Free Social Media Ad Card Designs to Anyone That Wants Them!

I've been tinkering this morning and have designed some nice little cards that I think would be cool to put in your hotel rooms, to get the guests on to your social networks. All you need to do is buy some nice glossy card and print them yourself.

 

Email me your Facebook url and Twitter handle and I will change the text and email you a Jpeg over.

paul@bedandbreakfastclub.co.uk

 

How Last Night's Manic Twitter Rant Opened my Mind. Man.

I went to the doctor's last night and had a real buzz in the waiting room. Because the doc was running late I decided to have a mad tweetathon and it was a truly liberating experience. Though this blog may seem a little self indulgent please stay with it, as it does have a point in the end!

 

To put things in context I did around 20 tweets (with also replying to tweets from other people getting involved in the insanity) in 40 minutes. 

 

Tweet 1: "Just in doctors. 'What name is it?' I said, 'I don't know, what name is it? My name's Paul if that's what you want!' (I didn't say that)." 

A comment at the bastardisation of the English language.

 

Tweet 2 "Have half hour to wait in docs so gonna do a stream of conscious tweetathon for fun.."

As soon as I wrote this panic set in. I'm in the least inspiring place one could imagine and I've just told everyone on Twitter I'm going to have a tweetathon. 

I put myself in a silly situation. What on earth am I going to talk about? I've really dropped myself in it. I have nothing to say. Shit! I began looking around for things of any interest and trying to think quickly.

 

 

Tweet 3 "Tom Jones' new album is belting out. Really good, still got it as our Tom." 

Bit boring but current and relevant to demographic.

 

Tweet 4 "He's being interviewed on Radio 2. Says rock n roll came from gospel music and used to be called 'the devil's music' as it was so similar."

 

Then I noticed something that I found amusing the last time I went.

Tweet 5 "They have a bell at the doc's reception and every time she goes in back and sits down someone comes in and rings it."

Better. Observational comedy. I'll try and take that route.

 

Tweet 6 "There's some kids toys in the corner. If I go and have a play will I get funny looks?"

I seriously wondered how people would react if I began playing with the abacus in the corner.

 

Then a man began shouting on his mobile. This is my pet hate so how could I resist.

Tweet 7 "Man on phone next to me now speaking very loudly. Shouty phone people follow me around. I'm sure he's sat next to me on the train before..."

 

I looked at the magazines on the table trying to divert my attention from shouty phone man.

Tweet 8 "Why do they always have rubbish magazines in the doctors? Is it only fashion conscious women who get ill?"

 

Tweet 9 "Kerry Catona on OK! Magazine. Why don't all the alcoholic nutjobs in Manchester get on the front cover of crap magazines?"

 

Then comedian Jason Manford popped up on Twitter with something not very interesting.

Tweet 10 "I love @Jason_Manford on TV but he's not very funny on Twitter. Must be all the rehearsing they do on telly..."

Sorry Jason I was having an episode...

 

Then the doctor called me in and I told him I had Twitterettes (he didn't).

 

This exercise forced me to look at the world and find something worth talking about - in the most depressing of places! I had a time limit and threw myself in at the deep end and you know what, I think I managed to produce some reasonable stuff and could have wrote more!

So when you are sat there thinking of something to blog about or tweet or Facebook or whatever bonkers new way to communicate with the world you have, don't write about personal or business matters or indulge yourself in anthropomorphism. Look around you and paint a picture with words.

The bed and breakfasts I see every day look like the most amazing places, with wonderful, picturesque surroundings, wildlife and the most characterful buildings but rarely do I hear any descriptive (god I must stay there) words about them. 

What would be really nice to hear is some real life things that tell us what you love about the place. Things that you may take advantage of, or not even see when they are staring you in the face.

Make us hungry by describing the smell of locally produced bacon. Inspired by how the night sky looks over the mountains. Tell us about new guests sharing a joke together over breakfast, before they jet off on a popular tour of the area. 

Take us to your paradise and we'll want to come and join you.

 

If I can find inspiration from a doctor's surgery, by just looking around a room with three people and a receptionist, then I'm sure you can find something of note in your perfect spot on the earth if you just look. 

 

Take a step back, remove yourself from the situation and look at your world again with fresh new eyes.

Challenge yourself like I did. You might write a load of crap but it'll be fun and worthwhile because it will help you hone your observational skills. 

 

Give yourself one hour to throw yourself into a descriptive article about your surroundings and don't even stop for air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

B&B Owners Ignoring Social Media

I've been on Twitter and Facebook for a while now, promoting my blog and trying to attract (mainly) UK based B&B owners. But when you think of the size of the industry, I have very few English friends...  *sighs* : (

There are an estimated 40,000 B&Bs in Britain but my UK fans on Facebook come to the (frankly) pathetic sum of 55.  My blog is aimed at British B&B owners and I speak to them every day, but very few of them speak to me. Why?

The reason is because there is a large percentage of owners out there who still don't believe the internet is important to them. They still rely on traditional methods and repeat custom from the older generation, people who visit year after year without a glance on the internet to see what the rest of the world has to offer.

This is fine if it works for now, but if small hotel owners want to compete and continue to gain business into the future, they have to embrace social media and grab every possible opportunity of displaying their business and building relationships online. 

When the old technophobe generation slowly dies out, the technophobe B&Bs will die with them and who will be there to pick up the business? Probably you, who are reading this blog right now.

Let's try and think a little differently about the internet and see it for what it is. Among the many things it is, the internet is basically a free global advertising space, where millions of people try to shout the loudest (albeit in a sensible way!) to attract others to their products. At the moment lots of old school B&B visitors won't be visiting it, so businesses will continue to run, but for B&Bs to attract new, younger customers and future repeat custom, there is only one way and that is through all the tools available in the world's largest adspace, reaching out to as many potential customers as possible. 

If you want to be found online (and find your customers) you simply have to devote a good amount of time to building an online presence. Only having a stall (your website) and no stall holder (your voice through social media) isn't enough anymore. Eventually I predict people won't buy from a stall (site) without having at least a look at the stall holder (social group) and gauging whether or not they want to do business with them.

It takes a long time to build social networks and online relationships and they don't pay off over night, but if you don't start talking to customers online now and wait until it does become crucial for your business, it will be like joining a conversation at the end. 

The way to network online is by helping others and providing valuable information and real relationships with relevant partners. Not by adding thousands of people who you care little about and just seeing them as numbers. Imagine if someone was looking for information about your area and you helped them out by providing some useful info. They are then far more likely to do business with you.

Facebook has over 400 million users. Have a look at the amazing Facebook stats here 

Twitter has 75 million. See article on Twitter here. 

Almost a half a billion people around the world embrace social media in a population of almost seven billion. If you take into account children, that is one hell of a scary statistic. Your customers are there and looking for your human voice.

 

I love this man's glasses. 

PS This article is almost pointless because the majority of people I want to read this aren't here! They still live in the world of newspapers, snail mail and TV! How can we get them to come join us?!