppers rely on online reviews to decide whether to buy from a brand. Restaurant and other hospitality customers look for social platforms for general inquiries, bookings, customer service, accepting offers and discounts, and interacting with a brand.
39% of people report that they are not likely to become attached to a brand unless there is some social media interaction. For 90% of customers, an immediate response from a brand is significant for them when they want an answer to a customer service question. 74% of millennials feel that their brand perception improves when a business responds to its customers online.
All this data points you to the importance of responding to your customers on does steroids make you gain weight time. Doing so will prevent them from reaching out to your competitors for the services you provide.
How Community Management Can Increase Your Hospitality Bookings
As a community manager, you need to leverage the influence of real, human interactions with your online community. Customers desire to build more expressive relationships with the brands that sell them.
Consider:
- Becoming an active and reliable source of information within your industry to build trust with your customers
- Actively anticipating the needs of your customers and engaging with them
- Being dedicated to flawless customer service management
- Engaging with your customers regularly. For example, when they leave a comment on your post or pictures of delicious food, reply to their comment as soon as possible. Doing so will enhance your interaction with customers and their perception of your brand will improve.
You can take it a step further and help your customers make a booking on your social media platforms. It is possible by implementing an automatic booking system.
However, ensure you always check the specific customer messages, as they may have other requirements for bookings. If a customer cannot complete their booking for one reason or another through the automatic system, you should be there to provide the necessary assistance.
An engaged online community is a business-promoting community. With a strong community management strategy, you will see better results in every business area.
You will have a better opportunity to innovate, increase bookings, and grow your business. Hearts Agency can help you with your community management efforts. Contact us today to find out more.