Building Your Online Identity - The Holy Grail of Social Networking

The Princess (sorry, Goddess) of the B&B world Karen Thorne wrote yesterday how she 'must be doing something right' using Twitter, as had her 'best year ever' using the networking site

This got me thinking and wondering how Karen seems to have unlocked the secret to gaining lots of business through Twitter, something lots of people want to do, but rarely manage it. 

Her self-imposed rules are explained in the article here but it doesn't really explain how she has so many followers and gains so much business through Twitter. What Karen has become extremely good at, whether she is aware of this or not, is having a unique writing voice.

When I was at University doing Journalism, they always harped on about your writing style and your 'voice' coming through the page. Karen's 'voice' comes through what she writes every time and is very distinctive. She stands out with her tweets because of this and it has enabled her to create a strong online identity.

This is not an easy concept to get your head around achieving with your own writing. What you can do is choose a writing style that you like and try to emulate it, then eventually your own 'voice' will begin to come through and you will create your own style.

This kind of worked for me in my previous life. I used to copy the style of FHM and when I brought that style into a golf magazine it gave the magazine a light-hearted appeal that readers enjoyed.

There are so many people out there writing on blogs and on networks that it's important you try to appear distinctive and memorable in your work. Choose a style you like and stick to it. 

The problem with all of us is that we aren't simple beings. We have many sides, but showing all your different sides works against you in a cluttered online environment. For readers to remember you they need to have a simple picture in their head of what you are. 

We are all publishers in our online world, we are all entertainers and the most successful entertainers are those that we remember for having a distinctive style. Frank Bruno is probably a multi-faceted personality (maybe not!) but to hear him reciting Macbeth would have just confused us. Cilla Black put on the fake voice but we liked it and knew where we stood. It was easy to take in and grasp. Choose a style that's simple and perfect it.

When you find a style to tweet or blog or Facebook, you not only make it easier for your audience to identify with, but you make it easier for yourself, as you know who you are too!

Have a look at the styles of successful people on Twitter and then choose a way of writing that conveys how you want you and your business to be perceived. 

 

 

 

 

 

10 Do's and 10 Don'ts of Social Networking For B&Bs to Attract Business

I understand that not all B&Bs use the networks for business and lots use Twitter and Facebook to talk to friends and network with other B&Bs, as well as attracting business. I believe though that you should try to separate business from pleasure and perhaps think about having a personal account as well to talk to friends with. Concentrate day time efforts on attracting business and evenings/weekends for personal. This sounds like it might be a pain but it isn't really. 

DO take all your guests' Twitter and Facebook details and follow them. Make sure you take this information and over a period of time you will have a large network of former and future guests.

DON'T send personal messages to former guests or any followers with 'offers'. People hate messages in their inbox and will block you. 

DO tweet and Facebook offers along with news of local events/activities. 'Come and stay for the ***** festival for half price'. Post offers once a week but NOT all the time.

DON'T forget about your audience with everything you write. Audience. Audience. Audience. 

DO think about what your audience wants to know about? Take them to your paradise, what do guests love about your place. Talk about your experience.

DON'T talk about things that are too mundane. Do potential guests care that you have just read a magazine and are now cleaning toilets?

DO talk about local events in your area. If people fancy an event you've told them about in your area, they will stay with you. Retweet local tourist board and information sources. Write blogs, post pics. Become the knowledgeable voice for your area.

DON'T just link Facebook and Twitter together to make things easier, unless you use Selective tweets. When you put a picture on facebook it tells Twitter like this: 'I've just posted a picture on Facebook' with a link. That won't make people want to look because they don't know what the picture is. Never post links without full descriptions.

DO (and this is a big do, that many people don't do and should) put lots of pictures on Facebook. What's the point of having access to the world and not showing every nook and cranny of your beautiful place.

DON'T make huge attempts at gaining followers that aren't potential guests. I know first hand that begging for more followers is a waste of time. Quality not quantity is the key. Networking with thousands of people who will never go near your establishment and bring nothing to the table is pointless. 

