Social media strategy introduction for Hospitality & HFTP Professionals. Originally presented at the HFTP First Coast June 2012 meeting in Jacksonville, Florida

1. Getting Started Socially
Lauren Teague

3. What I do…

4. The World of Social Media (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/v/KU_GW_MD4hA&hd=1

6. My Definition
Social media is a set of communication tools
that allows people to come together in
community spaces online, to participate in
creating, managing and sharing content
through conversation.

7. Why Is This Important?
Because social media is a platform for the
customer’s voice — and that voice can be heard
by anyone in the world.

8. THERE IS NO MAGIC BULLET
• Every club is unique. Your membership is
different, their interests and participation
are different and the ways you can
engage them are endless.
THERE IS OPPORTUNITY!

9. ALIGN SOCIAL MEDIA WITH BUSINESS GOALS
• Who are my most valuable members?
• What social actions do I want to
increase, that will benefit my Club?
• How will my membership want to
interact with my Club online?
• What resources can we dedicate to
online customer service and
engagement?
• How will we respond to comments
made in our online community?

10. YOUR SOCIAL HUB
• Facebook page
– Public page, anyone can join
– Nearly 900M members, but is your
membership there?
• LinkedIn group
– May fit profile for current & future
members
– Can be private or semi-private
• Ning private social community
– Build it for you, starting at $800 (and up)

11. TIP!
Find out where your members are online.
• Ask them, then follow on Twitter,
Foursquare, Yelp, Pinterest,
Flickr, & wherever your club has
a presence.
• Create social relationships by
mentioning, responding to &

12. WORD OF MOUTH
Review Sites are key for Hospitality Industry
– Trip Advisor, Yelp, Foursquare, etc.
• Encourage your membership to review your
club online.
– Provide incentives to those who do if this
is really important to you.
• Ask members to bring negative feedback to the
club's attention before posting online so you
have an opportunity to resolve.

14. TIP!
Social Media belongs to everyone.
Teach all employees how to talk
about your Club online, and
empower them to do so.
"Be real and use your best judgment.“
(Zappos)

15. SHARE, SHARE, SHARE
Share photos and videos of your events with
your members. Put them online, where they can
easily be share & downloaded.
• Facebook photo albums
• Flickr account for photo streams
• YouTube or Vimeo for video
playback

17. SHARE, SHARE, SHARE, SELL!
Turn your social content into sales collateral
• Showcase your venue space, Chef
specialties, friendly employees and
unique property features.
• Pinterest page to "pin" event & venue
photography to be shared virally.
• Link to content others create about
your venue

20. TIP!
Determine what matters to your Club and
measure THAT.
• Social media efforts can impact
your website views, dining
reservations, membership
renewal and referrals.
• Make sure you have a plan to
measure the impact, if that's

22. Lauren Teague
@LaurenTee on Twitter
ltbeyer@gmail.com
Linkedin.com/in/teaguelauren
Social Media Club JAX
Facebook.com/smcjax
@smcjax on Twitter
www.socialmediaclub.org