Your Facebook Fan base is crucial to your online reputation. This is a strong community of people who support your brand and style of hospitality. These people are interested in you! With this in mind, it is incredibly important to engage with this community. However, what do people want to hear? How can you make your page fun and interactive? There are numerous strategies in engaging with your Facebook community. Here are a few ways you can engage with your Facebook fans.
Ask Questions
Posing questions to your Facebook fans creates dialogue between you and your guests. The key to posing questions to your Facebook community is creating authentic conversation. This way you will be able to develop a genuine understanding of your Facebook fans and as well as represent your property well in the online spectrum. Here are a few questions you may pose.
1) What do you think makes (your property) unique?
The key to this question is to getting your guests involved in positively evaluating your property and service. This simple question will give you insight into what your fans appreciate and how you can capitalize on that value.
2) What is your next destination?
This question will present a fantastic opportunity to represent your own brand personality and even market your own property locations.
3) What would you like to see from us in the future?
Your Facebook Fans are people who have already liked your page, they know about your company, your brand and your service offerings. With this in mind, this question gives your guests a chance to express their own intentions and the direction they would like to see your brand head in.
4) What was your last (hospitality experience) like?
Encouraging your fan base to share their own stories and experiences will also give you the opportunity to engage with guests and make internal strategy to avoid similar errors.
5) What are you reading, watching or listening to?
It may sound simple, but even the most basic of questions that stimulate dialogue will give you the opportunity to represent your brand personality and create interaction with your fans.
Engage Through Variety
Aside from posing questions to your Facebook community, you may also engage with your audience through:
- Behind the Scenes Information
How does your property operate? Share insight into the daily life and operation of your property. Remember your Facebook Fans are people that choose to like your page: they want to be an “insider” they want to be up to date with your company and they want to know you better! What better way to do so then to share your work culture and daily operations?
- Captivating Photography
A picture really is worth a 1000 words and sometimes a 1000 likes. Photography of your local surrounding area, a newly refurbished lobby, or any other vivid imagery is also a great way to engage and inspire your Facebook audience.
- Local Information
Another fantastic way to promote your hotel is by including any sort of local event information in your Facebook posts. Is there a music festival, art exhibit or foodie event near your property? Share it with your Fans! This is a great way to encourage people to plan visits to your area and to show that your property has a strong presence in the local community. Here, Joie De Vivre Hotels shares the news of Pride Weekend, an annual event supporting equality hosted in their home city of San Francisco.
Hashtags
Finally, Facebook’s incorporation of hashtags into their platform also presents numerous opportunities to engage with your Facebook community and monitor specific interests of your fans. The ability to include live hashtags in your Facebook posts will allow you to add context and link your conversation to a much wider forum.
Hashtagging on Facebook is an extremely efficient means to listen in on conversations about your services or property. By following the hashtag feed within your Facebook account you will be able to identify specific trends that are relevant to your property and really attain a solid understanding on what your fans are interested in.