DO find the right people to network with. Post on Facebook sites where your potential guests will be. Perhaps fans of a festival or local venue, a local hiking group. Think about where your guests will network and find them. Spend a lot of time doing this. Network with the right people or social media will become a wasted exercise.

DON'T Tweet too much. Only tweet when you have something worth saying. Noisy people get deleted by others who only have small networks. Imagine if your guest only has 30 friends - if you are tweeting all day you will be the only person they see.

DO make some fun films and post them on Facebook. Don't be deluded into thinking that you have to produce professional promotional videos. If I saw a video of someone catching a big fish in your local lake I might think, 'I want to go fishing there, I'll ask them about rates'. Sell the sizzle not the steak. You provide an experience, show it.

DON'T forget to ENGAGE people in your network. There's no point in having followers if you aren't interacting with them. Build relationships, find common ground. It's hard work but if you don't network socially on social networks there's no point. This is why you shouldn't have 1000s of pointless fans, or it becomes pointless. Retweet your followers if they have something worth saying.

DO Run competitions/create promotions to give you something to talk about. Speak to local businesses and run a joint competition. 'Win a free day out at local theme park and a free stay in our B&B.'

DON'T play the stupid games on Facebook. The easiest way to loose followers is to beg for bits of wood to build your Farmville farm.

DO be human, be funny, be entertaining, sell your self as a humourous, light-hearted and fun establishment. No one likes a square and a fun social networker gets more attention than a dry one.

DON'T lose sight of your goals. It's easy to become distracted but your aim through social networking is to build traffic to your site by producing content and ultimately gain more visitors. 

DO have Twitter and Facebook links on your blog/website. If a potential guest looks at your page and sees this they may have a look at your presence on Facebook. If you've followed all the above, they'll see you as a great host and book. The very fact that you are on FB and TW will make some people think you are a forward thinking business and want to stay with you.

DO write down lists of all the content you would like to produce and what your ultimate objectives are. Lists make life so much easier.

DON'T forget to write a comment, retweet or 'like' this blog if you found it useful. Follow us on Twitter too: @bandbclub

 

 

 

I've Seen The Future, And The Future's Mobile

You may or may not know that I spent the end of last week hobnobbing with industry bigwigs at the Travel Distribution Summit. Everyone with the ability to wear a suit mumbled about Mobile Internet. And then, (after a few post conference Kronenbergs!) I saw it... The future of how your customers will find you

You may know all this stuff already and I had heard of it, but up until now I've ignored it. There's so much techy stuff around that I just have to deflect most of it. I'm scared that I'll become a robot and out of touch with the real world. I want to be a real person for readers of this blog, and not a lazy writer that becomes obsessed with tech and updating the blog using other people's techy discoveries.

However this is important, very important and I truly believe that to be one step ahead of the game you need to learn all about it now.

There are two companies in America who are big news. Foursquare and Gowalla. They have basically combined the world of Google Maps with social media. Users log in to Foursquare from their mobiles and then update their status telling everyone where they are and what they are doing. 'I'm singing at a Karaoke Bar', 'I'm at an Art Gallery'. The idea is that other Foursquare users can meet each other in the real world as they know each other's locations. Each user gets points for being the most exciting or active and they then get freebies or special offers from local companies signed up to the scheme.

Yahoo recently had a $125 million bid turned down for the Foursquare application.

What's important about this for you is not the game or the company names to remember (Facebook may soon be taking over this space) but the advancement in technology and how this will become very important for your B&B.

I truly believe that lots of customers will soon no longer pre-book accommodation online. They'll wait until they reach a city/town and then walk around looking at their phones/sat navs. Like real-life signs, there'll be signs on their phones through Google maps from accommodation providers with rooms available.

The user will see a sign, click on it and read the last 10 reviews from Trip Advisor, they'll have a look around the room pics, click to book and stroll in (like David Essex) with a booking number.

It's exciting for independent hoteliers because this really will level the playing field out there and while the online world as we know it is awash with large hotels using 'distribution channels' to reach to the top of Google, this will no longer be the case when reality and virtual combine. So long as you have a 'sign' present on a location map, then you have as much chance as the big chains to reach the customer.